A collection - Should I get a lawyer?

Some of you who know me know I travel over seas for quite some time during the year.

As I was leaving for this trip (literally 30 minutes before boarding the plane) I received a call from a debt collector. Asking for a hefty sum of money (over 10k). After some back and forth we figured out it was for my student loans. exactly the same amount for what I owe.

As a federally backed loan thru the original granting loan company, If I default the state of Florida takes the tab. After that if no payment is recieved to Florida they send it to collections. Pretty standard.

This is where it gets interesting.

The loan defaulted, Florida paid for it, and the collection company now has the bill. All while the past 4 years my loans have been on auto-payments. And as a matter of fact the company that claims I defaulted on these loans are still pulling money from my account in an auto-payment every month. (the default happened apparently almost a year ago)

I can get in contact with the collection agency, and the Florida department of education, however when I try to contact the people taking money out of my account is unsuccessful. They only have an automated system where you must be an account holder to get past the front door. And because my loan "defaulted" I am no longer in the system.

So I have a terrible credit history an open collections for over 10k and a company still taking payment for a loan the state of Florida already paid for. And no way of contacting them to fix it.

So do I have a case?

Keep in mind im in Afghanistan for 10 months out of the year so its hard to keep tabs on mail.

Thanks

 

Lawyer up.

 

Yeah, I'm already looking at local lawyers to call this week. Definitely pisses me off they got payment for the loan from Florida and are still sneaking the auto payments on me even after my account is closed.

 

IMHO, and I hate to say it, but in that situation I'd have to believe a lawyer is almost mandatory. Sucks that problems like that almost always necessitate a lawyer.

 

I normally just straighten things up when there is a mistake. But when they are stealing money from me and making me look bad i'll definitely call a lawyer. I think I feel more comfortable with a lawyer for this too.

 

I will give my 2 cents - for what its worth.
Student loan debt will be the next financial "bubble" to burst.

Many people will say that student loans are great etc.

However - they are the worst type of loans to get. WHY ??? you ask.....

They are in fact government backed (well most of them). That means if you dont pay up then they will get thier money one way or another.
Liens, Wage Garneshment . etc.

Now if you have been paying on them and have proof on this with your monthly bank statements - then YES you want to call them and inform them that if they dont get thier information cleared up and your credit fixed then you will contact an attorney.

An attorney will charge them and fee accrued and they will pay since it was thier mistake --- if you have no verification of payments then you are S.O.L.

Best of luck to you man.....

 

Agreed.

 

So, if I'm reading this correctly, the state of Florida might be wanting to go after the loan company to get back some of their money.

How is the auto-pay setup? Through the bank electronically? Your employment? How much have they double-collected (i.e.-money they've stolen from you)?

Normally there should be some way to contact the company and get a "live rep". Start looking for alternate phone numbers to contact them.

And lawyer up.

 

I have my bank statements for sure, Thanks.

 

Most useless post ever

 

This is why I am not taking loans for school.

 

Yes thats exactly what it sounds like.

Ive had auto pay set up thru my bank electronically. As in Acct # and Routing #.

Ive looked for alternate numbers, came up with one and it directed me to a different company. couldnt get a live rep there either. must enter account or social. none of which work for me.

 

As a former debt collector, and agency manager I'd do the following
1. Dispute the auto-drafts from the moment the state paid your loan with YOUR bank and demand the money back, they'll usually side with their customers.
2. Make your bank reject those debits in the future - they can do it easily enough
3. BEFORE you lawyer up - talk with the collectors about what you can reasonably do to resolve it, don't gripe about the system, don't gripe about the previous management company - just ATTEMPT to deal with the situation
4. If they're unreasonable then lawyer up BUT your results with a student loan debt will be limited, most of the rules of 3rd party collections don'y apply to education loans. You must find a repayment answer, the only thing a lawyer will do for you is mediate a payment plan...

Unfortunately there is about a 0.000000000000001% chance of you getting so much as 5 cents off of the bill.

Wildcard: are you in the service? (and were you deployed, with orders) I'm gathering by your lack of prior disclosure that you were probably a contractor... No protection there.

 

^^
Good advice and informative, I wasn't aware a education loan would be any different.

 

I dont want any money off the bill, Im not trying to get out of paying it. I want my money back from the double payments or I want it put towards the loan like it was suppose to and my credit back to normal.

 

Then talk to your bank. If anyone ever has money flying out of their bank account the bank is the first party you call... always.


edit: I didn't mean to imply you were some deadbeat - most people equate lawyering up with collections to getting out of paying the debt.

 

There's a reason student loans are pretty much the one thing you can't get out from under in bankruptcy.

They will ALWAYS collect at some point. Always.

 

No offense taken, Im just trying to get my ducks in a row to buy a house soon, and cant have this shit goin on. I need my report to reflect properly to not hurt the loan process.

 

Long shot here but do you have an address of the collection company, if so maybe somebody local to them could get contact info for a live person there.