Skip to Content
Edelman Combs Latturner & Goodwin, LLC Edelman Combs Latturner & Goodwin, LLC
Call Us Today! 312-626-3585
Top

Protecting the Rights of Consumers For Over 25 Years

|

Are you being sued or dunned on a private student loan allegedly held by one of the National Collegiate Student Loan Trusts?

Until 2015, about 125 lawsuits per month were filed to collect National Collegiate Student Loan Trust loans in Cook County alone, with more in other Illinois counties. We defended over 100 of these cases. For a period, the filing of new cases virtually ceased.

The National Collegiate trusts have now resumed filing lawsuits against Illinois residents. We are again defending them and resolving them on a favorable basis.

Some important dos and don’ts with respect to these loans:

DO NOT allow National Collegiate to get a judgment against you by failing to respond to a summons and complaint. National Collegiate has obtained hundreds of judgments against people who did not bother to defend themselves even though they had valid defenses. If you fail to respond, National Collegiate can get a default judgment against you and then garnish your non-exempt wages, seize your non-exempt assets and put liens on your real property. A judgment can be enforced against your nonexempt assets and up to 15% of your wages. Judgments are enforceable for 10-27 years in Illinois, and bear interest at 5 to 9%.

DO NOT make the mistake of calling National Collegiate or its attorneys or debt collectors before speaking to an attorney. We will review your documents and facts and consult with you without charge, and advise you whether you have a defense, whether we will take your case and what our fees will be.

DO NOT ASSUME THAT NATIONAL COLLEGIATE IS ENTITLED TO COLLECT without having an attorney familiar with these loans examine potential defenses. We believe that most National Collegiate cases have serious problems with them, for multiple reason

  • Sometimes National Collegiate cannot prove the amount due. National Collegiate loans are actually serviced by Transworld/ NCO Financial, an organization which has a long history of consent orders and government investigations. Transworld is currently under investigation by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; this casts doubt on the accuracy of any records it produces.

  • Some suits appear to be filed beyond the statute of limitations

  • There is litigation in Delaware concerning who is authorized to enforce the loans. Do not assume that the lawyers filing suit on National Collegiate loans are authorized to do so.

We have lots of experience defending claims on these private loans. We have also brought a number of affirmative claims challenging National Collegiate’s collection practices, as both individual and (more than half a dozen) class actions. Many of these collection practices, including many National Collegiate collection letters, violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and other laws.

If you are currently being sued or dunned on a private student loan allegedly held by National Collegiate, please call us immediately. Our attorneys have a total of more than 100 years experience handling consumer lawsuits, including both lawsuits by consumers and lawsuits against consumers. One of them wrote the book on defending collection lawsuits. D. Edelman, Collection Litigation: Representing the Debtor (Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education 2008, 2011, 2014, 2019 editions), as well as the chapters in Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education publications on the Truth in Lending Act, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Telephone Consumer Protection Act, and mortgage-related claims.

Also, please send us any collection letters seeking to collect National Collegiate loans. Many contain violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and other laws.

We can help you both defend claims against you and assert your rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and other laws.

There is no charge for consultation. If we conclude that we can be of assistance to you, we charge modest fees for defending foreclosure and collection lawsuits. We take virtually all affirmative cases on a contingency

Share To: