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Sunday, January 5, 2014

U.S. Education Department's Student Debt Collector Accused of Ruthless Tactics

It's not unusual, just disappointing, that the author Brinkerhoff failed to inform his readers that taking money from taxpayers and lending it to another class is blatantly un-Constitutional.

However, he's not quite as alarmingly negligent as Tennessee's congressional Rep. Cohen (D) who is content to "limit such predatory tactics" thus ensuring the wealth transfer plunder for the academia, banking, and judicial beneficiaries continues unabated. 

Indeed, if Cohen is sincere wanting to "hold government to its highest standard" - and honor his sworn oath of office - he should be introducing a Bill to get the federal government out of education entirely!

The reader should be getting a good grip on how these unlawful programs create class conflict by acting as privileged's agent to enrich them. We blame each other while government agents offer another solution that only builds on the conflict while enriching the Establishment at a greater rate and impoverishing us. 

Additionally: Rep. Steve Cohen, a Jewish Zionist supporter of terrorist state Israel, accuses Jesse Ventura of inciting terrorism via 'Conspiracy Theory'

Even more disemboweling is Rep. Steve Cohen's membership in the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) . The Freedom Index has rated his record an 18% - a nation-wrecking ball score comfortably in the Marxist tier.


U.S. Education Department's Student Debt Collector Accused of Ruthless Tactics

Sunday, January 05, 2014

The three words that might best describe the federal government’s student-loan debt collector are petty, incompetent and ruthless.

Richard Boyle, president and CEO of ECMC
For two decades, the Educational Credit Management Corporation  (ECMC) has received millions of taxpayer dollars from the U.S. Department of Education to hound former students into paying their student loans—even when they’ve already paid off their debt or run into financial troubles stemming from serious health problems.

ECMC’s egregious behavior has been particularly evident in trying to stop student loan holders from gaining bankruptcy protection.

Among the excesses uncovered in an investigatyion by The New York Times is the case of Barbara Hann. In 2004, Hann’s attempt to file for Chapter 11 was fought by ECMC, despite the fact that she proved in court that her student loans were repaid.

Nonetheless, the company pursued Hann and even managed to garnish her Social Security income after she came out of bankruptcy. This forced her to seek relief in court, where more than one judge criticized ECMC’s actions against her.

Today, the company refuses to apologize for its pursuit of Hann, claiming the matter was based on “complicated issues of legal procedure.”

Then there’s the case of Karen Lynn Schaffer, who ran into difficulty paying back the student loan she took out for her son to attend college. Her trouble arose after her husband could no longer work as a result of hepatitis C, diabetes and liver cancer.

Schaffer reduced her family expenses and got loan modifications, while also working full-time at a security job. But that wasn’t enough for ECMC, which accused her of spending too much money on dining out when she paid $12 at McDonald’s for some food.

The company has been getting away with its “ruthless” tactics since its founding in 1994, according to The New York Times, which reviewed hundreds of pages of court documents and spoke with consumer advocates, experts and bankruptcy lawyers about ECMC.

Its “pursuit of student borrowers has veered more than occasionally into dubious terrain,” the newspaper’s Natalie Kitroeff wrote.

At least one member of Congress, Representative Steve Cohen (D-Tennessee), wants to limit such predatory tactics, saying: “The government should hold its agents to the highest standards, and I don’t know that we’ve been doing that.”

-Noel Brinkerhoff
To Learn More:
Debt Collectors Cashing In on Student Loans (by Andrew Martin, New York Times)
Grieving Dad Is Hounded for Repayment of Dead Son’s Student Loans (by David Wallechinsky and Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)
Taxpayers Fund $454,000 Pay for Collector Chasing Student Loans (by John Hechinger, Bloomberg)     
Medical Debt Collectors Accused of Bullying Emergency Room Patients and Others (by Noel Brinkerhoff and David Wallechinsky, AllGov)