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A putative class action lawsuit has been filed against a student loan collection company, the National Collegiate Student Loan Trust, and the Law Offices of Patenaude & Felix APC, alleging that they used deceptive practices to collect student loan debts in the state of California.
Lead plaintiff Dawn Zoerb filed the student loan class action lawsuit in a California federal court on February 28. Zoerb alleges in the class action that in June of 2013, he fell behind on his student loan payments and the debt was transferred to National Collegiate and then to Patenaude for collection. Zoerb claims that Patenaude filed a state collections lawsuit in California debt court against him on behalf of National Collegiate for collection of the student loan debt. However, Zoerb claims that Patenaude incorrectly failed to identify the original creditor in the collections lawsuit.
Zoerb alleges in the class action lawsuit that “[d]efendants … unlawfully and abusively collect[ed] a debt allegedly owed by [Zoerb], and this conduct caused [Zoerb] damages” amounting to $1000, along with attorney fees and litigation costs.
Zoerb brought the class action on behalf of all persons in California who also had a collection lawsuit filed against them to recover a consumer debt where the lawsuit failed to provide the name of the original creditor.
Zoerb alleges in the class action lawsuit that National Collegiate and Patenaude’s debt collection practices violated the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and a California state debt collection statute, the Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
Zoerb points out in his lawsuit that “[t]he United States Congress has found abundant evidence of the use of abusive, deceptive, and unfair debt collection practices by many debt collectors, and has determined that abusive debt collection practices contribute to the number of personal bankruptcies, to marital instability, to the loss of jobs, and to invasions of individual privacy,” and “Congress wrote the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act … to eliminate abusive debt collection practices by debt collectors, to insure that those debt collectors who refrain from using abusive debt collection practices are not competitively disadvantaged, and to promote consistent State action to protect consumers against debt collection abuses.”
Zoerb also notes, “[t]he California legislature has determined that the banking and credit system and grantors of credit to consumers are dependent upon the collection of just and owing debts and that unfair or deceptive collection practices undermine the public confidence that is essential to the continued functioning of the banking and credit system and sound extensions of credit to consumers. The Legislature has further determined that there is a need to ensure that debt collectors exercise this responsibility with fairness, honesty and due regard for the debtor’s rights and that debt collectors must be prohibited from engaging in unfair or deceptive acts or practices.”
The plaintiff is represented by Crosby S. Connolly, Robert L. Hyde and Joshua B. Swigart of Hyde & Swigart.
The National Collegiate Student Loan Collection Class Action Lawsuit is Dawn Zoerb, et al. v. National Collegiate Student Loan Trust, et al., Case No. 3:14-cv-00468, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
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9 thoughts onStudent Loan Collection Company Hit with Class Action Lawsuit for Unfair Practices
How do we get rid of national collegiate?? Attorneys are so expensive and i know a class action lawsuit is best, but how do i get involved?
This guys are crooks straight up. In Ohio they don t follow the law they use the court system here to strong arm people into paying. I had a case with them in Lorain County where they couldn t produce any original loan paperwork yet they still wanted to try an collect on the debt. I had to pro se the case as I ve been unemployed for over 5 years now. This bloodsuckers still wanted me to pay them for accounts they purchase for pennies on the dollar.
I want to do the following on my student loans!
Here are my thoughts on how the bank committed fraud and broken the agreement with me the student.
Need to have the original, wet-ink note I signed for review because: I still had no idea how much exactly I owed and to whom?
• The bank may have changed the note to make it marketable from a securitization standpoint, thereby raising the issue of whether such changes have made the note invalid and unenforceable
• The assignments of the note I signed may not have occurred, or may have occurred through an illegal, forged or fraudulent way; I am sure my loans had been sold off to different agencies based on the type of loan and to whom?
• Also to see if the loan agreement owe me the student the duty of negotiating a loan modification agreement in good faith. Failure to negotiate in good faith would be a defense, arguably, to the note;
• Failure to negotiate in good faith would be an defence.
• The bank may be charging illegal, usurious interest on the loans in spite of various rulings which permit banks to charge usury; I research that a max interest of 6.8%. Mine are at 7.8%?
• I have had made various payments to other banks that that have not been reflected. Close to 10,000 dollars! rehabilitate my loans for 10 consecutive months at $900 a month. Borrowers pay a fee of up to 18.5 percent of the total debt to the collection agencies, which is added to the principal balance after the loans have come out of default. Never ever was advised of this. If so, where is the wet ink note? Complete fraud over and over again!
