For years, student loan collection agencies have been restricted from using auto-dialers to contact students, and collect on student loan debts.
That might not be the case anymore.
As part of President Obama’s new debt reduction plan, student loan guarantors and servicers will be able to employ auto dialers straight to cell phones.
This means that if you are late on your student loan, you might receive automated calls to your cell phone at all hours of the night, from student loan collectors trying to get your loan money.
Here is more on this from The Chronicle of Higher Education:
[box] “The plan—one of a number of proposals in President Obama’s $3-trillion deficit-reduction plan that seek to enhance the government’s ability to collect on debts it is owed—would let collectors use automated dialing to call delinquent debtors’ cellphones, a method they already use to call land-line phones. Under current law, federal agencies are allowed to contact cellphones by dialing manually, but not automatically. The White House says the change it is seeking simply reflects the fact that many people use cellphones only these days. In an e-mail, a spokeswoman for the Office of Management and Budget said the provision would help the government recover millions of dollars in overdue student-loan debt and help reduce defaults.”[/box]
My personal feelings on this, are that you really just need to focus on paying your debts.
It is important to understand the student loans that you are taking out, and it is important to understand how to budget for their repayment once you graduate from college. However, I do wonder about the issue of invasion of privacy from auto-dialer machines.
If you are having trouble repaying your student loans, your best option is to contact your lender and work out payment arrangements with them. You may qualify for a deferment or forbearance of some kind. It is never a good option to simply walk away from paying back your student loans.
Would you be alright with student loan collections auto-dialing your cell phone?
Honestly, I didn’t realize they couldn’t already. I have no problem with creditors/collection agencies calling people. If you are in the mafia and miss a payment, you lose an arm. Terrible analogy but if you are responsible enough to take out a loan, you are responsible enough to find ways to pay it back.
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@Funancials — Ha! You’re right. It’s not the mafia, but they still need to collect on your debts. I don’t think that cell phones should be kept sacred either. If you owe a debt, you should be responsible enough to pay it, or to face the consequences.
STRONGside recently posted..Student Loan Collectors Might be Able to Auto-Dial Your Cell Phone