Do Servicers Need to Have Original Loan Docs To Collect on Them?
Posted by theresmeateverywhere@reddit | studentloandefaulters | View on Reddit | 10 comments
I have about 20k in private loans and 20k in federal loans. My wife also has about 15k in federal loans.
What's the likelihood:
- I could request the original paperwork we each signed for our loans, and
- They lost it, and
- I can use that as a basis to not pay them back?
This is kind of hypothetical, but also not...I'm a huge fan of loopholes.
terrajavier@reddit
Have you followed up on this in 2026? I consolidated my federals loans (Direct Loans and Sallie Mae loans) with NelNet, then a new set of lonas I needed to finish my degree were serviced by Great Lakes. My Nelnet consolidated loans were moved to Sloan Servicing and I can see them online but my Great Lakes serviced loans arr nowhere to be found on Nelnet. I spoke with Nelnet and they do not have a record of them. Then the government asked us to transfer our loans to Mohela, which I did. I applied for got the SAVE plan, which is now dead. Then the government asked us to transfer our loans to Adivantage. Even though all of my loans show on Aidvantage, none of the Nelnet or Great Lakes loan disclosures are anywhere on Aidvantage. Nelnet and great Lakes transferred my loan balances to Mohela and Mohela trsanfered them to Aidvantage but no paperwork. I have all of my promissory notes but none of the Loan disclosures. So at this point the government could say I owe $1,000,000,000 and I do not have a document to prove how much my principal was when I accepted these loans. The Federal Government is not subject to Truth in Lending. Go figure. So they are obligated to provide you with a document that shows the loan amount you took and its interest rate. We're f*cked with Federal loans.
jonsonmac@reddit
It’s probably good to request them anyway, just to have them for your records. I had the same thought process about my private student loans taken out in the early 2000s. I thought there’s no way those documents still exist. But sure enough, they were able to provide a copy with my signature at the bottom.
shesfullofkarma@reddit
curious who had your loans? Are some worse with their paperwork? haha I'm doing it
jonsonmac@reddit
KeyBank and American Education Services.
Redditrealtor_Philly@reddit
What if someone fried their servers
Jumpy-Ordinary4774@reddit
LOL, I was wondering the exact same thing and I asked the debt collector and they sent them to me by FedEx!
goldenticketrsvp@reddit
On the student loans, when I was sued they produce documents from 1986.
coyoteka@reddit
I've been pondering the same thing.
theresmeateverywhere@reddit (OP)
I should have searched first before I posted, but what I'm reading is this is not a valid option.
716TLC@reddit
It's not a totally invalid option, but it tends to be valid on very old debts that were already in default. Based on the plethora of posts I've seen in this sub over the years, I'd sum it up like this:
Most posts that suggest asking for the original loan documents are when the loan / debt has been sold to a secondary creditor. Often, the original lender has the documents, but many times, that paperwork isn't properly transferred to the new creditors when the debt is sold. Especially if the debt is sold multiple times. Asking for the loan paperwork is a way of buying time, stopping collection, while the creditor locates and supplies the proof of debt. If they can prove the debt, you're still stuck. If they can not provide proof, they can not initiate collection or legal proceedings against you. I'm not a lawyer, but I hope this info helps.