Consumer complaint received 2021-03-16
Product: Debt collection — Federal student loan debt
Issue: Communication tactics — Used obscene, profane, or other abusive language
Company: Reliant Capital Solutions, LLC (CA)

My federal student loans are in default and I've tried to get them out of default but every time I call Reliant Capital Solutions LLC, I get different information from different people. 
When I call, they do not tell me all the options available ( payment arrangements, rehabilitation process, consolidation ), and when I ask about them, different people tell me different limited and disjointed information about the process and merely attempt to threaten me into paying the full amount including the fees. When I ask about these options, they are very curt in providing the most limited information possible about alternative options and merely keep repeating my full balance owed. It is almost as if they are not seeking to actually have me rehabilitate, but rather threaten me in a way that actually makes me feel that I do not have any options. As if they somehow benefit from keeping borrowers in default because they could continue to charge the Dept. of Education for maintaining the defaulted account. Additionally, when I fact check the statements they make, it turns out to be false. 

When I ask to speak with a manager, they repeat the same thing, not providing any information - merely the amount due - and in an extremely hostile, and threatening manner. I've called voluntarily a few times to obtain more information, and one manager said they contacted my employer and that must be why I'm calling. In fact, I was not informed by my employer that Reliant Capital Solutions contacted them, and I had called by my own accord, but the fact that they would try to use that to somehow threaten me saying they know who my employer is was ridiculous, since I had called and tried to make arrangements by my own accord. Each time, I've called, I've merely hung up on the hostile and threatening representatives for their inappropriate threatening manner in which they communicate. The tactic drives the borrower away that one thinks that they may be incentivized to NOT have students actually pay off their debt! At the end of each terrible phone conversation, I merely resign myself to the idea that until I have the entire amount due available immediately, Reliant Capital Solutions is only interested in unethically engaging me in some process which varies depending on who you talk to at their office. 

I believe the U.S. Dept. of Education should REMOVE Reliant Capital Solutions as one of its vendors for debt collection. 

Reliant Capital Solutions should be held accountable for their unethical communication practices including information that is NOT CONSISTENT WITH STUDENTAID.GOV. 

And the U.S. Dept of Education or CFPB should monitor and review past phone conversations with defaulted borrowers. I'm certain there are many instances of false information, threats, and other unethical practices! 

However, based on my interactions with different people at different times at Reliant Capital Solutions, this company is not capable of being forthright about any process. 

I believe that the PROCEDURE/process of REHABILITATION ( paperwork/documents, procedures discussed, timeline ) should be managed/provided AND implemented by Dept. of Education XXXX or some other ETHICAL 3rd party ) not by Reliant Capital Solutions who communicates and behaves in a manner in which they do not want you to rehabilitate! The collections agency could receive the funds and arrange the payment, but the contractual process of rehabilitation should not be left up to Reliant Capital Solutions who provides NO information or overview of that process, and whose customer service representatives behave in a manner which deters rehabilitation with limited information and threats. 

I understand that defaulting has resulted in the referral to Reliant Capital Solutions, however, typically a collections agency should just receive the payment - not engage in ( or in this case, fail to engage in ) a 9 month long contractual process of rehabilitation. And if a collections agency MUST implement this rehabilitation process, the Dept. of Education should choose a better vendor than Reliant Capital Solutions -- an agency where information is withheld, lacks a clear, forthright description of the rehabilitation process, and an attitude that actually tries to deter borrowers from rehabilitating! 

Everything I know about the rehabilitation process I've had to acquire based on my own research from XXXX, and when I call Reliant Capital Solutions to ask about this, they are not able to confirm any information and merely continue to repeat the balance due like a broken record - with no attempt to succeed that really makes me wonder about the competency or hidden incentives of Reliant Capital Solutions for not rehabilitating borrowers! When I talk with studentaid.gov people, the information they provide is extremely different than what Reliant Capital Solutions curtly states ( incorrectly and unethically! ).