Consumer complaint received 2022-08-25
Product: Debt collection — Private student loan debt
Issue: Written notification about debt — Didn't receive notice of right to dispute
Company: Nelnet, Inc. (FL)

The crux of my complaint relates to Firstmark Services failure to comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act, specifically 623 [ 15 U.S.C. 1681s-2 ], subpart ( 7 ) ( A ) relating to the requirements of providing Notice to a Consumer of Negative Information reported to a credit agency. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received a phone call from Firstmark Services, wherein Firstmark Services notified me, for the first time, that : ( 1 ) in XX/XX/XXXX, they purchased my student loan account from XXXX XXXX ; and ( 2 ) Firstmark sent my student loan account to collections because they had not received any payment on my account since XX/XX/XXXX. I explained to Firstmark that I did not understand why my account was sent to collections, when this was the first time I had learned that Firstmark owned my student loan account. I further explained to Firstmark that my XXXX XXXX student loan payments were automatically debited from my bank account every month for the past 11 years, and continued to be debited from my bank account through XX/XX/XXXX ( as evidenced through my bank statements ). 

On or about XX/XX/XXXX, I realized that XXXX XXXX had issued me a refund of some of the monthly payments that had previously been auto debited to them. I immediately contacted XXXX XXXX to inquire as to the reason this had occurred, and XXXX XXXX notified me that they had sold my loan. I asked XXXX XXXX how I could set up autopayment with the new owner of my loan, and XXXX XXXX informed me that the new owner of the loan was Nelnet, and they would be sending me written correspondence with instructions to set up payment with them. As such, during this phone call with XXXX XXXX, I provided XXXX XXXX with my updated mailing address. Despite the same, I learned yesterday ( XX/XX/XXXX ), for the first time, that Firstmark had my incorrect mailing address on file, which is likely the reason why I have never received any written correspondences, billing statements, etc. from Firstmark. Upon learning this, I immediately provided Firstmark with my correct mailing address and offered to pay Firstmark the amounts due on my student loan account. I also asked Firstmark to please remove the negative collection information from my credit report, since I have never received any written notice from Firstmark regarding my student loan account, in direct violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. However, Firstmark said that they could not remove my account from collections.

When Firstmark acquired my loan from XXXX XXXX, I had never missed a single payment or made any late payment for this loan, during the entire approximate 11 years that XXXX XXXX owned my loan. My monthly payments were always timely auto debited from my account by XXXX XXXX. If I had received proper notice from Firstmark that they owned by student loan account, I would have set up auto payments with them as I have always done with all of my student loans. 

Furthermore, Firstmark Services is a division of Nelnet. Nelnet has been servicing many of my other student loans for many years, and as such, I have an account set up with Nelnet, wherein all my monthly payments are auto debited from my bank account. Nelnet has my correct mailing address and email address on file. There is no logical reason why Firstmark did not have my correct mailing address on file, when I updated my mailing address with XXXX XXXX, and Nelnet has my correct mailing address. 

In sum, Firstmark Services did not comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act has still not complied with the requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act ( specifically, 623 [ 15 U.S.C. 1681s-2 ], subpart ( 7 ) ( A ) relating to negative information reported to the credit bureaus ), when it placed my student loan account in collections, since it has never provided me with any written notice regarding the same. Accordingly, this negative information should be removed from my credit reports.