Anyone have a loan with Access Group? Was it sold this week?

[Anonymous]

Not to beat a dead horse here but I too got my horrible Access Group loan sold off/serviced by even worse ACS, and it is totally messed up. Mystery late fees like everyone has mentioned but also ACS got my name and address totally wrong in the switch. Not a typo - example: "Sarah" vs "Sara" - but actually just wrong, example: my name "Sarah" was changed to "Edward" and the address is not mine.

I don't want to make any more payments because how do I know ACS even has the right to collect on my loan? How am I assured my payment is actually paying off the loan? Does "show me the note" work for student loans too? How can I get them to produce the promissory note? I'm never late on my payments and I will repay what I borrowed but the banks have to play by the rules too. Besides possible fraud, this raises concerns on identity theft and, security, and privacy issues. Do you guys know anyone I can talk to -- besides ACS who are completely unresponsive?

[Anonymous]

Just received a statement from ACS - my loan was also formerly with Access Group - and my monthly payment increased by $40. When I called ACS, they told me that Access Group had incorrectly amortizied my loan. I am furious and am going to write to the legal department at Access Group and ACS....has this happened to anyone else?

[Anonymous]

No, but they added a "late" fee and then told me Access added it but Access won't talk to me about the loan. A&^)^&U*()WE^

[Anonymous]

I too haD an access group loan- just assigned to ACS in March. Same happened to me, My monthly payment increased- according to them by 'underamortization' of the loan by Access Group. Not my problem! This money adds up to an extra $7K in the long run, that Access Group just 'missed?' in scheduling my graduated payments? I think not. I tried the phone, now i'm trying email route. The phone is useless, they just keep saying 'this is due to the underamortization' as if she knew what it meant.

[Anonymous]

It seems they didn't transfer any history with the loans in the transaction - and that it was a "business decision" not to. So the burden is on the borrower to correct any mistakes they make.

Due to the business decision not to transfer history and 2 "system glitches" after I complained about it, my prepayment was not taken into account when calculating my payment due dates. The website now indicates I'm almost 2 months delinquent.

I would recommend everyone keep checking their status in case there are more glitches. I'm planning to send a complaint in ([e-mail], include your acct # and the word "complaint" in the subject line). I'm also going to report them to the better business bureau.

I'm a lawyer, and what they are doing seems super unethical to me. Check out this website (I'm not sure how recent it is): http://www.findjustice.com/cases/consumer-protection/consumer-investigations/acs-education-solutions/

[Anonymous]

To the lawyer at 05/29/2012 12:04:

What ACS has been doing to people is beyond unethical. Their bad behavior ranges from dirty tricks to outright violations of the law. Just read what you've seen on this board to get a flavor. Then add to that complaints you can find here: http://www.complaintsboard.com/bycompany/acs-a51321.html, here: http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/acs-education-c224536.html; and here: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/finance/acs.html

The sheer breadth of problems people have had to deal with from this awful company is nightmarish. It's a disgrace that the law is so poorly written and structured that ACS (and the lenders whose loans it services) can continue to get away with such bad behavior year after year.

The problem is that the violations ACS commits are so vast and comprehensive, their victims are so numerous, overwhelmed and decentralized, and their method of operation is so deliberately buttressed with labyrinthine levels of red tape, that every new problem actually inures to their benefit. As long as the victim is either too poor to act or the infraction is not livelihood-threatening, ACS can rest easy because simple inertia and attrition will forestall any remedy. They have no incentive to solve any problem raised unless and until someone with a badge comes knocking on their door, and that's simply not going to happen absent a massive, combined effort directed at lenders and the servicer alike.

It's exactly the type of situation that the class action option was designed to deal with -- enabling ordinary people to band together and turn a multitude of small complaints into one formidable one.

A question to anyone out there: Has any progress been made or further information obtained re: the class action attorney option raised in the previous post? (Note, I am aware of the Fensterstock v. ACS 2d Circuit July 2010 decision and the Supreme Court's recent AT&T Mobility decision re: class action arbitration provisions, which impelled the 2d Circuit to reverse and remand.)