Friday, January 26th, 2007...9:11 pm
Sallie Mae Subsidary Linked to Aggressive Collection Tactics
Arrow Financial Services, a company owned by lending giant Sallie Mae is being charged in Illinois with aggressive collection tactics. The Chicago Sun Times reports on the allegations:
The suit alleges that Arrow engaged in such practices as trying to collect debts that have been discharged in bankruptcy, using profanity, and withdrawing money without authorization from bank accounts.
Arrow Financial Services recently received a $125,000 fine in Minnesota for the same practices. It is not clear from the article whether or not Arrow was collecting on Student loans or if it was simply aggressively trying to collect on other forms of consumer debt. Arrow Financial services describes itself as:
Arrow Financial Services LLC is part of the Sallie Mae (NYSE: SLM) family of companies and a nationally recognized leader in the receivables management industry with over $16 billion in consumer debt under management. We offer a full range of recovery solutions across a variety of asset classes including credit cards, student loans, utility, telecommunication, retail and automotive. Our team specializes in balancing courteous and professional customer service with the goal of maximizing recovery on managed accounts. Arrow’s unique combination of experience, reputation and world class analytical capability sets us apart from others in our industry.
It is important to remember your rights when a debt collector comes calling. The consumerist has a good collection of your rights.
Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
Dealing with Debt Collectors – Consumerist
Chicago Sun Times – Sallie Mae company charged with aggressive collection practices
Arrow Financial Services – AKA In UR bank account takin’ UR Money
7 Comments
February 2nd, 2007 at 8:40 am
[...] Apparently Thomas Fitzpatrick is under the delusional impression that Families and students across America view Sallie Mae as a bastion of hope and a helper of the underdog. He sees Sallie Mae as a helper and a company which gives students a helping hand. This delusion has led him to cry out against Senator Ted Kennedy’s calls for reform and changes in the student loan industry. And seriously why would an industry that gets paid even when students default, hires strong arm collections agents, holds your federal loans hostage, and is being investigated for improper realtions with student financial aid offices need any kind of reform? [...]
February 14th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
[...] Sallie Mae Subsidiary linked to Aggressive Collection Habits [...]
March 20th, 2007 at 6:34 am
[...] Brandon is having almost the same problem, Sallie Mae won’t release his loans, which is illegal. They are also calling him at what appears to be all hours of the day. Check out our post about Sallie Mae’s aggressive debt collection for links to your rights when a debt collector is calling you. [...]
July 18th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
This is the exact same thing that is currently happening to me. I want to join whatever lawsuit I can against Sallie Mae. They are the most ruthless, vindictive and heartless company I have ever talked to. Good luck to everyone. I feel your pain.
July 18th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
The exact same thing is happening to me currently. Sallie Mae and their debt collectors are the most heartless people! They use profanity against me, threaten to take away my nursing license and garnish my wages for 1/2 of my salary! What’s next. Good lord, I only owe $4800. Well, four months ago I owed $3900…now according to Sallie Mae I owe $4800.
April 7th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
I called these people to try to get my loans out of default, and they gave me one hell of a run arround… and I was WANTING to make payments! These jerks lied to me and tried intimidating me with all kinds of B.S.
The best part of it, was when they said that I better act now, cuz my loan is accuing 4% interest daily! Yeah right, if that was true, my $2800 loan would be more than the whole solar systems total economic value in a few years.
May 14th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
I received a letter in the regular postal mail from Sallie Mae that was a denile letter for a student loan. I had not received any other communication from them since we signed our son up for a trade school in sept. of 2008. I received this letter in march of 2009. I recently received a call from a salley mae collection agency stating we owed 3 payments of our loan. Talking to a salley mae rep was pathetic. I told him in my opnion we didn’t have a loan as the letter stated. He said, he didn’t care what the letter said that we did in fact have a loan and were responsible for it. I asked why we never received any payment notification or coupon book. He said we agreed to do all business via e-mail. Which we never did. All he wanted to know is if we were going to pay the back past due amount. I told him if he could show me in writing that i have a loan then we could go from there. he wouldnt provide any other info unless i agreed to pay back payments. He raised his voice and continued to interupt. I told him that if he continues to interupt me that our conversation will be over. He hung up on me. It is going to be a war, i can see.
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