[missarachnid]

Integrity financial is handing a loan I cosigned from my ex-husband through Sallie Mae. They left a message with my mom saying if they didn't get a hold of me soon, they would sue me and garnish my wages. I didn't think companies were allowed to divulge such information to a party that is not involved. I talked to my ex's girlfriend (she does much of the communicating for him) and we were both to call on the same day. I called and the lady told me I would be sued if he didn't call and work out a solution. So later that day he called. He didn't talk to the same person, he talked to a man who said he was handling the account. He informed them if it wasn't taken care of they could garnish form 33 to 60% if both of our wages. They worked out a plan with him where he would get a loan from his 401k for $5000+ and then pay high payments for a year +$100 for another loan he had through Sallie. It seemed everything would be solved.

Then that next Monday when my ex's girlfriend went to the bank to see about the 401k loan, it turns out it would take some days longer to process. She called Integrity to tell about the problem and spoke to the same lady I had. The lady said the man she had previously spoken to was not authorized to set up such a plan and they couldn't settle on one loan without doing the other. And that besides all that the 401k loan had to be in by that original date or else. The "new plan" would have them paying $1100/mo., which they cannot afford. Earlier that very same day, the lady left a message on my voicemail saying a plan had been worked out with Mike so I had nothing to worry about (you know the plan worked out with that original man, the one he wasn't authorized to set up?!).

There seems to be a lot of lying and cheating going on, on their part. I live in Georgia which is a state where I can tape conversations without telling them. Should I try to get some of this underhandedness on tape, or are they allowed to do this to us. Can I use the messages left with me and my mom against them? Help!

[Mr. Knowitall]

This is your ex-husband's issue. The only person who can enter into a binding agreement with his lenders in relation to his loans is him. I don't see how recording people over the phone will help you, given that you're not even authorized to act on his behalf and aren't able to accept any offer they make.

Next time you get a settlement offer you like, ask them to convey it to your ex-husband in writing.

[missarachnid]

Isn't it my issue issue since I co-signed for the loan? And the recording is an attempt to catch someone breaking the fair debt collection laws. They are threatening to sue me, so it concerns me very much when they made a deal with them, and then suddenly took it away, claiming the person who made it did not have the authority to do so.