Hi yall, my boyfriend has 2 defaulted stafford loans from 2000-2001. Major heath problems. We're back on our feet & he's been working full time for 1 yr. My father got a phone call from Pioneer Credit this AM (Saturday) asking if he knew my BF, where he lived, how long he'd lived there, and if he was still working at his job. The caller said my BF had used my dad as a reference. My dad got the caller's info, and I checked it out & am assuming that it's about the student loans.
Questions:
1) Was it legit for the caller to say my BF used my dad as a reference?
2) Was it legit for them to have even called my dad?
3) What do we make of this?
Thanks for your input. Hang in there everyone I know the debt thing well

i'm new to this (credit repair thing), but definitely not new to debt....especially student loan debt. i'll do my best to answer and i know and hope the more experienced folk will correct me if i'm incorrect.

1.) yep, if your boyfriend used your dad as a reference.....pioneer has the right to contact him to verify information of his whereabouts. i believe pioneer could not ask your dad to relay any messages nor discuss the nature of the debt....or whether it's a debt at all. They usually say that any information provided is used to collect a debt. I'm thinking the purpose of the reference is that the people can vouch for your whereabouts....i remember when i was doing the loan thing...they were like use people that you keep in regular contact with....or that you know well.

2.) yep....see above

3.) your boyfriend might want to look into rehabilitation because those stafford loans are going NOWHERE!! I have heard of folks getting SSI checks garnished by loans. Trust and believe i'm going through that now....i had to make a conscious desicion whether or not i could suffer through payments of $445 for 9-10 months and rehab my loan (thus boosting my score) OR let them take my tax refund (if i get one), take 15% of my disposable income AND on top of that....my credit would be totally jacked up.

HTH

Super cool, thanks for your reply. I will search on rehabbing for the basics. I know we have options here, but I have the feeling that they may start turning up the heat on him.
My BF has never used my dad as a reference. I think they tracked him down through me having the same addy as my BF. Anyone's thoughts on this?

no problem.....usually once you enter into a rehabilitation program (make sure you are entered into a rehabilitation program) they stop turning the heat up on you (they don't proceed with garnishment, your name is removed from the tax offset list...only thing is, and someone correct me if i'm wrong...changes to your credit report don't take place until you complete the program.).

i have heard of folks making payment arrangments on defaulted loans to get their loans paid and they make the monthly payments and the loan isn't considered rehabilitated. it's something the CA has to enter into the system stating that you are enrolled in an approved rehabilitation program.

wow....that's crazy if your BF never listed your dad as a reference and the CA claimed that he was listed as a reference. Did the CA ask for your father by name? I hope someone can offer insight into that because that sounds awful fishy.

When it comes to skip tracing, they can legally call anyone as long as they do not disclose they are calling on a debt. Heck, in small towns I would call the pharmacy, the librarian and even the local bowling alley.

I remeber once I was doing a small town skip. I actually had a friend of mine that lived in that town and worked at the private local health club. John knew what I did, however he knew I couldnt discuss it with him. I called him and as it turns out, he knew the debtor I was looking for .....he was a member and had just check in minutes before. My friend walked the portable phone back to the locker room. Apparently I caught that borrow with his pants down!

Wow, thank you both for both the comforting words and the excellent advice. That's exactly what I needed - confirmation about the legality of the call, and some direction for handling this. Thanks for the start folks. Any other comments are totally welcome!

I think skip tracing is usually a separate department in most collection agencies. All they do is find out where a debtor is or works

This is true for credit cards but not so much for student loans. Student loans tend to be older accounts and quite frankly, most skip tracers suck. They have no vested interest in the account. Most skip tracers are hourly paid with some bonuses. Also with student loans, "limited hands" at the agency level are allowed to touch them, particularly with DOE accounts.

95% of my skip connects were done by me. And this was back before the day of internet skip tracing. When I left in 99, we had limited internet access although we had beem begging our company for amost 2 years. When I got a file, all I had was personal information, last know address and references. I would pull a CR immediately and go from there. I had my connections at Citibank, Chase, Bank of America, PG&E and other state utilities. Ford Motor and GM too. It took me years to build my rolodex and I did not share my connections.

My company (FFELP lender ~ 25 billion) has a "skip tracing" department. They mostly input borrower & reference demographics in Accurint & get updated demographics & employment info, which they then put in the system. Skip letters to schools & references are automatically ordered by the system. The system will also automatically order appropriate letters and statements as soon as an updated address is obtained according to the level of delinquency. All "good" numbers on accounts that are delinquent or skip are automatically in our default prevention department's dialer.

For lenders, skip tracing is part of the "due diligence" they have to perform to keep guarantee, and for most of the big ones it's a largely automated process.