Consumer complaint received 2015-07-17
Product: Student loan — Non-federal student loan
Issue: Dealing with my lender or servicer — Having problems with customer service
Company: Weltman, Weinberg & Reis Co., L.P.A. (OH)

I am currently a XXXX student at The XXXX University XXXX. After losing my job in XXXX, I defaulted on XXXX private student loans because neither of the lenders would work out any type of arrangement with me in the way that my federal loan lender did. ( The loans pertained to my previous education at the University XXXX and the University XXXX. ) After enrolling in the XXXX program, I began working with our student XXXX office on campus to see if they could help me settle this private student debt because it had ruined my formerly XXXX credit. The private loans had been sold a few times, and I was having trouble even tracking down the owner of the loans. With a lot of assistance of a lawyer at XXXX State, we were able to track down and settle XXXX the loans in XXXX XXXX even though the lenders never did produce proof of debt. XXXX Student Loans, one original lender, was still holding one of the loans and dutifully updated my credit report once the loan was settled. However, the other loan had changed hands many times from XXXX to XXXX ( and perhaps other companies XXXX and was finally settled with Weltman, Weinberg XXXX & Reis, a law firm XXXX. My lawyer specifically requested proof from Weltman of the firm 's authority to settle the debt in full as well as full account details, but Weltman never did provide full account details. Weltman failed to update my credit reports, so my lawyer contacted the firm again in writing in XXXX XXXX to prompt them to update my credit report. I have just recently checked my credit reports again, and I have found that XXXX is showing a credit item owed not only to Weltman but also to XXXX. XXXX This is in fact the same loan, as verified by my lawyer and by me. ) XXXX shows XXXX accounts in collection XXXX WeltmanXXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, but here again, this is all the same exact loan. And, as I explained above, I settled this loan with Weltman in XXXX XXXX. As best I can tell, my XXXX credit report does not have a problem. I have notified the lawyer at XXXX State about this ongoing problem, but she has not had any luck resolving the issue as yet. It 's maddening how difficult it can be not only to track down the loans but to settle them and then move ahead with rebuilding one 's finances, and we students XXXX or former students ) are left completely powerless in this whole process. There is no way I would have been able to get anywhere close to settling these loans without a lawyer 's assistance, and even with a lawyer, I 'm still unable to get Weltman to update my credit reports accordingly. Weltman and others were more than happy to constantly report negative items on my credit reports and call me incessantly at all hours for years on end - and even through terrible times like the prolonged illness and death of my mother - but then they refused to do their part and take the one final step to update my credit report once I have settled the loan with them. There appears to be very little accountability for the loan holders.