• The bank may have written off the loan with the IRS (evidence by a form 1099-C;)
• We never advised its 30% failure rate. That alone is fraud knowing is likely the loan is going to fail!
• The Student Loan Ranger estimates based on data from various sources, that as many as 44 percent of all student loan borrowers today are either at least 90 days overdue or have temporarily postponed payment. Combined with the defaulted borrowers, that means almost 60 percent of student loan borrowers have had problems with their education debt. More fraud writing loans that are meant to fail!
• Defaults are tracked, the school’s default rate I am sure is under 60%. More Fraud
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I need a lawyer ask for the required docs and get a case against my loan note holder.
A lawyer could spend a few hours looking into (and perhaps resolving some of) the various issues I have outline.
Need him/her prepare and file a complaint but at all times you must make sure that any lawsuit is meritorious (meaning, that you have a basis, which means that I was defrauded into signing the student loans for a course of study which the school knew statistically would not result in sufficient income for you to be able to service the loan).
Bottom line
• Took out 38k of loans 20 years ago and now owe 137k. Now repayment $898 a month for 40 years. 431k totally to pay off a student loan. That should be an felony. Plus they will doc my Social Security too. This has gone too far!
• There is a reason why student loans is more than a trillion dollars business outstanding student loans.
• Was denied financial aid in ’95 from Daytona State College and was told to resubmit paper work and fill out that I lived on a house boat, open a PO box, handed a rental contract and how to fill out student loans to qualify. The college must be getting kickbacks from the lenders and government. This is 100% fraud. All I need is just have to have a court order to find it! Bait and switch was in play and college must have been getting kickbacks!
• If any of the above request cannot be meet, it would be a breach of contract. Right?
• It’s trillion dollar business. Because our corrupt government made it impossible to get out of a student loans and wants a national full of debt slaves.
• I thinks the loan holder and college will settle out of court instead of opening a can of worms and with a risk of being a found guilty of fraud. If being presented with these issues and I think they would settle out of court.
• A lawsuit, based on fraud, could also be commenced at the same time against the college and guarantor institution, both of which must have known about the fraud based upon the statistics the college had to prepare to publish. Even though they may not now own the notes, their presence in the law suit might be helpful to encourage overall settlement of the lawsuit and to help us establish though discovery that the present owner of the notes is not the holder in due course and is subject to our defense of fraud. 62,295 added for consolidation. What? Where did I ever agree to this?
• Student loans are very similar to home mortgages. Both involve a purchaser acquiring massive, life time debt secured by real estate and a higher education and are both underwater for millions of Americans, with the value of the property and education worthless than the amount owed to the banks.
• I the student should not only be unafraid of being sued on student loans, I want to start a lawsuit myself against the lender and college.
• Bring suit, then settle in suit! Short & sweet and simple.
Facts that were never brought to my intension:
• Interest Rates Can Only Go Up
Some bipartisan deal. Recently, Congress briefly allowed interest rates of undergraduate federal student loans to double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. This didn’t last long. However, the new deal reached this past summer isn’t that much better. Now, student loans will have variable interest rates which can only go up. As the economy improves, the interest rates will rise as well and could eclipse 6.8 percent by 2015.
• Government Profiting Off Student Loans
If the Federal Government were a private company, it would be the most profitable company in the world. The Congressional Budget Office projects that the Federal Government made about $50 BILLION on student loans in 2013. This is $5 billion more than ExxonMobile, the most profitable company in the country.
• Your Student Loans Could Make You Unemployable
With seven million Americans defaulting on their student loans, this also means that seven million Americans will have their personal credit plummet and be deemed unhireable by many employers as a result. Once a borrower has defaulted on a student loan, this can also result in automatically becoming ineligible for some government jobs.
Here is a lawsuit that won 13 Million for fraud!
Single Mom Student Wins $13 Million from For-Profit College
Posted 2 years ago in Consumer Law Jury Awards Your Money & The Law by Sylvia Hsieh
A for-profit college must pay $13 million for pulling a bait-and-switch on a single mother who took out $27,000 in student loans for the wrong degree then was told she had to take out another $10,000 for the correct degree. In 2009, Jennifer Kerr, a 42-year old single mother of two children, decided to pursue her dream of becoming a nurse after she saw a TV ad for Vatterott College!
