Student loan debt is maybe the most tiresome, grueling type of debt that you can owe. For you to go to school, Uncle Sam has given out money, and he fully expects to get that cash back. Unlike most other loans, federal student loans are extremely hard to discharge in bankruptcy. A man that drove to Vegas and gambled himself into foreclosure has a much higher chance of being able to walk away from the situation than a student who borrowed money to go to school. Additionally, federal student loans have no statute of limitations and can be collected even from debtors’ Social Security Payments after they retire.

So what do you do if you are a student fresh out of school struggling to make ends meet? Get educated, again. A Collections manual, 2009 PCA Practices, was temporarily published on a public section of the Department of Education’s website. A guide for the private collection agencies that work with the Department of Education, this manual can prove to be a valuable resource for former students who are attempting to learn more about paying back their student loan.

This article is founded on what I have learned from the manual, and it hones in on the rare circumstances under which collection activity may be suspended on a student loan account. It also goes into how you would go about ceasing collection activity on your student loan if you really wanted to. According to the manual, collection agencies must immediately suspend collection activity on an account if the borrower disputes the amount that is being owed, for example, claiming that the debt was paid off, was never owed, or should have been canceled.

Collection activity should immediately be suspended if the borrower raises a legal defense against repayment. These might include a closed school, an ability to benefit, or circumstances under which the Department of Education might not be allowed to pursue collection. If the borrower receives a 65 Day Notice of Federal Offset, or 30 day Administrative Wage Garnishment notice, and requests a written review or hearing in response, the collection agency needs to suspend collection activity. Finally, if the borrower files a written or verbal complaint against the collection agency, collection activity must be suspended.

Unlike suspension of collection activity, which is temporary, ceasing collection activity is permanent. If you want your student loan debt collector to stop contacting you, you must request in writing that the collection agency stop all communications with you. In these cases the collection agency is allowed to contact you one final time to let you know how they plan to proceed. Keep in mind that requesting that collection activity on your student loan be stopped is not a very good idea, as after the section on ceasing collection activity comes a section that informs the collection agency that the Department of Education expects the collection agency to evaluate the accounts with these requests for litigation. So even though you may experience a period of peace, that one final phone call you receive very well might be to inform you that you are being sued for all of the money you owe.

Mallory Megan works for Rapid Recovery Solution and writes articles on medical collection agencies. This article, Straight From The Department Of Ed’s Manual – Suspending And Stopping Student Loan Collection Activities has free reprint rights.

On February 22nd, 2010, the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act took effect. The CARD Act had one major purpose: to attempt to put a curb on credit card practices and set limits to the fees that credit card companies charge consumers. It was created with consumers in mind, setting limits to the amount of credit that will be available to them in this recession “for their own good.”

Due to the life changing CARD Act, a number of financial institutions have modified their business models by reducing potential risk to cardholders. They have dropped or restricted some borrowers with a poor financial history, tightened up credit lines, and are marketing less. Analysts predict credit limit reductions to have two main impacts for the collection industry.

One impact of the CARD Act has been the restriction of the average size of accounts that are placed for collection. This, coupled with consumer behavior these past few years, where people in general spent savings and maxed out personal loans and home equity, raises concern and eyebrows, because for many debtors, credit cards are the only short term credit that is available to them at this moment.

Another major impact of the CARD Act is a result of the provision that consumers are not able to pay off one credit card debt using another card. While this may help consumers to be more fiscally responsible, this obviously has massive ramifications for the collection industry. Researchers and leaders in the field hypothesize that the best way to deal with the enormous changes that have ensued is to remain flexible and to be creative. In addition to the same old telephone calls and collections letters, the internet can be looked into as an option for payment.

Researchers also remind us of a few ideas that we, as collection professionals should remember about the CARD Act. Excess payments should now go to pay off the accounts with highest interest balances first. The CARD Act also gives consumers the capacity to set their own credit limits that might be less than those set by the creditors, and marketing credit to college students and giving credit card access to people under twenty one will now be severely restricted.

Mallory Megan works for Rapid Recovery Solution and writes articles on medical collection agencies. Also published at What Every Collection Agency Should Know About The CARD Act.

A few parents in Central Texas are being mailed collection letters for instruments that were rented. The only thing is, they attempted to return the musical instruments, but could not.

One mother is like many other parents who rented from the now bankrupt local music store in 2008. Her son completed the work with his rented clarinet in May 2008, and she attempted to bring it back to the store.

When she got to the store, there was a note on the door informing customers that they were out of business and no one was in there. On numerous instances, she attempted to go by the store, and even called other locations. To add insult to injury, her bank could not stop the automatic monthly payments that were being taken out of her account.

Around two years later, when the payments had come to an end, the boy’s mother sold the clarinet for ninety dollars to someone else. All in all, she was charged three hundred dollars after the point she tried to return it. The young mother thought that that would be the end of the clarinet situation. But soon after she received a five hundred dollar collection notice from a collections agency on behalf of the instrument maker Conn-Selmer. The instrument makers had received her information as part of the bankruptcy process.

The young mother was taken aback. She couldn’t fathom that she had been charged for the year when she couldn’t return it, and now that she is expected to pay money, she felt as though the store owed her money, not the other way around.

After a local news channel contacted a spokeswoman for Conn Selmer to find answers for the parents who had received collection bills. The spokeswoman said that the business will be mailing out letters to all parents who got collection letters. Supposedly, the letter will detail how parents who feel as though they are being unfairly treated can challenge the debt.

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