I'm so glad I discovered this board, but I'm also overwhelmed trying to sort through the information. This is the situation . . .

I had a private student loan from 1992. All my other student loans were cancelled due to disability. This private student loan through Hemar and Sallie Mae was not eligible for the cancellation.

I had received some forbearances, exhausted these, and Hemar told me that it was put into the "disability default" department. This department didn't sue for collections or use hardball tactics. They mainly stayed in touch in case circumstances changed, at which point, they would like the loan repaid.

Hemar went under. The loan ended up with OSI Education. I received a letter. I called and talked with a sympathetic supervisor with a serious, chronic medical condition. He asked me to just make a token payment, $10/month.

Nasty letters started several years later. I learned the nice supervisor left and a'm told by the head of this department that "all of these agreements were null and void the day he left." She emphatically told me to make no more payments. Repeatedly. Later, she said she wanted me to stop paying, so they could collect a judgment. Another supervisor there told me the "industry secret" was that if you paid $5 on six-figure student loans they could not sue you as long as you did so.

I made $10 payments on this $2,200 loan for several years to OSI Education, later named NCO, with Arrow Financial as the new owner.

Now, I just received introductory letters stating that Arrow Financial had purchased these two loans (the $2,200 was actually two separate loans treated as one by OSI/NCO from Norwest via Hemar. Arrow Financial actually already owned these. I am asked to send correspondance to Arrow.

Any thoughts? Any suggestions?

Thank you,

Arrow doesnt own these accounts....student loan are never sold to CA's.

Found an old post from Cynic...

SLM is probably the real party of interest; their involvement:

-HICA Holdings is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SLM.
-HEMAR Insurance Corporation of America is a wholly-owned subsidiary of HICA Holdings. It never "went out of business".
-Arrow Financial Services is 88% owned by SLM, likely outsources some of their work to SLM, and, although they would probably respond to a DV with a letter including just basic info about you and the loan, they could probably get everything (p-note, TILA disclosures, proof of sale or assignment, etc) if served with a Discovery Order from a court.

What this means to you? Not much. The collection agency SLM doesn't fully own (for legal reasons) is the assignee, or the authorized agent of, your loan's current holder.

Simply put, that means you have to talk to Arrow about your account. Arrow will probably be happy to settle...

FYI: private student loans that are "self-insured" by the lender are- at a certain level of delinquency- written off, sold to one of the lender's (JDB/collection) subsidiaries or, in extreme cases, to the highest bidder.

FYI...paying a nominal payment on a default will not stop them from suing you. Student loans have default clauses.....you agreed to pay in full on demand. Paying $10 per month won't stop them from getting a judgement against you.

Do you think the length of time of default -- the loans were from 1992 -- means they probably won't sue?

It doesnt matter when you borrowed the money. It all comes down to when you made your last payment....that will govern when they move to file a judgement.