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What to Do if Your Parents Took Out Student Loans in Your Name to Pay for College

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  • 07-09-2017, 03:15 PM
    Jpbracken18
    What to Do if Your Parents Took Out Student Loans in Your Name to Pay for College
    My question involves collection proceedings in the State of: North Carolina

    Short story (long story at the bottom): I think my mom signed loan documents in my name using an electronic signature.

    Long story: my parents always told me... "we will pay for 4 years of college for you, but not a day more" so I got accepted to college and got a partial scholarship. My parents told me that I had a college fund and with my scholarships I assumed we were fine financially for paying for my college.
    But 6 months after graduation my first student loan bill came. And I payed it. Assuming that it was for that extra summer school semester I took. And it has been on auto draft to be paid every month.

    So as my husband and I go to buy a house and realize that our debt to income ratio is too high, I start to investigate why that is... and I find that I actually have 13,000 in student loan debt... AND they're in a few (5-7) smaller loans that were dispersed out over the 4 years.

    I honestly do NOT remember signing 7 different loan documents over the 4 years I was in school. I would have taken a different college path had I known I was going to end up with 13,000 in debt... (I would have done community college for two years first)

    All the signatures are e-signatures used with a PIN number


    So my questions:
    1. what steps do I take first?
    2. Do I need to look at the signature dates first and provide some type of evidence that I didn't sign those documents (because handwriting is not going to be helpful)
    3. Is there a statute of limitations?
    4. Should I file the police report even if I'm not 100% sure I have solid evidence?
    5. Is this even criminal or is it civil?

    Let's start there...
    THANKS SO MUCH!!
  • 07-09-2017, 04:25 PM
    jk
    Re: Parents Forged My Name on My Student Loans
    Before you go anywhere with this;

    are you willing to have your parents criminally prosecuted should your allegations prove to be true?
  • 07-09-2017, 06:55 PM
    adjusterjack
    Re: Parents Forged My Name on My Student Loans
    Would have been nice if you had put some dates in your post. Helps to know the when, when you ask about statutes of limitations.

    But I have to tell you. If you went through 4 years of college and ended up with only $13000 or so debt, thank your lucky stars and your parents for facilitating that for you.

    If you have to delay buying a house for a while, so be it.

    It's not the worst thing that will ever happen to you in your life.
  • 07-09-2017, 07:05 PM
    hr for me
    Re: Parents Forged My Name on My Student Loans
    If your parents took those loans and paid the school expenses for you (instead of say going on a European vacation), I have to agree with adjusterjack. I just had 2 DDs graduate college and they averaged over $90k each over 4 years. I have to agree that only $13k seems pretty minimal from what I am seeing other young adults coming out of college with, but I would ask your parents why they hadn't told you. I would have done that when I first got the payment coupons before ever making a payment just to make sure the loans were really yours/theirs and not fraudulent. It is possible they thought (or still think) that they are paying the loan rather than you when it comes due.

    And honestly I would want to know that there wasn't an unknown third party who got the proceeds rather than your parents. But no, I wouldn't being willing to press any charges against parents who paid most of what you owed (outside of scholarships) -- if you had gone to the community college, would you still have gotten the scholarships (i.e. were they dependent on you going to the 4 yr university?)

    But I tend to be a glass half full kind of a person.
  • 07-10-2017, 12:42 PM
    Jpbracken18
    Re: Parents Forged My Name on My Student Loans
    Yes!

    Some more background: I have been diagnosed with PTSD in relation to some of the choices my parents made for me in my past. So I am 100% OK with them being prosecuted.

    Thanks for your opinion.
  • 07-10-2017, 01:12 PM
    jk
    Re: Parents Forged My Name on My Student Loans
    So start with the debt servicing company and tell them you didn't sign for those loans or at least you don't recall signing for them. Ask them how to prove who did sign for them
  • 07-10-2017, 02:09 PM
    hr for me
    Re: Parents Forged My Name on My Student Loans
    I think you are going to have a hard time proving you didn't sign them because you already started making payments. You should probably have questioned them prior to ever signing anything. One question is how long have you been making payments.

    Being electronic, I don't see how you can prove that you DIDN'T sign them. Not remembering doing so doesn't mean that you didn't in the FAFSA process. It would be different if it were someone other than your parents. But if they paid for your schooling, it's going to be hard to prove that you don't owe this since you were the one to benefit from it.

    I know many people who are confused on student loans and see them as "free money" until they have to be paid back. I am sorry your parents failed to communicate this to you, but don't really see how you are going to be able to prove a crime/fraud, etc. Are their names also on the loans?
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