Without going into too much detail, here's my situation. Sometime in
the early 1990s, I defaulted on two student loans. One was a loan I
had taken out in California in the late 1970s, and the other a loan in
New Mexico in the late 1980s. In 2001, I telephoned the New Mexico
Student Loan Guarantee Corporation and asked about my repayment
options. The woman I talked to took my name, telephone and social
security numbers, and so on. After a brief computer search, she told
me that my account had been referred to a collection agency and that I
would have to speak to them. (I did not call the agency, largely
because of what I had read in the Student Loan section of Bud Hibbs'
online book.) Within perhaps a month, I started getting calls from
collection agencies. That has continued to the present, with lulls
here and there as collectors have tossed my account back and forth (I
have never spoken or corresponded with any of them). I am self-
employed and have thereby avoided wage garnishment and, for the most
part, tax refund offsets. I have documentation of my New Mexico loans
but not of my California loans. I have reams of collection agency
documents with figures I cannot fathom or verify and in any case do
not trust.
Basically, I want to rehabilitate my loans to get them out of
default. As near as I can tell, my loans totaled about $17,000. With
interest, fees, etc., I now owe about twice that. My biggest fear is
that if I deal with a collection agency, I'll end up owing and paying
considerably more.
Questions:
1. Is there any chance that I can avoid collection agencies and deal
with the lender directly?
2. I'm assuming that the Department of Education is the party I owe.
In anyone's experience, is it possible to negotiate a settlement with
them?
3. Is it advisable to do this through an attorney? If so, does
anyone know of one (or anyone else) who does that sort of thing?
Thanks,
jay rea
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