Have You been sued in Indiana by National Collegiate Student Loan Trust?

 After a hiatus during covid, it looks like National Collegiate Student Loan Trusts have begun to file lawsuits again all over Indiana.  If you get sued, please call us. These cases are not hopeless.  

NATIONAL COLLEGIATE STUDENT LOAN TRUST - NCSLT - PER NYT $12 BILLION IN STUDENT LOANS MAY BE UNCOLLECTABLE - But Suits Against Borrowers Continue

Today the New York Times published an article titled: As Paperwork Goes Missing, Private Student Loan Debts May Be Wiped Away. This article finally brings out in the public what consumer lawyers have been noticing for months and even years, that National Collegiate Student Loans Trusts has problems proving that the borrowers and cosigners that it sues actually owe the money claimed. Moreover, sometimes NCSLT can't prove that it is even entitled to collect on the loan at all.  

Here's a quote from the NYT article:

At the center of the storm is one of the nation’s largest owners of private student loans, the National Collegiate Student Loan Trusts. It is struggling to prove in court that it has the legal paperwork showing ownership of its loans, which were originally made by banks and then sold to investors. National Collegiate’s lawyers warned in a recent legal filing: “As news of the servicing issues and the trusts’ inability to produce the documents needed to foreclose on loans spreads, the likelihood of more defaults rises.”

National Collegiate is an umbrella name for 15 trusts that hold 800,000 private student loans, totaling $12 billion. More than $5 billion of that debt is in default, according to court filings. The trusts aggressively pursue borrowers who fall behind on their bills. Across the country, they have brought at least four new collection cases each day, on average — more than 800 so far this year — and tens of thousands of lawsuits in the past five years.

If you are a borrower with a NCSLT loan what should you do?  Well, the answer isn't completely simple. The problem is that if you are sued, you might have problems finding and affording a lawyer. Very few lawyers take student loan defense cases, and those who do (including me) have to charge an out of pocket fee for the defense - much like a criminal defense lawyer charges an out of pocket fee even to innocent clients.  This fee, however, is going to be a lot less than what NCSLT is claiming.

To find a consumer attorney who handles student loan debt defense in your area, go to the National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA) "Find an Attorney" page linked here.

Were You Sued by National Collegiate Student Loan Trust (NCSLT) in Indiana? - Free Case Evaluation

I am interested in reviewing lawsuits filed by National Collegiate Student Loan Trust in Indiana. I am especially interested if there is a cosigner involved. I will be happy to review your documents at no charge and to discuss them with you. Send your documents to hoferlawindyATgmail.com. (replace the "AT" with the "@".) If we take the case as an offensive case (us suing them), generally there would be no out-of-pocket fee. If we take the case as a defensive case (us defending you from them) there would be an out-of-pocket fee. I found this video on Youtube by Alabama Attorney John Watts explaining your four options if you are sued by NCSLT. I am not affiliated with Mr. Watts, but I think this video includes some useful information regarding student loan cases, and NCSLT in particular. I think John Watt's take on NCSLT agrees with mine. Even though this video is over an hour long, if you are sued by NCSLT, it is worth watching. Basically, if you are sued by NCSLT, your options are: (1) Do nothing - NO NO NO (2) represent yourself - BETTER THAN NOTHING, BUT MAKE SURE YOU ANSWER THE COMPLAINT PROMPTLY AND FULLY. READ UP ON HOW TO DO IT RIGHT. (3) Hire an attorney to defend (4) Hire an attorney to negotiate. Understand that in most cases when borrowers represent themselves, they are eventually going to lose because the collection attorneys usually file motions for summary judgment which are very hard for nonlawyers to defend. Common defenses against NCSLT include: (1) Questioning the assignment (2) Statute of limitations (The loan may have gone into default earlier than you thought. (3) Questioning their payment records (4) Cosigner defenses Thanks to industry lobbying, even private student loans cannot generally be discharged in bankruptcy; however in a given case, a bankruptcy might be useful to free up resources to pay student loans, to get breathing room to free up assets to pay student loans, or to budget the payments in the context of a Chapter 13 repayment plan. On behalf of clients, my office has sued other student loan collectors (but not NCSLT) for suing consumers in a forum that is not allowed by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. As a general rule, a private student loan collector must sue you in the county where you currently live, in the county where you physically signed the student loan agreement - and this applies to the cosigner as well. Often the principal borrower is sued in the right place, but the cosigner is not.

National Collegiate Student Loan Trust can't count to six

I have been hearing more and more stories about the National Collegiate Student Loan Trust (NCSLT) suing student borrowers well after the statute of limitations has expired. In my state, Indiana, the statute of limitations is 6 years from the time the loan goes into default or when the last payment was made, whichever is later. In some states, it is 5 years.

Many people mistakenly believe that there is no statute of limitations for any student loans. Actually, there is no statute of limitations for government-backed student loans; but the ordinary contract statute of limitations applies to private student loans.

In addition problems with the statute of limitations, we are aware of problems with the assignment of some NCSLT loans as well as lack of proof of proper notice to the cosigner in cosigned student loans. In addition, in some cases it may be inappropriate to sue the cosigner in the same place as the chief borrower.

If you are sued by NCSLT, please call our office if you are in Indiana.  If you are outside of Indiana, contact the National Association of Consumer Advocates at www.consumeradvocates.org for a referral to an attorney in your area.