Complaint Review: Diversified Collection Services - NCO Financial Systems - Horsham Pennsylvania

I know the last post on this thread was back in 2006, but anywho....

DCS is the collection agency for a loan I took out five years ago for professional school. I was an international student and could apply only a year at a time. After the recession hit, when I was onto my second year, the lender decided not to lend to anyone who does not have permanent residence or citizenship of the US.

I could not continue my education, had to go back to my home country and had to work any job I could find to start my repayment. I paid my loan for 2 years hardly making a dent in the balance owing. I lost my job and then I could not repay. I tried to settle with the lender explaining that I no longer live in the US, hence they can't really expect that they could recover their original amount when US laws wouldn't apply to me. They refused.

Now DCS owns this debt and is trying to send mail to any address that I lived at during my years in the US. My question is, since I no longer live in the country, what means can they use to recover the loan? If I visit the US or plan to immigrate in the future, how will this affect me? Will such debts be cleared after 7-10 years of being outstanding?

My goal is not to absolve any responsibility. I want to settle with them, is such a thing possible?

Thanks for ur responses. I really do appreciate it.

This reaction to being contacted for defaulted student loans is common. First off, Diversified Collection Services (DCS) and NCO Financial Systems are two seperate companies. Without knowing all the details of your case, it looks like you may have multiple student loans. Not uncommon. A good idea for you would be to check with the Department of Education (ED) loan locator. You will need to sign up for a pin to access your loan information. pin.ed.gov/PINWebApp/pinindex.jsp Student loans are a sticky business if you don't keep up with your part of the obligation (as you now know) There is no statute of limitations and they are not eligible for bankruptcy, deferments, or foreberance. Why your $7000.00 dollar loan is now $25K? Well, you would have had 6 months to begin repayment from the time you left school (graduated, dropped out, whatever the case is) or to request a deferment or forbearance. Failure to do such, results in a default. Upon default the acceleration clause (you agreed to this when you signed the loan) is in effect. Basically, all the accumulated principal, interest, and fees are capitalized and due in full. Future interest and fees are now on this new balance. This can happen several times, depending on where you obtained your loan (bank, state, ED) 25 years of interest and fees add up. What can happen if you don't pay. *Wage garnishment, directly from your employer, before taxes are taken out. - Can be 15% of your net income (depending on employer) *You won't be eligible for additional federal student aid. *Your account will be reported to national credit bureaus, and your credit rating can be damaged. *Your federal income tax refunds (and in some states, your state income tax refunds) might be withheld and applied toward your loan repayment. *A portion of your Social-Security payments (20%) might be withheld and applied toward your loan repayment. *You might be unable to obtain a professional license in some states. What can you do? I don't recommend the "Cease and Desist" route, this can lead to problems for you. It may seem great not having a call, but if you are in an approved payment plan for 12 months, you could be eligible for loan rehabilitation. Or loan consolidation (all your student loans together in a current status) If you cannot be contacted, you cannot get the information. Or, if for some reason a paymet is late, it could default you from the billing program you are in and cause an immediate Wage Garnishment review. Without being able to contact you, there is no other choice. The Ostrich approach to a student loan is never good. Talk to your collection agent (not thrilling, I know) let them know that calls at work can result in your termination, send a note saying as much. The phone calls are not at all hours of the day/night. It only seems that way. Calls would be placed between 8am & 9pm, and there would only be one contact per day. There may be multiple attempts to contact you however. Bottom line, take responsibility for your loan and stay in your payment plan, you may qualify for rehabilitation, consolidaion, or a settlement.

Settlements are a good way to pay less if you can come up with the cash,have no job,income or plans to have a income{people that bouce around from place to place} Only question though how eager will Diversified to offer on?

in most cases student loans linger around and contact is not made in years in your case 25, i worked for Diversified collection services, which is not NCO but does the same thing, there are billions of dollars out there in student loans that they did not keep up with who paid & who has not until ED started to contract outside agencies to collect them.there were loans that i had to collect on that were taken out in the 60's. there is no limits of statutes on student loans because they are considered a federal debt and they can garnish wages without a court order just like the IRS. but there is a way to get the loans out of default by " Rehabilitaion", 12 monthly consecutive payments remove it out of default, off credit and back in to good standing as if it never defaulted,ED then takes the loan back as a consolidation, and resonable payment terms are made. that is really the only way to get rid of them.if they keep calling ,in writing send a cease and desist so that it can stop the calls but knnow if you do this and no payment arrangements are made AWG (administrative Wage Garnishment will take place). be careful how you handle situation..any other questions feel free to ask i will answer

I know that someone else will have more specifics on this one, but I believe that student loans have no statute of limitations, and legal action (ie garnishment) can happen at any time. In terms of them calling you at work, advise them you do not want to be called at work. Under the FDCPA, they can not jeopardize your job. For the calls at home, you do have the option of telling them to cease calls. Under the FDCPA, they have to stop calling, and will only correspond with you by mail. The only catch though, is that if you cease all calls, they will never potentially offer you a settlement. Although, I have heard that settlements are rarely offered (if ever)on student loans anyways, so that might be worth it As I said, I am a little sure of this. But others will tell you with more certainty than this.