It has been frustrating watching debtors stuck with loans from private student loans to finance contracts for services that were sold in a deceptive or fraudulent manner. Consumers get left on the hook for unfair and deceptive practices while the underlying companies who profited laugh and the lenders say they have no responsibility. But that …
Question: Dear Steve, I took out two private student loans around 1995/1996 for veterinary school. I did not complete my degree and was paying on the student loans until I was laid off from my job as an automotive engineer in 2009. I contacted the creditor and was unable to negotiate any kind of temporary …
It’s official, bankruptcy reform in 2005 totally sucked for people with private student loans. Academic research shows lenders won and consumers lost. Here is the abstract from a paper in the Harvard Law & Policy Review by Alexei Alexandrov and Dalie Jimenez that looks at the data of how the 2005 Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and …
Back in October of 2017, I published a post about a nationwide class-action suit against Navient. The case targeted an issue I first wrote about in 2013 regarding the eligibility of certain private student loans to be discharged in bankruptcy. Attorney Austin Smith and others have been participating in this case. As you can imagine, …
Question: Dear Steve, I defaulted on my private Student loans with Navient due to not being able to pay! I already pay 900 dollars in Federal loans. My private student loans were sent to collections due to missed payments. The collections agency wants to settle for 40,526- which I still can’t afford. We cannot seem …
Question: Dear Steve, I had about $20,000 in private student loans. I did not work for 7 years as I was a stay at home mom. My ex told me he was paying the loans. 5 years later and separated, I realized he has not been paying them for years. I am now almost $50,000 …
Question: Dear Steve, So, I had both private and Federal loans for my 4 years of college. I didn’t get a job right out of school, it took a few months and then when I did get a job it was a tiny amount. I struggled financially for a while, and then when it came …
The New York Times published this article which does a great job of covering major issues that can be very helpful when dealing with a private student loan collection lawsuit. The major headings they focus on are: The creditor cannot prove that it owns the debt. The creditor’s business records are not admissible. The debt …
Question: Dear Steve, I owe a small fortune in student debt. I thought it was all “federal” loans, but apparently I took out a lot of “private” Sallie Mae loans as well. That I did not realize at the time. Finally, after years of being out of the workforce and a professional student, I now …
Question: Dear Steve, I defaulted on my Navient/Sallie Mae private student loan and I just found out that they have closed the account and charged it off as bad debt as listed on my credit report. My private student loan was closed and charged off. I’m assuming they have turned it over to a collection …