Wells Fargo Charge Off

[unemployednomore]

I have a number of loans from the 1990s that I took out during undergraduate school and then had on hold during my graduate school years (2000 to 2003) and after a few years of paying them, I was unemployed for several years (thank you, recession) and eventually the Wells Fargo loans went into Charge-Off status.

I'm having difficulty figuring out what to do with these loans. I'm already being sued by one JDB and really want to avoid being sued by Wells Fargo - has anyone had student loans with them where they actually sold the loans to a JDB? Does Wells Fargo sue on student loans? Do they garnish tax-returns? (as if I'd have a positive tax return.... lols)

They're private student loans btw and have been in charge-off status since February 2010.

The last time I made a payment was in August of 2009, but for some reason right before the charge-off, they reported an on-time payment. Not sure what that's about.

I'm just getting nervous as to what Wells Fargo typically does with their student loans after they've been in charge off for so long (we're talking 2.5 years here at this point and almost 3 since I last made a payment).

Over the years of my unemployment, they essentially refused any sort of forbearance or unemployment deferment (as they don't offer those options on private loans), but I'm wondering if there is any action I can take to avoid getting sued by more creditors. I don't like the courts but I'm broke. I haven't spoken with Wells Fargo since August of 2009.

[S. Louis Blisko]

Questions:

1) Are the loans all delinquent?

2) How many months / days delinquent?

3) What do you do for a living? (Teacher, Medical Field, Law etc...)

There are potential options / solutions depending on the answers.

[unemployednomore]

Questions:

1) Are the loans all delinquent?

2) How many months / days delinquent?

3) What do you do for a living? (Teacher, Medical Field, Law etc...)

There are potential options / solutions depending on the answers.

1. All of them are delinquent (I got one each in my first three years of undergraduate school).

2. They all hit the 180 day mark in January 2010 and have been in Charge Off mode for 30 months as of July 2012.

3. I'm a writer (self-employed) so I don't think any sort of relief would be granted - also they're private loans so I'm sure that negates a relief effort as well.

[StudLoanGuru]

With private loans the only thing you can do to fully prevent litigation is to call the servicer and setup a new payment arrangement. The payments are not based on any calculation so you should be able to find something you can afford.

One benefit is that most private loan lenders allow for settlements once it is in default, meaning they will allow you to pay a lump sum that is much less than the balance and consider it paid in full. If you have some savings it might be the best way to go.

[unemployednomore]

Interestingly, I've still heard nothing from WF on these loans. Each year, they continue to report them in Charge-Off status.

 

I know this thread is a few years old, but this debt is still following me and I don't seem to be able to do anything about it. Although I've won a court case at this point (on an unrelated debt), I'm still curious what Wells Fargo would ever do with these loans.

 

They're not federally insured and are private loans, but I wonder if they'll ever try to sue. In 2012 they pulled my credit report, but I'm guessing they saw it was a minefield and thought it would be futile to try and sue someone with my laughable income and lack of assets.

 

I know there's a gray area with student loans and SOL, but I'm fairly certain if anything happened at this point, it would be out of the SOL.

 

I paid on these loans for several years until I was laid off during the recession and got the balance from about $25K down to $15K, but then when I couldn't pay the balance went back up to $22K.

[Wins the Battle]

What is the SOL for written contracts in your state?

 

Do you know EXACTLY what the last payment was?

 

Does SOL in your state run from the first time it was in arrears, or the first missed payment after a payment?

 

Answer those questions, and you'll answer for yourself whether or not it's out of SOL.

 

Regardless, they have the right to report for 7.5 years after default, so, if it's 2009-ish, you have a few years of reporting.

 

I cosigned on a loan with my son with a subsidiary of Sallie Mae, and they took it over. Hit SOL in Jan of last year. It felt so lovely to tell the CA who called my cell phone last summer to FOAD.

[GDayMateAZ]

They're not federally insured and are private loans, but I wonder if they'll ever try to sue. In 2012 they pulled my credit report, but I'm guessing they saw it was a minefield and thought it would be futile to try and sue someone with my laughable income and lack of assets.

 

I know there's a gray area with student loans and SOL, but I'm fairly certain if anything happened at this point, it would be out of the SOL.

 

 

You could check NSLDS.GOV (National Student Loan Database System of US Dept of Education)

if your loan is listed there ...

 

This article of 2005

"Eternal Student Loan Liability: Who Can Sue Under 20 U.S.C. § 1091a?"

by Glenn E. Roper

published in Brigham Young University Law Journal

 

http://www.law2.byu.edu/jpl/Vol%2020.1/2Roper.pdf

 

at the end says:

 

" Although under the balance suggested in this article defaulted borrowers of student loans can still never rest easy, and are forever potentially liable, they can at least know that only the government, educational institutions, guaranty agencies, or their assignees are immune to statutes of limitations."

[energizer]

have you applied for

 

ECONOMIC HARDSHIP (FOOD STAMPS/MEDICAID 4 CHILD)

DISASTER AREA

[unemployednomore]

What is the SOL for written contracts in your state?

 

Do you know EXACTLY what the last payment was?

 

Does SOL in your state run from the first time it was in arrears, or the first missed payment after a payment?

 

Answer those questions, and you'll answer for yourself whether or not it's out of SOL.

 

Regardless, they have the right to report for 7.5 years after default, so, if it's 2009-ish, you have a few years of reporting.

 

I cosigned on a loan with my son with a subsidiary of Sallie Mae, and they took it over. Hit SOL in Jan of last year. It felt so lovely to tell the CA who called my cell phone last summer to FOAD.

