A few months ago, my husband received a phone call from NCO. The man on the phone stated that he was calling because of my husband's student loan. My husband replied that the loan had been on a deferrment plan. The man said that the deferrment had expired and now NCO was attempting to collect the debt.
The conversation went ok at first. The man explained two payment options and my husband told him we couldn't afford either of them. One plan consisted of $1500 up front and a set amount electronically debited out of my husband's bank account every month, and the 2nd plan was the same except the up-front amount was $700. My husband explained to him that not only do we not have anywhere near $700 or $1500, he also does not have a bank account and cannot get one. My husband suggested numerous other payment options, such as sending a check or a money order for a certain amount every month but the man refused all of them. The man insisted the only way they could accept payment was through electronic debit, to which my husband repeatedly stated that he does not have a bank account and is not eligible to get one.
This went on for quite awhile, probably 15 minutes. Then the man began asking if I (the wife) had a bank account. My husband replied that I did. The man on the phone began to insist that my husband give him my bank account information. My husband asked me and I said I was not going to give my account information to someone over the telephone. I had never heard of NCO and had no idea who they were. Relaying through my husband, I told them to send me something in writing and then I would consider it. The man on the phone told my husband they would send us something in writing AFTER the information was processed but before the bank draft went through. I replied that this was unacceptable.
The man on the phone kept insisting that my husband put me on the phone, insisting that he give the bank information, telling him that I "didn't know what I was talking about" and that I was "giving him bad advice." He then put a supervisor on the phone, who did exactly the same things.insisted I get on the phone and kept harassing my husband for my bank account information. My husband repeatedly told them that I had already said I was not going to give it over the phone at least 3 times.
I began to get angry because they were blatantly harassing him. Through it all, my husband kept trying to suggest alternate payment arrangements and they kept insisting he HAD to pay through electronic debit. The supervisor finally told my husband that he had to go out and get a bank account "tomorrow" and if he didn't, they were going to "push the paperwork through" to start wage garnishment. I finally just took the phone from my husband and hung it up. They called back immediately and called the next day and the next and the next, etc.
The calls are all hang ups, except for the initial one or two or no matter how long you wait on the phone no one ever gets on the line. We contacted the Department of Education and told them we no longer wanted to deal with NCO and we'd like to make payments to them directly. They responded that we could do that but it would not stop NCO from wage garnishment or any other action they wanted to take if we didn't pay them.in other words, we could pay the Dept. Of Education but we'd still owe NCO.
This seems blatantly unfair. We reported them to the Atty. Gen. Office of Pennsylvania, the BBB, the FTC and a few other agencies but it really went nowhere. We sent an email to their corporate office via their website reporting the situation and asking them to help us resolve it. We received a letter from their attorney, stating that an investigation could not substantiate any of our "claims." What a surprise. I wrote her back and told her, "I hardly thought it would. One would think a company with the dubious background NCO boasts would take these situations more seriously..."
Now we have found that my husband's tax return (about $4,000.00) is probably going to be taken as a result of the defaulted loan. The only reason it's defaulted is because these people refused to work out a payment arrangement with us! We need that money to move by the end of the month or we will have nowhere to live. There is no help anywhere for this. These people need to be put out of business. They are unethical.
Gen_28
Manassas, Virginia
U.S.A.
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