[Sean Cook]

There is a woman that has been calling to my mother's house regarding a loan that I got during my college years. My mom is not on the loan at all but for some reason the woman has discussed the details of the loan with my mom and has also been taking payments from her on the loan. (why my mom has been paying her I DO NOT KNOW). At any rate, I thought there was a law that stated that collection agencies could not discuss the details of a financial loan with no one but the debtor and possibly the spouse.
IS this true?
Personally I do not believe that I have a loan with this particular school, I see no evidence of it on my credit report even though it supposedly had been outstanding for years prior to the lady getting in touch with my mom.

What should I do? I think she is being scammed.

[IAAL]

There is a woman that has been calling to my mother's house regarding a loan that I got during my college years. My mom is not on the loan at all but for some reason the woman has discussed the details of the loan with my mom and has also been taking payments from her on the loan. (why my mom has been paying her I DO NOT KNOW). At any rate, I thought there was a law that stated that collection agencies could not discuss the details of a financial loan with no one but the debtor and possibly the spouse.
IS this true?
Personally I do not believe that I have a loan with this particular school, I see no evidence of it on my credit report even though it supposedly had been outstanding for years prior to the lady getting in touch with my mom.

What should I do? I think she is being scammed.

My response:

Instead of letting your mother "take the heat," why haven't you called or written to this "woman" for confirmation of the debt? If the debt is valid, then your mother re-opened the Statute of Limitations on your debt. If it was a government-backed loan, then there is no Statute of Limitations.

Make the call.

IAAL

[Mr. Knowitall]

If your mother isn't on the loan in any manner her payment shouldn't restart the statute of limitations (if one applies), as she is a third party to the loan.

It isn't apparent that this person represents a collection agency as opposed to the lender. The rules are different for collection agencies working to collect somebody else's debt, and for in-house collection departments.

If you don't have a loan, as IAAL says, why aren't you demanding that the educational institution or collection agency confirm the debt?

[Sean Cook]

Thanks for the information. My mom just told me about the fact that she has been dealing with the woman and I JUST got the phone number and the information yesterday.
I intend to contact them today to find get more information on the loan, prior to any further payment.

I only had one federal loan, the remainder of the tuition was paid via scholarship.

Could someone please explain the "statue of limitations" law to me.

Thanks for the assistance also.

[spete]

It isn't "statue" of limitations, but "statute" or law of limitations. Wikipedia has a good summary of the general concept, but doesn't talk about how it applies to debt.

For that, go to the following article:
"State Statutes of Limitation for Old Debts." The article has a state-by-state table of the length of time that may elapse since the last payment on the debt. Sometimes that is pretty short; in PA it's four years, for any kind of contract.
Spete

[almazul]

hmmm....well, one person above says there IS a statute (note correct spelling) of limitations even on student loans, and another says there IS NOT a statute of limitations on SLs --or is that only if there are federal? Can someone clarify? Mine are GSL loans...I'd like to know....

[Mr. Knowitall]

You don't identify your lender. There is not ordinarily a statute of limitations for guaranteed student loans. You should post follow-up questions in your own thread.