Any parent have problems with there student not getting loan repayment notices then all of a sudden hearing from a collection agency that a big penalty is due? What did you do?
Thanks.
You can file a complaint/inquiry with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). They can help you get a history of notices, of transfers of the loan, of help getting unfair fees waived. Its student loan section is really excellent.
Twoinandone: Thank you!! I will try it.
Did they move and not update their address?
Yes I believe that is what happened. Not only that the name changed due to marriage.
Well, when you have changes like that you need to update any creditor, bank, employer, get ID changed, etc.
How would they get a hold of you?
My D did the entrance counseling for her student loans, I think it goes over repayment terms (6 mos after graduating college, or if you drop under halftime), probably also responsibilities of the borrower, such as notifying loan servicer of address changes and such. She also had to provide the names of some people that can be contacted in case they can’t reach her.
Then I believe there is exit counseling too. Did your daughter not read any of these?
I hope she can get this straightened out, pay back the school, but sounds like it has already escalated to collections so she should work with them to get this paid back.
She doesn’t want a far reaching blemish on her credit report. If she is married they might want to but a house sometime in the future, and it can impact employment as well.
http://www.bankrate.com/finance/personal-finance/checklist-for-name-change-after-marriage-1.aspx
A checklist on who to contact after name change (address too)
https://www.nslds.ed.gov/nslds/nslds_SA/
National Student Loan data system
Unless your child changed their name, address and email, they do get notices. It’s been awhile but I know we also had to add an alternative contact and address. Maybe 2. And their address during college was mine, their home address not where they were living during college which changed every year.
There were lots of email notices that the loans were going into repayment. They went to their emails and to mine as the secondary. My kids had a .edu email and each got a gmail account which transferred emails from one account to another.
I know I’m being cranky, but the kid had to know that the loans were going into payments, ignoring that leads to all kinds of problems and expenses.
I know this doesn’t help now and that I’m being cranky.
deb922 - No problem, you’re not cranky you were being helpful. I’ve made the same comments to my daughter but she says no notices. It is possible because she changed names, addresses (twice in 1 year due to military assignments of her new husband), lost her college ID access. I will add that my daughter is responsible, she was a good and hard working college student and she and her husband pay their bills now. Nevertheless, we are where we are. I think I will advise her to do what mommdc suggested and work with collections to get it cleared up. Thanks all. Any other thoughts such as the ones above are very welcome.
Out of curiosity, is this for her Direct Loans, or for Perkins Loans?
Students are required to do exit counseling when they leave school, but schools can only tell them - they can’t force them to do it. Even when they do it, they don’t always pay attention. They are informed of the importance of keeping their servicer(s) updated with all information (name, email, address, telephone number, etc).
I work at a small graduate school, and I have a mandatory loan repayment meeting in the student’s last semester, offer one-on-one sessions after the meeting, and require exit counseling before they can walk at Commencement (or get their diploma, if they don’t attend). I drill into them the importance of knowing their servicer(s), signing up for online accounts, reading all emails and snail mail from the servicer, updating information, etc. Yet I still have grads who don’t do what they know they should do, and who call me in a panic when they find themselves in a bind as a result. Please reiterate to her the importance of the online account & keeping all info up to date. AND … reading all emails!
Kelsmom I wish my daughter had you as an advisor!!