Q about Wells Fargo Student Loan

[emmacat]

I searched the boards for an answer to this, to no avail. I have a private student loan with Wells Fargo-I know student loans are not dis-chargeable. I was under the assumption that during the automatic stay I don't need to make payments on my student loans, that they were automatically in deferment. I haven't received any bills. (also, I have no job and no income)

Called Wells Fargo today and they said I'm 60 days past due. That I need to pay $220 to be current then I could apply for a 2 month forbearance. I told her I had NO income and NO job. She said it doesn't matter. They will not do a 2-month forbearance unless I'm current.

I asked what would happen if I just couldn't pay because I didn't have a job (they're unwilling to defer it). She said after 120 days late it would be "charged off" and the full amount would be due.

Does anyone have experience with this? Will the interest keep going up? Will my $8,000 loan turn into a $20,000 loan? Does "charged off" mean it goes to a collection agency and I can settle for less than I owe?

Also, aren't student loans automatically in deferment/forbearance while awaiting discharge? Any references/experience greatly appreciated!

[poe]

In the same boat

Hi Emmacat,

When I read your post I honestly did a double-take, as I am going through almost the same exact thing with Wells Fargo.

My bankruptcy went through a couple of weeks ago. I have a private student loan through WF and thought that they would send me a bill for my account once the BK was closed. Nothing in the mail....

Yesterday I received a voice mail message stating that I needed to call Wells Fargo regarding my account. I called them and was told that they wanted their monthly payment - by Friday - tomorrow! When I explained to him that I don't get paid until next Friday he told me that that was "too bad" and said that I had better borrow the money from someone else. I have no one I can borrow money from, and even though I tried to work with him by saying I could pay them next Friday, he said that that was no good and that my account would go into default.

I then spoke with someone (who claimed to be a supervisor) and told her of my situation - you can't just call someone and demand money the next day and expect them to have that money sitting around -esp. someone who has just gone through a bankruptcy. Once again, she told me that paying them next week was not an option and that they wanted it tomorrow by 2:00pm or it would go to the "potential charge-off" department. When I asked to speak with *her* supervisor, she told me that they were all on break and that they'd call me back. Yeah, right. No calls from any supervisors yet, even though I've got my phone right next to me, ready to speak with them!

I don't know what to do - I have never been late with my student loans and now they are saying that my credit will be destroyed (more so?!?). I hope that everything gets sorted out with your loan - please post if you make any headway with them. :-)

[emmacat]

Hi Poe,
Please keep me posted and I will do the same. I'm researching "charge off." I thought I read on some post, that a "charge off" could sometimes be settled. Someone must have dealt with this before...anyone? What will happen here?

One thought I had was to go back to school and get federal stafford loans to pay off Wells. If I apply for Federal Financial Aid for 2010-2011 I will most likely get pell grants to cover tuition (no income this year) and then I can use the stafford loan to pay off Wells. My Stafford Federal Loans are very nice people. I can defer for a year or more, do an income contingent repayment plan, etc... Wells Fargo is just evil. They will call repeatedly if I am even a week late!