Product: Student loan

I took out a large private student loan with XXXX XXXX XXXX in 2006 to assist with tuition at the XXXX in XXXX, OH. The loan was cosigned by my grandmother who is now deceased. XXXX XXXX XXXX was found to be dealing with institutions to essentially receive kickbacks by having said institutions feed students to their private student loan products ( myself included ). Because of this, the company filed bankruptcy and, unbeknownst to me, my loan was sold to another lender : ACS. The life of the loan to this point had spent most of its existence in a state of deferment as I was still pursuing my XXXX XXXX. When the loan was sold from XXXX to ACS, the terms of my deferment changed and I was left with none. At this time I was just beginning XXXX and realized my loan had changed hands when I called to reinstate another 6 month in-school deferment period on the loan. I was told I had no more deferment time left on the loan and that I had to immediately begin making monthly payments. I did make the payments, although it was always difficult as I was in XXXX, essentially living off of federal loans and a small stipend given to me by my school to get by. 
The monthly payment quickly became more than I could handle and my payment history became spotty. I repeatedly called ACS asking if I could enroll in some kind of payment plan that would allow for a lower monthly payment but was refused. Consequently, I missed many, many payments. 
Upon graduating with my XXXX, I cobbled together a decent income by working XXXX jobs : XXXX. My payment history became better for some time - it was a this time that I noticed that despite ALL of the payments I had made the amount of the loan only continued to grow. I realized that ACS was putting all of my monthly payments toward the interest on the loan, so I called to request that a portion of my monthly payment be put directly toward the capital of the loan, instead, but ACS refused. So I watched the loan grow and grow despite my best efforts ( XXXX jobs ) to make what was already a difficult minimum payment for me. I eventually was unable to keep XXXX of the jobs going simultaneously due to scheduling conflicts and I missed several consecutive payments as a result. When I DID have enough money to make a payment, which was in XXXX of this year, I saw that the loan had gone into default. I scrambled to call ACS to see if there was any way I could rehabilitate the loan or come back into their " good graces '' but was referred to their collection agency and given a phone number to call. Upon calling the collection agency, I was told that they " could not find my name in their system '' - - I offered alternate spellings of my name but the agent stated that the loan was not visible to her. I was told I would be contacted by their agency if anything " showed up. '' It was not until 5 days ago that I received correspondence from an entirely different collection agency. I am now stuck with an enormous amount of debt ready to hit my credit report. I 've done a really good job staying on top of all of my other student loan payments through XXXX and XXXX XXXX, as well as my credit cards and other monthly expenditures. I have worked very hard to rebuild my credit and I have finally secured permanent, XXXX employment with hopes of purchasing a home this upcoming XXXX. I am so scared to deal with this collection agency and fear wage garnishment. I would like to settle with the collection agency but have read that they usually request half of the total balance : an amount that is far beyond me. I would very much appreciate any help the Bureau might be able to offer me - I am at a total loss at the moment.