Consumer complaint received 2021-03-03
Company: Southern Oregon Credit Service, Inc.
State: OR
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Private student loan debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action
Sub-issue: Sued you without properly notifying you of lawsuit

Complaint:
Southern Oregon XXXX Services garnished my entire state tax return without sending me notice of said garnishment to the address that I filed with for two years in a row. I was not aware this student debt existed, as its over 14 years old. They collected these funds using deceptive and abusive collection practices. Under current state and federal statutes, collectors may not collect on private student debt or federal student debt until the statutes have been lifted ; Note. see statutes and guidance from XXXX. XXXX XXXX, enacted XX/XX/XXXX ; Guidance The division encourages its regulated debt buyers and collection agencies to take active measures to provide help to debtors affected by the outbreak. Regulated entities should : Be willing to accommodate debtors who have stated that they have hardships resulting from the outbreak, such as reduced income, reduced hours, lost employment, or illness. 
Offer payment accommodations, such as allowing a debtor to defer payments, extending payment due dates, or otherwise adjusting terms of existing payment plans. 
Waive late payment fees or online payment fees. 
Waive nonsufficient funds fees or reduce them to match out-of-pocket costs. 
Temporarily suspend collection activities for debtors who have significant financial or medical hardship. 
If you suspend activity on one account of a debtor, suspend activity on all accounts of that debtor. 
Stop collection activity against debtors with no access to assets whose only source of income is an exempt source, such as Social Security. 
A debtor may decide to pay the debt with economic impact payments from the stimulus funds, but Gov. XXXX XXXX XXXX executive order prevents creditors and debt collectors from garnishing a debtor 's CARES Act recovery rebate payment. 
The division considers the above measures to be in the public interest. This bulletin applies to debt buyers required to be licensed under ORS XXXX to XXXX and collection agencies required to be registered under ORS XXXX to XXXX. 


They also did not send ANY documentation to me regarding this debt so I could provide my Attorneys information that filed my bankruptcy two months before this garnishment took place. They also took my refund last year AFTER the statutes went in to place as well. With it being a smaller refund last year I did not notice it was missing from the overal refund. This year I was owed XXXX from my state returns. I claimed XXXX all year so I could receive that " savings ' with my return, that has now been deceptively used to pay this XXXX XXXX XXXX debt. They collected illegally. Oregon law states debt can not be collected after 6 years. SIX. NOT FOURTEEN. 

I would like this matter investigated and the full amount owed to me returned. I plan on filing a lawsuit with my attorney as well. 

My attorney is XXXX XXXX XXXX upright LAW. 
My address is XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX OR XXXX My full name is XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Thank you for your time.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation