Loan Taken Out in My Name

sandio · #1 08-02-2009, 08:15 PM

My question involves collection proceedings in the State of: PA

I attended a school in NEPA in the late 80's. a loan was taken out in my name unknown to me at the time until i received a payment booklet in the mail. i called united student aid funds number on the booklet and found that this loan was already in default. i disputed the validity of the loan with them with no resolution. they sold the loan to southwest student services and doubled the principle. since this was ruining my credit, i made payments on this, both to USA Funds and Southwest Student Services. after many letters written and still no resolution, i somewhat gave up on this (silly.) the original amount listed on this was $3,500. In 1996, i was contacted by an attorney (so they said) that wanted to help me resolve this case. i sent them money (against my better judgement) after which i was notified that the debt was consolidated. the amount doubled yet again and was sold to sallie mae. the tally now stands at $13,000. usa funds, southwest student services and sallie mae are all part of the same, Sallie Mae companies. further, the school i had attended was closed shortly after i graduated, the director and founder found guilty of fraud, my school records shredded, the offender went to jail, paid fines in relation to the fraud and now i'm still stuck with a bill that STILL isn't mine. Over the years, i have paid more than the $3,500 that was originally listed on the promissory note that i had requested from USA Funds. Does anyone have any advice for me??? I filed for Chapter 7 before the laws changed and it was granted, except for this lien.

Mr. Knowitall · #2 08-04-2009, 12:25 PM

You are stating that who borrowed the funds? Do you know that it was the "director and founder" of the school, or are you guessing? Why have you been paying on the loan if it wasn't yours? When did you first tell them that you believe the loan was taken out by, let's say, the director of the school - and what was the resolution of their investigation of that claim?

sandio · #3 08-10-2009, 10:37 PM

that's the thing, i don't know WHO borrowed the funds. i was pursued by a law firm and since i was young, inexperienced and a single mother and they were threatening me with all sorts of things, i sent them a payment, after which i was notified that the loan was consolidated. i wrote letters, requested documents, contacted the attorney general's office that was investigating and since my records had been shredded, it's basically a he said/she said scenario i guess. that's why i'm asking for advice.

Scott67 · #4 08-11-2009, 12:22 AM

Well, to say the least, this is all very confusing. I can not imagine making payments on a loan that I did not consider valid, or hadn't been established legally as valid. My first recommendation would be that you speak to an attorney to help sort this out, since we can't see all of the details here.

If you chose not to do that: (1) do not make any farther payments (2) write a letter notifying the company currently billing you that you do not believe this is a valid debt. Request that they provide documentation of the original loan to prove that you at one time owed this money. (3) Tell them that, in the absense of documentation proving the validity of the debt, you demand that they return all moneys paid.

You have made some big mistakes in paying on this debt, since making payments gives the impression that you consider the debt valid.

I do have to tell you that there are some confusing things in your post. You refer to a promissary note from USA funds. Is that note signed by you, or is it not? That would establish a valid debt. You then refer to a lien. A lien on what property, by whom?

Your statement of you don't know WHO borrowed the funds is even more confusing. Why in the world would you make payments on a loan when you didn't receive the borrowed funds and have no idea who borrowed them?

Is there relevant information that you are leaving out? If not, if the "owner" of the debt can not prove his (its) right to the loan proceeds (starting historically from the inception of the loan and showing all payments made) he has no case to pursue against you. But, in court, you would have to be able to explain why you previously made payments since that implies that you considered the debt valid.