 

The SOL in CA is 4 years. I made the last payment (no question on this) on 8/27/09. SOL here runs from the date of the last payment. My CR says it will fall off from reporting in 2016. I'm okay with that since I'm not planning to buy a house in the next several years and I also have a vehicle, so I won't need to make any big loan applications. Honestly, I've been waiting for a debt buyer to start calling me and harassing me, but each year Wells Fargo still reports the loans as charge off.

 

Some background: when they originally tried to collect (in late 2009/early 2010), the letters came from 3 different sources. Wells Fargo and 2 of their directly hired collection agencies. No activity after that or contact AT ALL.

 

 

You could check NSLDS.GOV (National Student Loan Database System of US Dept of Education)

if your loan is listed there ...

 

This article of 2005

"Eternal Student Loan Liability: Who Can Sue Under 20 U.S.C. § 1091a?"

by Glenn E. Roper

published in Brigham Young University Law Journal

 

http://www.law2.byu.edu/jpl/Vol%2020.1/2Roper.pdf

 

at the end says:

 

" Although under the balance suggested in this article defaulted borrowers of student loans can still never rest easy, and are forever potentially liable, they can at least know that only the government, educational institutions, guaranty agencies, or their assignees are immune to statutes of limitations."

 

My Wells Fargo loans aren't listed in there. My $128,000 federally-backed loans are, however.

 

 

have you applied for

 

ECONOMIC HARDSHIP (FOOD STAMPS/MEDICAID 4 CHILD)

DISASTER AREA

 

I make too much for food stamps. Which is surprising to me, but the limits are pretty low when you think about the cost of living here. Also, when my loans were current, Wells Fargo refused to do economic hardships or deferments for me. They told me that private student loans couldn't be put on hold for any reason. They were kinda assholish about it.

[almostfree]

It looks like you were able to run out the clock on them.  One thing you might check is what the statute of limitations is on a promissory note in your state.  I think private student loans are considered promissory notes, and it may be the same 4 years in your case.  In my case the SOL for a promissory note is shorter than a written agreement by 2 years (6 years for a promissory note vs 8 years for a written agreement).  Clock's still ticking on mine.

 

From what I've read, an expired SOL doesn't preclude them from suing you; it just gives you an affirmative defense in court, so don't ignore things they might send thinking you're safe because of the SOL.  If a debt collector sues on a debt that's past the SOL that's a violation of the FDCPA, so a FDCPA can make it go away and get you $1000 for the violation.

 

Congrats.

[Wins the Battle]

You are safe on the WF; if they sue, you countersue for FDCPA and costs for the violation of suing on SOL debt.

 

Nice.

 

I don't know about you, but the Sallie Mae I cosigned for my son dropped off about 2 months after the final collection call, where I told the guy to FOAD or he'd be sued for TCPA violations: he was calling my cell. I didn't own that number when I cosigned.

[unemployednomore]

It looks like you were able to run out the clock on them.  One thing you might check is what the statute of limitations is on a promissory note in your state.  I think private student loans are considered promissory notes, and it may be the same 4 years in your case.  In my case the SOL for a promissory note is shorter than a written agreement by 2 years (6 years for a promissory note vs 8 years for a written agreement).  Clock's still ticking on mine.

 

From what I've read, an expired SOL doesn't preclude them from suing you; it just gives you an affirmative defense in court, so don't ignore things they might send thinking you're safe because of the SOL.  If a debt collector sues on a debt that's past the SOL that's a violation of the FDCPA, so a FDCPA can make it go away and get you $1000 for the violation.

 

Congrats.

 

According to this article:

 

http://www.avvo.com/legal-guides/ugc/statute-of-limitations-on-promissory-note-in-california

 

it's 4 years for promissory notes in CA - which is the same for things like credit cards.

 

I know that the SOL won't stop them from suing; however, I've fought off debt collectors before who were trying to get zombie debt. Fairly certain I could do it again.

 

It feels odd that they'd just walk away from 22,000 (or so) worth of debt. My only guess as to their silence is the debt I'm paying off to the IRS. I think they'd try to garnish wages or something but probably notice I owe Uncle Sam about 6K at the moment.

[almostfree]

I think the fact that you know you're safe, ie. SOL expires helps you.  If they try to collect, just letting them know that you know the SOL is up, like Wins the battle did, will probably make them go away.

 

I'm sure they did an analysis of your situation to see if you were worth pursuing, and decided that even if they won a judgement, the likelihood of collecting isn't great.  I'm sure they do the same analysis on all of us.  How likely we are to fight, the amount of debt, the likelilhood of collecting, all factors in.

 

I know it seems like a lot, but 22k to them is probably not that much.  So they probably will throw it to collectors, but if that doesn't work, they probably let it go.  The particular bank I'm dealing with has no cases listed in my state in district court (75k or less), only in superior court , >75k.

 

I'm hoping I can ride mine out a little longer

[BV80]

@unemployednomore

 

If you student loans are federally guaranteed loans, a state's SOL might not apply.

[unemployednomore]

@unemployednomore

 

If you student loans are federally guaranteed loans, a state's SOL might not apply.

 

I do have some federally guaranteed loans, but my Wells Fargo ones aren't as far as I know (they don't show up on the federal database with my other loans that I got through the feds). I don't believe I have the original promissory notes anymore from the 1990s, or I'd check to make sure.

[unemployednomore]

Interestingly, it would appear Wells Fargo has decided to stop collection efforts (not that it ever made much effort...) and do a 1099-C. It's over $20,000 (which would more than double my income for 2014), but I'm insolvent, so I'll be submitting my taxes for next year with the insolvent form.

[Bestdancer8787]

Hey Unemployednomore,

 

I know this thread is super old but I am wondering if Wells Fargo sent your student loan to a collector after you received a 1099-c with them? I have a similar story and they issued me a 1099C and the internet has so many opinions about being sued and 1099C's.