I’ve been looking at some documents lately relating to a loan by Lifeway Credit Union for a LPN-to RN contract by The College Network. The College Network is a defunct Indiana firm that sold LPN-RN programs. TCN was accused of selling the programs as if they were a full class program while at the same time claiming htey were just a provider of educational material. It has come to my attention that the Credit Unions that provided capital to The College Network by funding their student accounts are still trying to collect these debts even though The College Network was run out of business for being a deeptive operation.
From what I have been able to gather, Lifeway Credit Union was a relatively-small player regarding TCN contracts. Southeast Fenderal Credit Union the most contracts and We Florida Financial Credit Union was a player. Southeast Federal Credit Union sued TCN.
See this link. If you have a debt to a credit union arising out of a contract with The College Network, you should be that if TCN referred you to the lender, any claim or defense you could raise against The College Network you can raise against your lender up to the amount of the contract. This means you MIGHT have an offensive claim to get some money back. You have an even better chance at getting out of the loan obligation and getting your credit report clear.
It seems that most of the contracts that I’ve seen involved either Southeast Financial Credit Union or Lifeway Credit Union
. The Attorney General of New York brought an action against Southeast Financial Credit Union for disregarding the claims and defenses of the studnets. You can read about it here.
Until recently, when I have received calls about The College Network, I have referred callers to fellow NACA member attorneys in their area. Quite frankly, I have been disappointed by the results, as the lawyers I have referred the consumers to have not known what to do with the cases. I recently noticed that The College Network contract that I reviewed included a clause mandating binding arbitration in Marion County, Indiana. Now, the general rule is that binding arbitration is a disaster for consumers, BUT depending on the Arbitration agency, binding consumer arbitration may cost the business a lot more than the consumer, and may discourage a suit against the consumer. Marion County, Indiana happens to be my home county. Because of the connection to Indiana and the arbitration clause, I have decided to take on cases defending against claims by assignees of the College Network. If you are subject to collection activity relating to a College Network contract, please call me at 317-662-4529.