Fired Federal Student Loan Debt Collectors Still Getting Paid by Department of Education?
This report from Ashley Dobson of Red Alert Politics should raise a few eyebrows.
Report: Department of Education still paying fired federal student loan debt collectors
Like a case of bed bugs, this is a problem the U.S. Department of Education can’t seem to get rid of.
Two of the debt collection agencies that the DOE fired earlier this month because they had made “inaccurate representations” to borrowers are still collecting defaulted rates through a separate contract, Inside Higher Ed reported.
Inside Higher Ed learned from an unnamed DOE source that the federal government only terminated the contracts created with those two companies, Coast Professional and National Recoveries, back in 2009. Newer agreements they have with the department are unaffected by the discovery that they had misled borrowers and charged them “unacceptably high rates.”
And despite collecting on these newer contracts, the DOE is also facing legal challenges from the semi-terminated agencies.
Coast Professional last week filed a complaint under seal in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, Inside Higher Ed reported.
“The company accuses the department of acting arbitrarily and not following proper procedures,” according to the news site. “It asks a judge to order, among other things, that the department stop providing new student accounts to its competitors who had their contracts extended.”
National Recoveries and Enterprise Recovery Systems Inc. also filed similar complaints.
Report: Department of Education still paying fired federal student loan debt collectors (Red Alert Politics)
Comments
If the recipients of these collocation activities catch on, these firms may be in quite the world oh Sh&t.
15 USC 1692 et seq (FDCPA) provides many rules for collections of consumer debt.
Student loans are consumers debts, subject to the act.
These collectors are 3rd parties, subject to the act.
In civil actions, many jurisdictions follow the American rule, meaning each party pays its own attorney fees. FDCPA provides for the award of ‘reasonable attorney fees’ if any count of the complaint is affirmed.
Examples of violations include: stating a false amount or non-authorized fee in dunning communications, using another name that is not the true corporate name, obscuring or falsifying caller ID information, failing to include the ‘mini miranda’ in the initial and successive communications.
Each case carries a provision for a $1,000 statutory penalty in addition to any actual damages incurred. The act creates a private right of action and allows jurisdiction on state superior court for the area the victim resides.