Consumer complaint received 2016-10-04
Company: Educational Opportunity
State: MN
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Non-federal student loan
Issue: Getting a loan
Sub-issue: Can't qualify for a loan

Complaint:
XX/XX/XXXX Hello! I am a student who attended XXXX ( XXXX ) and was forced to take out EdOp loans as a result of the school being overpriced. XXXX has since been found to have conducted fraudulent practices involving the students who studied there. One of these practices involves the EdOp loans. EdOp is a private loan that XXXX forces students to take out to pay for schooling. Students are even told that they must drop out of class if they do n't accept the EdOp loan. I was told that I can not attend school if I do n't take the loan because Financial Aid does n't cover the high cost of the for profit school. The interest rate for EdOp was XXXX % when I attended and only should have legally been XXXX % according to XXXX. XXXX Attorney General, XXXX is currently in lawsuits against XXXX and is working on EdOp. In the last court case, the Attorney General was asking restitution to reimburse students for this EdOP loan as well as Federal loans. XXXX has also had a lawsuit against them in which they paid out {$400000.00} to a former XXXX, XXXX XXXX because she was a whistleblower. She was the one who brought these illegal, deceptive, fraudulent activities to the courts attention. This EdOp loan is misleading, unfair, deceptive, manipulative and fraudulent for many reasons. However, one of the reasons is that EdOp is owned by the XXXX family who also owns XXXX schools and they also have their own collection agency ( XXXX ) which shared the same address. Any school that owns a debt agency and a loan agency which they refer students to is likely expecting students to default and not pay their loans. On the promissory note as far as I can remember, it does n't say that the loan gets referred to collections after XXXX months of default but that is what happens. This is a loan with predatory terms and the owners profited off of it. 
" For instance, upon graduating or withdrawing from school, borrowers immediately go into default after 30 days without payment. Other reasons for default include : failing to notify the lender of a name change within 10 days, or upon death of the borrower or co-signer. If a borrower defaults, the student 's transcripts will also be held until the bill is paid. 
The mailing address listed on the EdOp Loan website also happens to be the same mailing address XXXX, a debt collection agency. This happenstance could imply that these loans, which are made to high risk borrowers, are not expected to be paid on time. '' XXXX, XXXX, ( XX/XX/XXXX ) XXXX Currently, XXXX campuses are closing because they have been found fraudulent and misleading. EdOp is currently putting students into collection because they are the creditor but they are trying to sell their debt so that students remain responsible for it so that they can get as much money as possible before they go bankrupt from their illegal practices. 
I am asking you for help in dismissing or discharging this loan for its manipulative, deceptive and unfair practices. My EdOp loan is approximately {$22000.00} which does n't include what I have made in payments. So to reiterate, XXXX, XXXX and XXXX XXXX are the owners of XXXX and XXXX, they are also the owners of the EdOp loans which I was forced to accept. They are also the owners of the collection agency XXXX who they refer the EdOp collections to when students default. Please, I am asking for my loans to be discharged so that I may seek a new degree because my degree from this institution ( XXXX ) is now rendered useless because they were found fraudulent and are no

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed