Hello,

I took out a student loan with a company named 'Sallie Mae' for a masters degree in 2007 that finished in 2008

but I did not graduate until the following year - 2009.

They are a company who specializes in professional studies loans.

During that time I had no contact from Sallie Mae and then

i read in around 2008 that they had ceased trading in this country.

There was no facility to contact them and the US branch is totally separate.

Other people had commented on the internet that they are also in the same situation at that time.

In around 2010 I started to receive letter from a company named 'Total Credit Finance Limited' based in Scotland.

I did email them to say that I was not in a position to start paying the loan off due to not hearing from Sallie Mae for a few years.

They wanted money (around £500) for me to extend the time that I had to differ the loan for longer.

As I did not have this money available I chose to ignore it.

They continued to send me invoices but nothing more.

I have now received a letter from a company named Drydensfairfax solicitors telling me that action will be taken

if I do not respond within 14 days (now 1 week).

I am about to go freelance as a designer and I am worried that I will have to go to court

and they will send the bailiffs round and take all the equipment I need to be able to complete my job.

Also I am worried that I will be forced to pay ridiculous fees to a loan that was agreed with a different company altogether.

At first it did not show on my credit report but it is now there, will this be screwed forever?

If I would have not contacted 'Total Credit Finance' it would have been nearly 6 years since I took out the loan.

Many Thanks for your time in reading this.

I took this loan out to help with my career and this is still an ongoing process.

Hello and welcome,

Firstly check your credit files and see if this is on there,

NEVER speak to any of these leeches on the phone EVER!

Keep a diary of events and keep EVERYTHING in writing.

You need to be as exact as you can with the dates, when EXACTLY did you stop paying toward this loan?

What were you exact words to them in 2010?

If it was along the lines of, "I cannot pay toward my debt" then that may have reset the clock..??

Hello, many thanks for your reply I am need of help and advice.

I have checked my credit report and it is most definitely on there as 'ARROW GLOBAL LIMITED' the company name.

I have not spoken to them on the phone and do not intend to. I have been getting private number and strange 0845 numbers calling my phone but I do not answer as a rule if I do not recognise the number.

From now on I will keep a diary of events, on my part I have been a little scared of this whole situation and almost tried to forget about it.

The loan I have not made a payment towards. After 'SALLIE MAE" stopped trading in this country me and lot of other people had absolutely no information to go on. It was after some time that 'TOTALCREDITFINANCE' started to send me letters. And now it is 'DRYDENSFAIRFAX' solicitors who are not sending the letters.

The email that I sent to 'TOTALCREDITFINANCE' was on the 11/1/10 and it states:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Sir/Madam

I am writing to you to inform you about my current financial position. I am only

in part time employment currently and cannot afford the repayment plan taken out

with the loan at the beginning of my course.

I am liaising with a design company with full time employment being taken with

them in the next 6 months. When this happens I will be able to afford the

payment full payment plan. For the time being I would like to restructure a

payment plan that I can afford. I do want to start paying the loan back but at

a slightly reduced amount until full time employment in the design field, which

is my ultimate goal after completing my Masters Degree.

Could you please advise me on my options.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I received no reply...

The first letters that I received from 'DRYDENSFAIRFAX' stated that I needed to make immediate payment

of the outstanding balance within 14 days of the letter (8th July 2013).

I have now received more letters from 'DRYDENSFAIRFAX' stating that,

if they do not hear from me within 14 days of the letter dated (22nd July 2013)

I will leave them with no alternative but to recommend to their client 'ARROW GLOBAL LIMITED'

thats they should consider taking legal action against me.

The commencement of legal proceedings will incur additional costs,

which will be added to the outstanding debt.

It also warns me that any CCJ's will severely effect my ability to obtain credit in the future.

I am now very worried that they are going to send the bailiffs round and take the very equipment I need to be able to do my job.

I am just at a loss with what to do as I do not want to go to court either.

Is this scare tactics?

Many thanks again and I hope that this makes sense.

I am about to start freelancing again and I hope that this awful situation does not effect that either.

Bailiffs will NOT be used. IF ( and its a big IF) a court claim is issued, you can provide a defence and give your version of events. When it goes before a judge, you can give the judge a comprehensive I&E and he will arrange a payment plan you can afford. Bailiffs only ever come onto the scene if you point blank refuse to pay, or the court has exhausted all other options.

Thats not to mention that bailiffs will only ever be even remotely linked to your debt IF the creditor wins the case.

I hope not as that will be a massive stress to me and my family.

I had to move back to the family home due to health issues and having people trying to enter the premises will be a nightmare.

Once I am sorted I would like to get the ball rolling but I am still getting my career of the ground

with hard work and perseverance with money not being abundant.

Really court isnt anything to worry about. It is NOTHING like you see on the tv. It is a court rep/judge in a suit, you, and the creditors rep ( if they bother to turn up). You sit around a table and go through the claim.

