US debt collections with UK based debt, need advice.

[DaniandShaun 1]

UK husband has student loans from the UK.  We have been working with the student loan company on payment, but they kept coming back saying we need to pay more.  Now they've (supposedly) sent this to a US debt collection agency. Now, everything I've read about this debt collector is that they are a "scam", harassing, and have several class action lawsuits for illegal business practices.  I'm wondering if anyone has dealt with something like this before?
Any time we have tried to call the debt collector, the phone rings and rings and no one ever picks up. Should we ignore the US based collector, and keep trying to work with the UK loan company?  I just don't want this to hit my husband's credit, as we are trying to purchase a new house.
Any advice would be helpful.... Googling isn't giving me a lot of good information.

[kris&me 572]

Not sure how this US company would know you had UK student loan debt unless it was legit / How were you informed that this US company was now collecting the debt?   And have you gotten in touch with the student loan agency in UK to check on the validity of all this?

However,  there are scams and hackers out there

Have you contacted Better Business Bureau for info on the US  company?

 

Don't ignore?  But find out the real facts

 

[mandsophia 160]

 I do not think UK student loans have jurisdiction in the us, to either get your money, or to ruin your credit score

Edited November 15, 2019 by mandsophia

[Ontarkie 14,228]

Do not contact the US debt collector.  The only way they would be involved is if they bought out the UK debt. I highly doubt they did that. Plus if hes been paying them still they cannot just send him to collections. (ok well that is how it works in Canada, maybe the UK too?)

Tell the UK Student loan ppl nothing more than what your husband can pay. If they are like the Canadian student loan ppl they want there money fast as too many ppl will skip out on it when they leave the country. Any loans forgiveness and things that give you a lower rate tend to stop when you move. Since they already know he has left the UK they could have done similar.

 

Did the student loan ppl actually give you a number to call a US debt collector? Because those guys can be brutal and would have been calling you like 7 times a day by now. 

[Wuozopo 4,293]

I'm not sure I'm following the plot, but my wife has a story of a debt collector. She had a dispute with a department store over a return. They suddenly went out of business and turned everything pending over to a debt collector.  Every time they called and started their spiel, she said "I'm not going to pay you, but thanks for calling." And hung up. Don't get into a discussion. 

[DaniandShaun 1]

We were notified by just a letter in the mail.  We've looked at BBB for the company, they do not have a good rating and a lot of complaints and class action lawsuits open against them.  We've been trying to get in touch with the student loan company, but we haven't been successful.  We will certainly keep trying, I just don't want this to hit our credit.

[JFH 12,190]

15 hours ago, DaniandShaun said:

We were notified by just a letter in the mail.  We've looked at BBB for the company, they do not have a good rating and a lot of complaints and class action lawsuits open against them.  We've been trying to get in touch with the student loan company, but we haven't been successful.  We will certainly keep trying, I just don't want this to hit our credit.

I don’t think any debt collector would have a good rating on BBB and they obviously will have a lot of complaints. Who is going to say “what a great debt collector this company is!”?

 

Were you notified by SLC that the debt had been sold? If it had been sold you would have first heard from SLC that the debt was being sold to xxx company and then from xxx company that they now had the account.

 

Why are they saying you need to pay more? The payments are linked to your income. As your income increases, your payments do too. You pay 9% of any income over the base threshold. This is made clear when you take the loan. Has he had a change in income recently?

[Ash.1101 1,756]

17 hours ago, DaniandShaun said:

We were notified by just a letter in the mail.  We've looked at BBB for the company, they do not have a good rating and a lot of complaints and class action lawsuits open against them.  We've been trying to get in touch with the student loan company, but we haven't been successful.  We will certainly keep trying, I just don't want this to hit our credit.

Just curious as to what debt collector?

I've dealt with one, Midland Credit Management, and they have gone as far as "serving" papers to me for a suit, when the debt had already aged out. I paid it out of fear because holy crud I just got sued, only to find out later when looking up the court number that it was never filed and it never existed, which after looking it all up, seems to be a normal practice of theirs.

Now I've just been giving them the middle finger because  they even have on my account that they can't sue me on any debt that they have of mine because Texas law says it's too old, they also can't put it on my credit report due to age, so they call me every so often and but I ignore them.

Edited November 16, 2019 by Ash.

[Wuozopo 4,293]

1 hour ago, JFH said:

I don’t think any debt collector would have a good rating on BBB and they obviously will have a lot of complaints. Who is going to say “what a great debt collector this company is!”?

 

Great point. 😂 🤣 👍

[TandSarahJane 178]

Not sure if you saw this article in your googling.... It is from 2016, about how SLC was ramping up data sharing with other governments and hiring recovery agencies abroad to enforce repayment.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3442862/Graduates-abroad-avoid-paying-student-loans-tracked-debt-collectors-legal-clampdown.html

[JeanneAdil 6,511]

1 hour ago, Wuozopo said:

 

Great point. 😂 🤣 👍

not a good rating but check with BBB to see if this company is actually legit as there are to many scams out there

[yuna628 9,676]

On 11/15/2019 at 10:58 AM, DaniandShaun said:

UK husband has student loans from the UK.  We have been working with the student loan company on payment, but they kept coming back saying we need to pay more.  Now they've (supposedly) sent this to a US debt collection agency. Now, everything I've read about this debt collector is that they are a "scam", harassing, and have several class action lawsuits for illegal business practices.  I'm wondering if anyone has dealt with something like this before?
Any time we have tried to call the debt collector, the phone rings and rings and no one ever picks up. Should we ignore the US based collector, and keep trying to work with the UK loan company?  I just don't want this to hit my husband's credit, as we are trying to purchase a new house.
Any advice would be helpful.... Googling isn't giving me a lot of good information.

Not sure how the SLC is doing this to you? There is a yearly monetary assessment every year which describes how much of the loan needs to be paid monthly. While there were issues with SLC initially when my husband moved here, once the paperwork had been sorted out correctly, we've never had a problem paying our monthly debt for years now. No collections or mysterious demands to pay extra. The only extra needing to be paid is when your income increases or the exchange rate rises or lowers.

Edited November 16, 2019 by yuna628