Rock Creek Capital/ Cosigner getting served? What are my options
Posted by girlv0id@reddit | studentloandefaulters | View on Reddit | 5 comments
Hello- I defaulted on 3 Sallie Mae loans back in 2023 because the monthly payment was $1,200 and they got charged off to Rock Creek Capital. They never sent me any mail/ email regarding this but my co-signer just received this letter in the mail, I am really scared he is getting sued? What are my options? Should I call Rock Creek and find my account and my payment options? What is the possibility of him going to court? He lives in the state of North Carolina and I don’t.
Please let me know what my options are, this is just 1 letter for one of the loans and Im freaking out.
BrawnyTawny@reddit
So when it comes to private student loans and lawsuits they usually only really go after in two scenarios. Either the borrower(s) are easy targets with a lot of assets, high income to garnish wages from, and are easy to locate or the debt gets sold usually multiple times to other debt collection agencies and the last debt collection agency bought these almost uncollectible private student loans usually for pennies on the dollar and are desperately trying to file a lawsuit before the statutes of limitations pass. Because private student loans are securitized and the loan portfolio has a history of bad documentation, it's very common if the loan was refinanced multiple times for example or if it got sold just to one debt collection agency or multiple debt collection agencies for them to lose the paperwork and documentation to prove standing in court.
I would say that your chances of getting sued depend on getting this clearly evaluated by a consumer law attorney that is familiar with these types of cases to check if this is merely a threat or if they have already filed a lawsuit for which case you need to hire a consumer law attorney that knows how to deal with private student loan cases, file an answer, and schedule to appear in court on the date and time necessary with you and your attorney present to defend yourself in court or else they win by default. It is best in these lawsuits for you to have your consumer law attorney put the burden of proof on the debt collection agency to prove that you owe the debt, they have all of the documentation as perfectly clear and provable as possible, and that they have the legal right to collect on this debt one or two minor errors is usually enough for them to lack standing and for your attorney to issue a motion to dismiss. If successful, the judge will dismiss the case and throw it out of court for which case you can negotiate a settlement and what it out until it's almost nothing. One way to deter a lawsuit is to have your attorney contact the debt collection agency and negotiate with them to hopefully scare them away from a lawsuit.
girlv0id@reddit (OP)
Thank you for replying- I called the attorney which the letter came from and they said to either to pay the balance in full or they will file a judgment to obtain the debt, should I start looking into getting a consumer law attorney to call them? Does it make sense to contact Rock Creek and obtain a payment plan through them or is it too late?
BrawnyTawny@reddit
So in cases like this they're trying to use scare tactics to extort you and scare you into basically selling your kidneys to pay up to them regardless of how bad the documentation likely is on this private student loan debt. I would say that your best bet for both you and your co-signer starting right now is to get in contact with one another, start researching consumer law attorneys immediately starting Gemini and then your own Google search for ideally consumer law attorneys in your state or your cosigner's state that have experience with private student loan lawsuits. If the documentation is likely to be bad, they'll maybe be willing to take up the case on a contingency fee if they think there is a strong probability that they'll be able to file a counter-suit for violating the law and for damages which means if things go your way there then the debt collection agency will be paying you and your attorney for all of this. The other best option in terms of accessing a consumer law attorney specifically a private consumer law attorney is to find one that charges a flat rate, immediately get a consultation with you and your co-signer explaining the situation as best as you can make sure to bring all of your paperwork/documentation, and for a flat rate it can range from about $500-$5,000 depending on the case so make sure you have some money saved up or ask a friend or relative for financial support to chip if you think that's necessary. This will ensure that you have secured legal representation at hopefully an affordable price.
I would say that as soon as you hire a consumer law attorney you want them to immediately contact the debt collection agency and explain that you now have legal representation and are not going to back down. The best thing to do if you haven't done so is to do a debt validation you have the right to ask for documentation and proof of the debt and to have them prove whether or not they have the legal right to collect on it and they have thirty days to my knowledge to send you the paperwork and if they don't or if they and something is flawed with the paperwork you can immediately dispute this and they'll have no right to sue you if you can show that their case is flimsy. If you're not familiar with the debt validation process please look it up and if you're really so scared and unprepared have your consumer law attorney that you plan to hire do it for you immediately after they're hired. If the debt validation shows that they don't have the documentation, then they must cease collection and cannot sue you in court until and unless they can come up with satisfactory evidence and documentation. You can then dispute this either on your own by teaching yourself how the laws work or have your attorney contact the credit bureaus and through a judicial process get the private student loan debt removed from your credit forever or consider if the debt collection agency reaches out later desperate for a settlement to do a pennies on the dollar settlement earlier one without you necessarily having to go through the lawsuit.
AnyAssumption4707@reddit
Over the years, my lender sent me a ton of threatening letters about how they were going to sue me. I was never served real legal process (aka they never actually sued me).
If you (or your cosigner) DO get served a real summons, you/they should go talk to an attorney, legal aid, or law clinic asap. You’ll have limited time to respond.
Honestly, since they are already threatening you, you would be smart to go talk to one of those anyway.
BrawnyTawny@reddit
Also, please watch this video as a starting point to all of this. This is from a consumer law attorney that has a lot of experience helping clients with private student loan debt collection lawsuits.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XepZRiLJA8c
I also recommend Mycreditcoubselor he is a certified credit counselor has a lot of experience with helping clients negotiate and obtain settlements for private student loan debt.
https://m.youtube.com/@mycreditcounselor
The key is that you need to win in court should this lawsuit go through and your best defenses as of right now to get the case dismissed is either they lost the documentation to have the right to collect from you or the statutes of limitations have passed either one should be enough for you to win in court unless if they have a legal counter-argument that holds water which is very unlikely. You want to wait it out until the debt collection agency gets desperate and is willing to settle for almost nothing for example to settle a loan at let's say a lump sum settlement of $5,000.