Recently, the U.S. Department of Education pulled a manual for debt collectors who are attempting to collect student loan debts off of its website. The Private Collection Agencies Procedures Manual was removed because a blog operated by the U.S. News and World Report gave some tips to borrowers who have defaulted on their student loans.
The manual revealed that if the debtor makes a good faith agreement to repay the loan, the collector is allowed to waive all collection fees and reduce the total debt by 10 percent. Other helpful tips to debtors included in the manual are the precise language borrowers must use to get debt collectors to stop contacting them and ways for debtors to repair their credit once they’ve defaulted on a loan.
When the blog writer called the Department of Education to check to see if there were any recent updates to the manual, they asked her not to publish information from the manual. It was then removed from the website. The Department of Education claims it was removed because the website host is under review.
The Department of Education also provides a manual specifically for debtors called the Federal Student Aid’s Collections Guide to Defaulted Student Loans. However, some feel it is not nearly as helpful to debtors as the manual for the debt collectors.
The manual notes that there are 17 collection agencies that work on behalf of the government to collect billions in defaulted student loans.
If you are interested in reading tips for debtors who owe student loans, the manual is still available online by clicking here.