Consumer complaint received 2021-05-24
Company: Nelnet, Inc.
State: IA
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Private student loan
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Received bad information about your loan

Complaint:
There are two student loans that I took out with XXXX while I was in college from XXXX to XXXX. I was successfully paying on these loans after graduation until XXXX when my parents filed Chapter XXXX bankruptcy, because my dad is the co-signer on the two student loans they were pulled into their bankruptcy. The bankruptcy lawyer told us to leave the loans as is because they will pay out in the bankruptcy. 

The XXXX student loans were discharged in Bankruptcy in XX/XX/XXXX. I have attached the discharge papers and highlighted the two Firstmark loans as well as the courts sentence stating that the unpaid amounts have been discharged. These are non-qualified private student loans, so they are not exempt from discharge under the bankruptcy code. They were taken out as direct consumer student loans, not certified by the school ( as you will see in the application that Firstmark has given me, and I've attached on the right-hand side there is no school certification information ), and they were in excess of my scholarship and the federal student loans that covered by tuition. No further petition needs to be filed with the court for the discharge, according to the bankruptcy code any non-qualified private student loans are automatically discharged. I've told Firstmark this multiple times, but they just say that student loans can't be discharged in bankruptcy, which is only accurate for federal and private qualified student loans. 

In addition to that, Firstmark is saying that these two loans were not discharged in bankruptcy and that I still owe them. I have been trying to get documentation for proof of debt from Firstmark for several months now because I do not believe I owe these loans. I've asked Firstmark customer service for this documentation directly several times and I either receive the same documents over and over, which are not enough to satisfy proof of debt, or I don't get any answer at all. Not only that, but I have filed multiple disputes with all three credit bureau 's, and every time the loans come back as verified. I am very confused as to how that can be possible when Firstmark can't provide the appropriate and complete documentation to me. 

I called XXXX  and asked a dispute specialist if they could provide me with the proof of debt that is required for Firstmark to report these to the credit bureau under the FCRA, and XXXX  said they do not receive anything from Firstmark. The agent explained that XXXX  just passes the dispute on and Firstmark says they've verified it, so XXXX  leaves it on my credit report.

I sent Firstmark a 623 dispute letter requesting that they investigate the loans and that they provide me with all proof and documentation of their investigation as well as what they've found in their investigation. I received a letter in the mail today from Firstmark stating that they are not going to investigate the dispute because it was frivolous. They did not provide any further documentation with the letter, nor did they provide any documentation around their previous investigations or any proof that they've ever done any sort of investigation on these loans. 

To this date the ONLY documentation Firstmark has provided me is ( 1 ) student loan application that was electronically signed ( there are two separate student loans this complaint pertains to ), ( 1 ) word document that has blanked out areas, and different fonts that claims to be a conditional letter of approval from XXXX, but I could type this up in Word if I wanted to. ( 1 ) generic promissory note that does not have my signature on it, and does not tie itself to my loan application or accounts in any way. The first page of the generic promissory note under the 'promise to pay ' section states that a conditional letter of approval and/or a promissory note will be sent with each subsequent loan, even under a master student loan promissory note. I have not received this documentation for the 2nd student loan after multiple requests. 
At this point, Firstmark has failed to provide ANY documentation for one of these loans, they can not even provide documentation that I even applied for a 2nd loan with XXXX. For the other loan they can only provide incomplete documentation. The documentation that has been provided does not satisfy the legal proof of debt that is required to be reporting these accounts to the credit bureau, and it is not enough documentation to be legally collecting on this loan. 

Right now Firstmark is in violation of the FCRA, and the bankruptcy code by continuing to report and trying to collect on these accounts. If there is further documentation available to satisfy the proof of debt requirement that the creditor must meet, then I want copies of that documentation as well. If no further documentation can be provided then I want these loans deleted from Firstmarks system, from my credit report, and my dad 's credit report XXXX XXXX, with all three credit bureaus.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation