NATIONAL COLLEGIATE STUDENT LOAN TRUST LAWSUITS
National Collegiate Student Loan trust is one of the largest private Student
Loan lenders in the country. They are also one the most aggressive when
it comes to pursuing consumers for defaulted student loans. They almost
always send defaulted accounts into collection and aggressively pursue
people through litigation in order to obtain default judgments against
them. Default judgments are obtained most often because consumers either
move around from address to address or because they are never properly
served with the summons and complaint. A judgment then leads to a bank
levy or wage garnishment which can last for years while judgment interest
accrues at 9%. Borrowers often don’t have any assets or property
but their co-signers who are parents or grandparents usually do. This
puts co-signers in danger of having a lien placed against their home.
All of the negative repercussions of a judgment can be avoided by submitting
an answer to the summons and complaint. Submitting an answer keeps the
burden on National Collegiate Student Loan Trust to prove their case.
An answer will have important defenses including but not limited to Standing.
No consumer ever obtained a loan directly from National Collegiate Trust,
rather these loans were taken out from a variety of lenders and guaranteed
or insured by First Marblehead at the time which eventually turned into
National Collegiate. Better yet, these loans have been securitized and
put on the market to trade just as mortgage backed securities were in
the past. That is why the caption on lawsuits often states something like:
National Collegiate Student Loan Trust 2006-4. Hearsay is another major
defense that has been successfully used in these cases. It is very difficult
for National Collegiate to bring in someone from to attest to the proper
transfer and acquisition of this debt to meet the hearsay requirement
as usually they just have an employee rubber-stamping these sorts of agreements
to acquire the debt. Often, when called in to a deposition, National Collegiate
will send someone who gives vague general answers and does not really
have the precise information necessary to prove that they are the rightful
owner of the debt about or will voluntarily dismiss their case at that
point because they lack the information necessary.
Forster and Garbus, Rubin and Rothman and Eltman Law are the most frequent
debt collection law firms retained by National Collegiate to both sue
consumers and to enforce judgments against them. However, submitting an
answer with defenses and aggressively defending litigation in these matters
will often result in either a very favorable settlement for the consumer
or even a dismissal of the matter in some situations.