Thursday, May 30, 2013

What is the most outrageous thing a student loan debt collector has said to you?

When I first began speaking to members of the indentured educated class, I was outraged by the things that debt collectors said to them on the phone. So many awful, awful things were said, just to try and squeeze money out of people who made it clear to these loan sharks that they were struggling and simply unable to pay them the amount they were demanding. As many of us are aware, these are the precariat pitted against the precariat, making them a very ruthless bunch.

One woman told me that a debt collector said to her, "Wow, looking at how high your student loans are, you'd be better off finding a rich husband."

On that note, what is the most outrageous thing a debt collector has said to you? What sort of threats have you received?

"Sure, sweetie! I'll just marry a MAN to pay off my loans. That's a SWELL idea!"

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I recall when I was a fresh graduate, and I needed to call and simply sort out my repayment schedule. I thought it was no big deal. I was at work at the time. I'll never forget it. The guy acted like a total thug! It was astonishing. He started screaming at me, and I can't think of why. I just wondered, "What did I do to this guy or this company to deserve this sort of treatment?"

It wasn't what he said, but how he treated me. I felt like a dog, a liar, and a cheat. It was humiliating. Even though it happened over a decade ago, I remember it like it happened yesterday.

Rhonda K. Donaldson said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rhonda K. Donaldson said...

A librarian? You should have become a lawyer, then you could pay these loans off.

Anonymous said...

July 1st, 2009.

The bastard told me, "People are supposed to keep their promises and pay back the money that they borrow."

The rotten bastard.

P.S. That advice about finding a rich husband actually sounds pretty good, to be perfectly honest.

Anonymous said...

I have never spoken with a rude student loan collector, although I have in other debt collection contexts.

What I did was hang up and call back in the hope I would get a different phone rep. and I would.

But I wanted to also mention something off topic.

We all know that the notion of allowing bankruptcy for student loan debt has been exhaustively discussed and with no change or result at all.

But lately I have been wondering if student lending might not be all that unique and might have historical precedents or be similar to, say, sharecropping.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharecropping

And if so one can look into the legal remedies that were applied or at least the underlying legal principles behind the remedies when the sharecropping system was in need of reform.

I say legal remedies because we all know that going the political route is useless.

Anonymous said...

^ Good luck with that, Paintroach. Whom would you sue, exactly? Touro? Yourself?

LOL, perhaps you could file a reverse class-action lawsuit against every taxpayer in America.

Strelnikov said...

"LOL, perhaps you could file a reverse class-action lawsuit against every taxpayer in America."

Is that you, WTLS (real name Christopher Knorps)? If it is, just give up now, before people start sending what you have written to your state's bar.

Anonymous said...

^ Roachie could also list you as one of the victims because of "loss of consortium."

It's been months since you promised to find me and fellate all of my coworkers (and me) to death. What gives? I'm starting to think you are full of shit. If you ever decide to go through with it, though, give me a 10-minute notice. We'll have a camera crew ready to record your greedy "marathon session."

LOL

Unknown said...

Back in 1994, when I was trying to payback my student loans, they were lost and no-one would talk to me or take responsibility for them. Finally after much tears and pleadings, a man said to me, " Your loans have been sold so many times they are probably in a box in someone's office closet, you'll never find them. That serves you right for not paying on them when you should have."