Having never been in trouble with the police or ever been in a court it still sounds pretty daunting. I am worried that they will demand a ridiculous monthly payment or try and get me to take a job that will pay just to fund them.

Also the threat of bailiffs is still causing me sleepless nights. For me to lose my most precious of belongings that I need to do my job would be soul destroying.

Complete a financial statement and make a monthly offer of payment. That should fend off legal action. You'll find a decent financial statement via the National Debtline website:

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/

Have you other creditors?

Thankfully no other creditors apart from this student loan. What do you think about the email that I sent to the first people who the debt was sold to, 'TOTALCREDITFINANCE', in 2010?

That sort of thing is pretty much perfect, they'll just want to see a financial statement so that they can see that the instalment is fair and reasonable.

have you sent this lot a CCA request

might be an idea

if they don't have a copy of the credit agreement

they are just about stuffed!

I doubt it exists.

adapt the following text to YOUR details.

DO NOT SIGN THE LETTER!

get a £1 BLANK Postal order

write on the back

for statutory £1 CCA FEE ONLY.

leave the payee BLANK

post the two off by 1st class post, get proof of posting from PO counter

they have 12+2 WORKING days to comply.

CCA request

if they don't have a copy of the credit agreement

 

they are just about stuffed!

Why would that be? It seems to be a post April '07 agreement from where I'm sat - unless I'm missing something?!

have you sent this lot a CCA request

 

might be an idea

 

if they don't have a copy of the credit agreement

 

they are just about stuffed!

 

I doubt it exists.

 

dx

Are they? I'd like to know why as I don't think they'd be stuffed at all. I think the advice to get a CFS compliant I&E form to back up any offer of payment will almost certainly guarantee acceptance by the DCA. If it were to go to court after that, I think the judge would be asking the DCA why they had taken it to court when a perfectly reasonable offer was on the table.

hello

the 'lets just blindly pay someone because they sent me a threat-o-gram'

brigade are amassing.

getting very boring guys

this is CAG consumer ACTION group

not the 'rollover and accept what a dca says is true

on a debt poss over 6yrs old and poss statute barred' group.

dx

The OP has made is clear that they wish to make a reasonable payment.

If there was an e-mail in 2010 then that may well count as acknowldgement, and if so the debt is unlikely to be stat barred until 2016. Of course it would be down to whoever's chasing to prove the acknowldgement, if the debt has been passed around the houses that could be difficult - although not impossible.

A cca challenge is likely to be fruitless if indeed the loan was taken out after April '07.

Tucoist - has there ever been any payments made? When precisely was the loan entered into? I'm assuming that it's probably towards the back end of 2007, right?

Off topic posts removed.

Let's await that date of payment from the OP please as it could have an impact.

dx - you just made a rather insulting post about Dodgeball and I which I tried to report. It stated an invalid post and wouldn't let me report it. Now I come back and find the post, along with a couple of others gone. Why?

My question was why the sudden need to resort to insults? Would you like to comment, or will this post disappear as well?

Apologies ims - your post was not showing when I made my response. Happy for it to be removed.

although this is called a 'student loan'

it wont be a part of the Student Loan Company funding etc

and the rules pre/post 1998 with regard to gov't funding etc etc.

only those loans issued by the Student Loan Company'

follow those rules.

dx

hello

 

the 'lets just blindly pay someone because they sent me a threat-o-gram'

 

brigade are amassing.

 

getting very boring guys

 

this is CAG consumer ACTION group

 

not the 'rollover and accept what a dca says is true

on a debt poss over 6yrs old and poss statute barred' group.

 

dx

I think there is something to be said to repaying a debt which is rightfully owed.

Of course if it is SB then that is another matter, lets hope so.

I think there is something to be said to repaying a debt which is rightfully owed.

 

Of course if it is SB then that is another matter, lets hope so.

Not sure (in this case) that 2007 terms could become SB at year 6, been a long time since I looked at student loans.... Perhaps there is still an opportunity to defer the principal but it may require some digging by the OP.

Hi

This is a link to another thread on this subject of sallie mae uk: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?226831-Unsecured-Loan.-Sallie-Mae-UK

What's also important to consider with student loans is when the loan actually became due for payment - as that is when the cause of action would actually begin - and often with loans of this nature that could be later than 2007.

What's also important to consider with student loans is when the loan actually became due for payment - as that is when the cause of action would actually begin - and often with loans of this nature that could be later than 2007.

Yes this is an excellent point, if the account was not defaulted and terminated the SB commencement date would be on the termination of the contract.

Had a brief squint on Google for salliemae uk terms and

they don't appear to be student loans in the strictest sense that us locals may understand them to be.

It may be prudent to get a s77/78 request in the post pronto,

from what I can make of it they appear to be restricted use

but with interest penalty at deferment even during the period of education.

Durham uni still seem to promote the facility for international students.