I am interested in reviewing lawsuits filed by National Collegiate Student Loan Trust in Indiana. I am especially interested if there is a cosigner involved. I will be happy to review your documents at no charge and to discuss them with you. Send your documents to hoferlawindyATgmail.com. (replace the “AT” with the “@”.) If we take the case as an offensive case (us suing them), generally there would be no out-of-pocket fee. If we take the case as a defensive case (us defending you from them) there would be an out-of-pocket fee. I found this video on Youtube by Alabama Attorney John Watts explaining your four options if you are sued by NCSLT. I am not affiliated with Mr. Watts, but I think this video includes some useful information regarding student loan cases, and NCSLT in particular. I think John Watt’s take on NCSLT agrees with mine. Even though this video is over an hour long, if you are sued by NCSLT, it is worth watching.
Basically, if you are sued by NCSLT, your options are: (1) Do nothing – NO NO NO (2) represent yourself – BETTER THAN NOTHING, BUT MAKE SURE YOU ANSWER THE COMPLAINT PROMPTLY AND FULLY. READ UP ON HOW TO DO IT RIGHT. (3) Hire an attorney to defend (4) Hire an attorney to negotiate. Understand that in most cases when borrowers represent themselves, they are eventually going to lose because the collection attorneys usually file motions for summary judgment which are very hard for nonlawyers to defend. Common defenses against NCSLT include: (1) Questioning the assignment (2) Statute of limitations (The loan may have gone into default earlier than you thought. (3) Questioning their payment records (4) Cosigner defenses Thanks to industry lobbying, even private student loans cannot generally be discharged in bankruptcy; however in a given case, a bankruptcy might be useful to free up resources to pay student loans, to get breathing room to free up assets to pay student loans, or to budget the payments in the context of a Chapter 13 repayment plan. On behalf of clients, my office has sued other student loan collectors (but not NCSLT) for suing consumers in a forum that is not allowed by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. As a general rule, a private student loan collector must sue you in the county where you currently live, in the county where you physically signed the student loan agreement – and this applies to the cosigner as well. Often the principal borrower is sued in the right place, but the cosigner is not.