The law is different for Student Loans then for many loans like credit cards, car notes, or personal loans. For example, student loans can sometimes lead to garnishment — money taken out of your paycheck — without a court judgment!
However, student loan collectors are not allowed to harass you any more than any other collector. Many times student loan collections are done by the original creditor, but in states like California and Texas, harassment is illegal no matter if it is done by outside collections or the original owner of the loan.
Some things that student loan collectors are not allowed to do include: talking to people at your job or family members about your debt (although they can talk to co-signers), calling you before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., and speaking or yelling at you in a derogatory fashion, either by calling you names or telling you how you are a bad person for not being able to pay your debts.
Student loan collections are serious business — for many people, student loans are the largest debts they have and they can not get discharged in bankruptcy. If you have outstanding student loans you are unable to pay, there are progams to help you. However, harassment is not part of the program. If you are being harassed by a collector, be it a student loan collector or otherwise, contact your local consumer attorney for help!
Everyday Law 
Hi, good post. I have been wondering about this issue,so thanks for posting. I’ll certainly be coming back to your blog.
Comment by How I Lost Thirty Pounds in Thirty Days — May 3, 2009 @ 8:21 pm |
i might be needing personal loans next month coz i need a home renovation and some garden renovation too ~;-
Comment by Bottled Water — November 17, 2010 @ 12:04 pm |
Interesting information. My student loan is late and today they contacted my 71 year old mother, told her the total of my debt, that they would garnish my wages, and that I would lose my teaching credential. Not sure how to proceed from here but I certainly am not going to let them harass my mom.
Comment by microshells — January 18, 2012 @ 7:35 pm |
How many calls is to many calls and when is it considered harassment, i get a call every 20 minutes to an starting from 8:00am till about 4 or 5PM some times as late as 8:00pm.
I talked to one person told them my situation and less than 20 minutes later another person from the same collection agency called me back, but said my debt total was completely different from the previous person i spoke with in addition this woman told me i never made a payment for the school loan since it was filed, i told her i have bank statements and other things that say other wise when i said that she hung up with out a word, then another hour or so some one else called me back with a third different total, and i asked her why does the total keep changing 3 times in a day, and she said that’s absolutely normal, and then i questioned my payments and where i can find the history and she said little information other than i’d have to go speak with the collectors manager, and then she hung up….
Needless to say i need to know when its considered harassment and what i can do to stop it, and if the fact that the value of the same debt keeps changing is considered an issue or not.
Comment by Dylan Palmer — April 24, 2012 @ 11:50 am |
I have had the same issues; different amounts, they refuse to address the fact that I have made payments. I asked for an itemization; nothing, I called the us dept of ed, was transferred 4 times, receieved an address in TX to write to; I did never heard back. These people talk to anyone who answers the phone; they threaten, they call at least 10 times every day…even from cell phone numbers; extremely irritating. I told them I would be happy to pay the amount I owe, but that varies more than 10,000 ev time I talk to them. You wouldn’t be dealing with allied interstate collection would you? Probably the same person.
Comment by shelley — May 30, 2012 @ 6:04 pm |
Hello Dylan, That sounds like too many calls, especially all from the same collector! It may be a servicer and not a collector though and if so, then your state law may or may not offer you protection. I’d advise you to go to http://www.naca.net and look at the attorney finder page to find a local consumer attorney. Best of luck.
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