So I defaulted on my student loan a while back (government loans, not private) due to severe hardship and recently I've been trying to get the whole situation straightened out because I only had 2 or 3 small loans (totalling around $7000) which were split up into very weird amounts and sold off to a CA. But I have 4 or 5 different account #'s with them and all these different $ amounts. One is even as low as $14?!?! Well, I filed my taxes and got a refund of $5025 and, of course, every penny was taken for the loans. (Grrrr!) Well.....about 3 weeks after my tax money was taken, I got a letter from the CA offering me a settlement amount of $3000-some-odd dollars instead of the original total due which was $7000-something (after all the fee's and crap.) So my questions are these:
1 - My tax money is going to go to the OC (NelNet, or whoever it was) and NOT the CA's, correct?
2 - I'm assuming that settlement offer is null and void since my tax money was already taken and sent to the OC (the settlement offer was sent from the CA). I know it probably is, but a girl can dream can't she?? lol
3 - What happens now?? So now the OC has been sent my tax refund which should bring my debt owed to them down to around $2000. So....what happens to the $ I owe the CA? I'm confused about how this works and I wanna pull my hair out.
Help? lol
I would track down NelNet and get records. You need to know how this money was applied.
when this happened to me, I got a letter that broke it down. The CA would natural have old numbers.
DV the CA.
So you think if I DV the CA I may have a chance of getting out of the remaining debt?
The only letter I've gotten is from the IRS letting me know the money was taken and applied to my loans.
On a personal note - It was THE worst possible time to take that money. Single mom, laid off 5 weeks earlier with no income and no child support coming in.....I was in a VERY bad place and that money was going to save my life. :( Oh well...I have a job now and things are looking up. Just so annoyed at the whole thing. I don't think they should be able to take your refund for something like a student loan. Back child support or something like that, of course. But not a student loan. Oy.
student loans are from the government and they never give up.
Getting out of the remaining debt, I'm not sure.
Send a DV letter. You only owe 2000 more.
Please don't be annoyed, but I'm so new to this. lol
I thought sending the DV letter was for the purpose of trying to get out of paying the full debt? Like, if they can't validate the debt then you can refuse to pay or something to that affect. Send a DV to NelNet would do what for me?
Thanks for helping!! I'm so lost. lol
A DV letter is to request proof of the debt , and who currently owns the debt.
Sometimes this makes the debt go away not always. In this case you need to stop them from overcharging you for this loan.
What cinnamon is saying is that you will want to make sure the people who are trying to collect the debt are actually legal to collect it.
Sometimes collection agencies will obtain a debt but don't get all the information, like the original contract or other paperwork, like proper transfer according to the original contract, a high percentage of the time they will not have the proper information to give you debt validation and you will not have to pay them.
Make sure you send any debt validation certified mail, return receipt requested. Hang on to a copy of the letter as well as your receipts when you sent it.
Ok, you both have REALLY helped! Thank you so much!
I'm going to go ahead and send the DV to the CA and see what happens.
debt validation
Hi SamGurl,
Yes, I agree with cinnamngrl. You can send a debt validation letter to the collection agency through certified mail requesting a return receipt. If you need a sample debt validation letter, you will be able to get one at http://www.creditmagic.org/repair/sampleletter-debtvalidation.html .
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Aaron