Garnishment ... Administrative vs. Phony

[flacorps]

On Facebook, a student loan advocate alleged that collectors are initiating "garnishments" on student loans which are not real, having not gone through even the minimal process to do so.

 

Employers were apparently nonetheless making thr deductions and remitting the momey.

 

Has anyone encountered this? Does it seem prevalent?

[breeze]

I could be wrong, but if it's a federally guaranteed loan and it's the feds garnishing, they don't have to go through the court procedures. Best to ask in the SL forum. Some of the folks who answer questions in there have been collectors and know the ropes. That's why they give such good advice.

[legaleagle2012]

Breeze is correct. Federally related loans are different than private..........no statute of limitations, no lawsuit or judgment needed.

[IndyPoolPlayer]

On Facebook, a student loan advocate alleged that collectors are initiating "garnishments" on student loans which are not real, having not gone through even the minimal process to do so.

 

Employers were apparently nonetheless making thr deductions and remitting the momey.

 

Has anyone encountered this? Does it seem prevalent?

Would these be zombie loans being resurrected or outright fraud?

[flacorps]

For what it's worth:

 

I know a lot of you are getting your wages garnished without a court order, and your HR Department grants these garnishment requests as though they were orders.

 

They are NOT orders. These requests typically come from collection agents, who carry no government power. If your employer asks to see a court order in order to do the garnishment, you will likely never hear from them again, and your wages will not be garnished.

 

If you like, I am happy to explain this to your HR Department/Boss.

 

Here is a letter I sent off to a school district recently. If you want your garnishment to cease, this may be a good thing for us to do on your behalf:

 

Just get me an email address, and I'm happy to send something like this to them.

 

##########################

To Whom is May Concern,

 

My name is Alan Collinge. I am with StudentLoanJustice.Org. A number of your clients have asked me to write to you regarding wage garnishment requests that the school district receives for defaulted student loans. Will you please forward this to the appropriate HR management personnel?

 

I want to point out to you that usually, these requests are not coming directly from the US. Department of Education. Typically, they come from for-profit collection contractors who present themselves as being "with" the Department of Education. This is misleading. These collection agents are NOT Department of Education employees. They are simply collection agents, like any other.

 

By granting these wage garnishment requests universally, you are doing a disservice to your clients. In many cases, the loans they are being pursued for are of questionable validity, and the borrowers (your clients) deserve recourse to be able to handle them as such.

 

By granting these wage garnishment requests, the school district is, in effect, denying their employees the rights that they are entitled to.

 

I strongly recommend that in the future for wage garnishment requests, you ascertain whether (or not) the agents requesting the garnishment are actually employees of the Department of Education. You will find (likely universally) that they are not.

 

Further, I strongly recommend that in the future, you request a court order from the agents requesting wage garnishment, as you would with most all other wage garnishment requests. This ensures that the rights of your clients are not violated.

 

I am happy to explain this in detail should you be interested.

 

Best Regards,

 

<Signature line redacted>

This is said to be effective. Never mind that he incorrectly talks about needing a court order, I'm just wondering whether there are some cowboys operating without even an administrative fig leaf...

[LynnInMN]

Whoever wrote the cut and pasted section above is abolutely clueless. Private collection agencies are contractors for the DOE. They are able to garnish 15 percent under the Administrative Wage Garnishment Program authorized by Congress. (administrative wage garnishment (AWG). Federal law (P. L. 102-164; as amended by Public Law 109-171; 20 U.S.C. 1095a et seq.) allows for the withholding of wages from defaulted borrowers.) The paperwork sent to the employers informs them of the law and the employer themselves can be held liable for non complience.