Lyn,
This is a little rehash of a recent post but I really need your advice. I realize you are busy and I do appreciate the feedback you provide on this forum. You are a true light in a sometimes dark and mysterious realm for a lot of us.
Anyway, just got back from my recent job rotation and found this letter in my mailbox (I have printed it verbatim.)
August 29, 2008
[Name and Address]
IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ
As a result of current market conditions in the student loan industry, specifically the loss of participating RehabPlusTM lenders, Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation (TG) will remove your account from the RehabPlus program effective October 1, 2008.
If you would like to participate in our regular rehabilitation program, you will need to contact our office so that we can reschedule your account for a ten-year repayment term, Please understand that this option will likely result in an increase in your monthly scheduled payment amount.
Lenders participate voluntarily in the loan rehabilitation program and if at any given time a lender decides to withdraw from the program, your loan(s) will not be rehabilitated. However, payments made while in the rehabilitation program under an approved repayment agreement as well as the timeliness of those payments will be reported to the credit bureaus each month.
For questions or assistance with your account, please contact us at (800) 222-6297. Our office hours are M-Th, 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. and Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Central Time.
TG Collections
Email: collections@tgslc.org
This is an attempt by a debt collector to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for this purpose.
Geez, where to begin? First off, come the 25th I will be at 13 ontime payments. I called them last month to find out when they would be selling my loans off and removing the default status. She gave me a convoluted version of this letter, well after saying for about $20 more per month she would just enroll me in the regular Rehab program, she then recanted and said oh, no we never got your letter in the beginnning and so this is not a valid rehab.
Ok, look I never asked for this RehabPlus thing, I just asked for a Rehab with a payment I could afford. That RehabPlus thing is their own internal name. The guy said the only way I could get my payments down was to enroll in their RehabPlus program and make a downpayment which was double the monthly amount the first month and I was also told that all I had to do was start making payments and it would begin the Rehab. They told me the paperwork would come later.
Now they tell me since I never filled out some paperwork in the beginning I have to start over at a higher payment and they may not even be able to offer a Rehab. Lyn, how can they do this? Is this legal?
I get the gist that the lenders who bought their loans are no longer buying, at least at the lower payments and that seems to be why they want to get me to make higher payments in their "regular rehabilitation program." Have I not met the federal requirements for a rehab under the HEA? Lyn, are they not required to follow that? Can their own internal programs supercede federal law?
Lyn, you said I am legally entitled to try to find a buyer for my loans myself. You suggested a direct loan consolidation. I am calling them tomorrow. If they will take the loans, haven't I then completed my rehab? Doesn't TG have to complete my rehab at that point or can they somehow weasle out of that?
Lyn, is what they are doing legal? Do I need to contact a lawyer? Do you have any suggestions of people I can contact who might be able to help me find a resolution to this?