I got my bachelor's degree through a program at my former employer, who had a direct bill agreement with Grand Canyon University. I ended up dropping a class which I of course would have to pay for, so I applied for a student loan to cover; I also needed the money because the costs of buying books was proving rather prohibitive. I was awarded UN subsidized loans, because I had no financial need according to my FAFSA, which I knew would happen. The week I graduated, I got a bill for in the area of $2500. A month later, it was up to $3190. I am now receiving collections calls from them, and they are saying I took out $12000 in loans which I was not entitled to. This is patently not true! I was only awarded $8245 by the Dept of Education and the disbursement by the DoE was on 8/17.in fact, when I called the student loan servicer for my loan, there were THREE LOANS taken out in my name, only one of which I signed a Master Promissory Note for, and only one of which I received fund from!
When I spoke with Desiree, a loan manager from financial services, she said the above - that I was given too much money (the $12000) and that I have to pay it back. I did not receive this extra money nor do can i account for where the rest of my loan money went as i only received $6052 of this money yet i owe $8245 plus interest. The class I dropped was $998 in tuition yet there is $2193 of the loan money missing. Where has it gone? They cannot tell me. Nor can they tell me how it is I received SUBSIDIZED loan money which they say they had to pay back and is what they are billing me for. They keep calling the loan a 'stipend' and saying that I got more money that I should have because I exceeded my 'need.' Well, since my loan wasn't based on NEED I am really not sure what they are talking about. They are also saying I didn't disclose that I was receiving a scholarship which is what they are calling the direct bill program - since they would never tell me what the tuition difference even was until after I graduated, I don't think I was being dishonest there. Yet there were no changes to my award amount according to the Dept of Ed rep I spoke with.
I have receipts from my former employer stating the tuition was paid in full; I have proof from the loan servicer that three loans were taken out in my name; I have a copy of my FAFSA stating the amount and type of award. I also have a letter from Michael Whisman saying that once my employer paid, I would owe nothing. Yet now they are calling this collections calls. This has been truly a nightmare. I owe more to them and to the student loan servicer than I would have owed if I had just gone to ASU or NAU, and I was trying to avoid more debt.
What do I do? My husband says them taking out loans in my name is identity theft.
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