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2. Sallie Mae Must Pay Service Members $60 Million for …
http://www.usnews.com/…/05/13/sallie-mae-must…for-student-loan-violation May 13, 2014 • Student lending giant Sallie Mae has been ordered to pay nearly $100 million in restitution and penalties for \unfair and deceptive\ practices related to …
Re: Unlawful Debt Collection Practices and Harassment
To Whom It May Concern,
I am writing to you in your capacity as to make you aware of unscrupulous and unlawful debt collection practices by National Collegiate Student Loan Trust and subsequent illegal harassment through its agencies JAVITCH, BLOCK & RATHBONE, LLC within the State of Ohio. I am sure if these events that are happening to me, they are also happening to hundreds of other individuals who owe student loans. It is a travesty of justice and needs to be stopped.
On or around December, 2011, I contacted Geneses Financial Management (800)460-8641, which is a Debt Consolidation Company to consolidate my student loan debt which was owed to National Collegiate Student Loan Trust. This was supposed to help make it manageable for me to pay. The consolidation was to be handled through BANK ONE and the agreement was for one payment to GFM and they would be disperse to each of the five loans for a fee of $50.
As soon as I started paying, NCSLT started harassing me for payment. I was sent a harassment letter stating that they were going to sue me and garnish my wages. They were contacting my employer between January 2012 and March 2012. According to the Fair debt collection practices act, they cannot threaten to sue or call your employer after you inform them to not contact employer. (806 Harassment or Abuse of the Fair and Accurate Transaction Act)
On or about March 6, 2012, at approximately 9:06 pm a sheriff to my residence to provide me a return of service of summons. This is past the time allowed by law to serve papers. In the Court records the sheriff wrote that he served the paper at 11:33 am but this was an inaccurate statement as I work the third shift and was not home at that time and I have proof taken on my Verizon Wireless phone (detail on account 586693620) that my girlfriend took, as she was home when the papers were served.
From January, 2012, through May, 2013, I made payments promptly and was never late. (Statements from GFM verifying attached). Javitch, Block and Rathbone, the law firm representing National College Trust (NCT), started requesting that my wages be garnished. I was forced to obtain legal counsel (Mr. Randy Reeves), to negotiate the terms and stop garnishments, even though I was never late making payments to GFM.
An agreement was reached on June 12, 2013 through the attorneys, and we agreed that I would pay $120.00 per loan for five loans, or $600 per month. On August 9, 2013, they filed again for garnishment while I was making payments on time. The first payment under this new agreement was due on June 15th. Despite knowledge of the due date, Javitch, Block and Rathbone executed a wage garnishment on Plaintiff on June 10th, in violation of the spirit of the payment agreement.
I had to go to Court to stop this illegal garnishment of my wages. On my Court date of October 29, 2013, I explained to Judge Reed that I had not missed any payments and that I was doing everything in my power to pay and could prove my payment history. Judge Reed said that we had to negotiate terms within 10 days and get back to the courts. On the last day, Eric Peterson, attorney with Javitch, Block and Rathbone called to negotiate terms. He admitted that the reason for garnishment was because the payments were not being applied accurately on their part, which went against the agreement. During the negotiation for payments on the phone, I stated what I would pay and asked what his counter would be. Mr. Peterson refused to negotiate with me even knowing he was in the wrong and this now put him in contempt of court. The judge called the law firm to speak with him and he received no response.
I have listed the following abuses I have suffered from the illegal
Consent to publish the description of what happened? Consent not provided
Product Student loan: Non-federal student loan
Issue Dealing with my lender or servicer: Trouble with how payments are being handled
I am a resident of Louisiana and had a nightmare with this ‘lender’. There are no realistic plans to assist the unemployed. Furthermore, I feel like they are a loan shark and use deceptive practices. I still do not understand how AES and NOT serviced this loan at the same time!
NCT instead of NOT.
Hello,
I have had the same dealing with National Colligate Fund and P&F. They have been a nightmare to work with. I have been paying them for over 2 years and have not received one statement. I am very concerned they are running a ponzi type scheme. They harassed me into paying 600 a month. I am going broke because of them. Can you please help?
Contact one the law firms regarding this.
Hello my name is Barbara Gibson I am being harassed by national collegiate loan trust oweing 28,215.77 and I am on disability and send all my papers in. I am very sick. I have new illness on my plate that is life threatening. And this billing keeps growing. Please help.