Look Twice at Loan Advice

student loan fruad

I was solicited in 2006 regarding an ability to lower my interest rate I was locked into for my graduate school loans. Several different companies out of California had solicited me by mail making promises to lower my interest rate by going through them. The sent what they offered but included a direct loans application. This made it appear that direct loans was the company working with a third party for my business. It transferrred my loans over from sallie mae to direct loans via direct laons website, as i had filled out the direct loans application they sent, mailed it to the third party person who entered it on the direct loans site. Now direct loans is saying they were not affiliated with third party people and wont honor the reduction in interest rate. Meanwhile i am now paying two years of only interest. Theese third parties must be paid by someone to solicit business as i paid not a dime to them. It seems to me a very genius scheme by direct loans. Having third parties enter the info on direct loans web site they, direct loans, can then say I got ont eh site and entered it. What purpose would a third party company have for soliciting me and sending me a direct laons application and entering my info on direct loans website, if they were not some how funded by direct loans? This seems like fraud as direct laons now benefits from this. yet they claim the third party transferred my loan and chose not to buy it. If they were a lending company who had an ability to buy loans why would they need it transferred to direct loans first just to purchase it? Beware of this scam!!!! the company who solicited me ironically has a disconnected number and the website for them offers no phone number. Imagine that.

Richard Mondello's Response

Great article. The idea that students need to be careful about loan marketing is very important, but I would have taken it in a slightly different direction.

I wrote up my thoughts on my blog.

http://richardmondello.com/2008/04/11/us-news-media-literacy-social-media/

Mind you, I am the student who is referenced in this article and whose picture is in it. I think I can offer some valuable insight. Feel free to tell me what you think about my take on the subject.