Consumer complaint received 2018-06-20
Company: ECMC GROUP, INC.
State: TX
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with your lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Received bad information about your loan

Complaint:
Despite attempts to request copies of loan documents evidencing the students loans that ECMC has said have not been paid, ECMC has refused to provide copies. Instead, printouts of what was supposed to have been outstanding was sent to my attention. When I insisted that copies of the actual documents be made available to me in preparation for a hearing to determine whether my wages should be garnished, ECMC apparently forwarded documents to the Department of Education ( what documents, if any, that were sent by ECMC to the Department of Education were not made available to me ), who made a determination that no hearing was necessary. The letter from the Department of Education is attached. The Department of Education letter does not reflect the supporting documentation that was submitted to ECMC. I would have certainly provided the Department of Education with the supporting information and documentation, if provided with the opportunity to do so. 



All of my documentation regarding repayments and in preparation for the requested hearing was forwarded to ECMC as was requested by ECMC. My wages had been garnished for over 7 years, and as a result over {$50000.00} had been repaid. My request was for documentation reflecting the exact amount that was owed. Instead, ECMC became incensed that the request was made, refused to provide any documents showing an outstanding balance other than a computer print-out ( schedule of payments ), and refused to consider the request made by me for relief under 34 C.F.R. Section 682.410 ( b ) ( 9 ) ( ii ) ( E ) ( garnishment of wages would cause undue hardship - documents were sent to ECMC supporting the undue hardship, but there is no verification that those documents were delivered by ECMC for review ). Monthly payment obligations were also sent to ECMC in anticipation of a hearing. There is no evidence that those documents were reviewed or considered.

Student loan documents may refer to specific rights, deferments, relief related to periods of unemployment, family tragedy or reduction in debt obligation due to employment at a non-profit. I have been deprived of the opportunity to review those documents and verify the outstanding balance of any loans that may be outstanding. Instead, ECMC has acted punitively as a result of my request that they provide the proper paperwork that shows the amounts owed and its authority to collect the outstanding debt. Such requests for documentation and verification are minimal and owed to every borrower. ECMC has insisted that I verify the loans in which they have no documentation, and enter into a payment agreement in order to prevent garnishment of my wages. While I am willing to pay, and have been paying for over 7 years, I can not verify and confirm a loan obligation where no documents have been provided by the debt collector.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation