Received a couple of calls from  this #: 317.348.9732. Left msg saying that "they're trying to reach me in regards to a business matter", telling me to call them at: 1.800.635.3743.

I never apply for student loane. But they have my social and first name correct thats it the address is wrong i never live ther . I found out when they tooke my fedral tax check this year. I call the student loane Dep. But school is closed student loane dep. Told me to contact collection agency they sent bogis applaction only thing on application thats correct my social and name i never see this app. Befor . I gott police report number and gave to fedral trade commission . What to do

I received a call from this number and reported it to the No Call Registry.

Hmm...just wondering why I would get a call about my "student loan".  As I am 72 years old and student loans did not exist where I went to college, made me wonder just who was confused.  DO NOT call back the number 800-635-3743, most likely a scam.

I get these calls all day and all up through 9pm at night. I have told them they have the wrong number. They asked who I was and I am not about to give out my name, then they asked what number they called, and I am not giving out that info either. I don't know how to stop them, I have changed my home number 3 times in 4 years. UGH!

I started getting a number of calls from this number and another one that they use on my cell today. I have had my phone number for over 15 years and I have never had a student loan. I also have an uncommon name. There is no way these calls are legitimate. I answered one of them this afternoon and they hung up the line as soon as I answered. I then blocked that phone number. So a few hours later they back-doored a voice mail message (left a message without the phone ringing) from an "unknown" number. The message did not identify anybody by name and they did not identify who was leaving the message. It just asked that "you" call them back at 800-635-3743 regarding "important information about your student loan". Not going to happen obviously. I blocked this number too.

It's a scam. Hope they get shut down quickly.

Called them back and asked them to remove my number from their database.  Never heard of the person they are looking for

I have been receiving calls from 800-635-3743 which they say they need to speak to me about my student loan account.  They do not identify themselves as a company only that they need to speak to me.  Also, I have been receiving about 5-8 phone calls a day from Sallie Mae of which I have sent three letters asking them to not call me but instead contact me by mail.  This request has been ignored and I was told the calls would continue.  I know that with the Fair Debt Collection Act that a borrower can request, in writing, that a company not contact them by phone but to send correspondence by mail instead.  These calls are disruptive and harrassing and need to stop.  In some of the comments above, folks have contacted their Attorney General to report this.  I appreciate that info.  I will be now be doing the same thing.

I did not get a call FROM this number, but was just called by someone at a call center claiming to be from the "Texas Business Development Office", asking if our business was still looking for a new location. There is no such agency, and I've been getting these calls every few months for years now. Knowing that the call wasn't legitimate, I engaged the person politely, explained that I was unfamiliar with the agency, and was told that they were calling on behalf of the city, which was updating its records. I said I had never heard of a city utilizing a call center to contact businesses just to find out whether or not they were looking to relocate and requested a phone number where I could obtain more information about why we were being contacted. I was given this number (1-800-635-4475) to call. I did an online search for the number as soon as it was given to me, and found this site. When I told the person I had just searched for the number online, they immediately hung up. I called the number...sounds like a phone sex line (a recording started that said "hey there sexy guy..." and I immediately hung up).

Appreciated that information, Alfalfa.  I got a call yesterday and twice today.  I didn't answer any of them.  They left a message the last time asking me to call the 1-800-635-3743 number back to discuss a student loan.  No student loans here.  They have the wrong number.  These types of calls are phishing calls to me, and I am quite tired of them.  I won't answer, and I won't call that number back.  I appreciate this site which allows us to check on a number.  Thank you.

The financial incentive to default loans, and examples

Analysis of IRS 990 filings of federal student loan guarantors proves without doubt that the income derived through this fee system is vast, as evidenced by not only the income of the guaranty agencies, but also by the salaries, bonuses, and perks taken by the executives who run them. This fee system is, indeed, the lifeblood of these organizations, who derive about 60% (on average) of their income through this legalized wealth extraction mechanism. Clearly, it is in the guarantors financial interest that students default on their loans. In fact, were there no student loan defaults, the guarantors would barely exist.

Additionally, it is often in the financial interest of the lenders that students default. Large lenders derive income from not only lending and servicing operations, but also from collection assets (and even guarantor assets in the case of Sallie Mae) owned or controlled by the company. This leads to the common situation where a loan is defaulted by a lender, becomes vastly inflated with unverified and unchecked collection costs, and then becomes a revenue stream for the guarantor and collection company...all potentially owned (or controlled) by the very same lender! A defaulted loan clearly can produce far more revenue for the system. It is obvious that this structure gives the lender/guarantor/ collector entities a perverse incentive to default loans rather than providing customer service aimed at helping the borrower avoid default.

Indeed, Sallie Mae's own annual reports provide compelling evidence of dramatic profiteering from defaulted loans: In the 2003 annual report, The Sallie Mae CEO brags to shareholders in the opening remarks that the company's record earnings that year were attributable to collections on defaulted loans. The company's "fee income" increased by 228% between 2000-2005, while their managed loan portfolio grew by only 87% during the same time period.

It is a matter of record that lenders actually defaulted student loans without even attempting to collect on the debt! In 2000, Sallie Mae paid $3.4 million in fines as a result of the U.S. Attorney's office discovering that the company was invoicing for defaulted loans where the borrower was never contacted. Rather, records were fabricated to indicate that the borrower had been contacted. Similar cases were settled with Corus bank and Cybernetic Systems.

There is also some evidence that suggest this tendency to default borrowers is by design rather than a mere result of circumstance.  In 2007, an employee of the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority, KHEAA, contacted StudentLoanJustice.Org by email, and submitted that the agency managers had purposely marketed loans to poor, disadvantaged communities in the expectation that these citizens would default on their loans, thus be "on the hook" for the fees and penalties that would result-extractable through garnishment of the income sources mentioned previously. This  raises serious concerns, as it clearly implicates KHEAA in engaging in predatory lending.  The text of these communications was forwarded to the Department of Education, and it is unknown what, if anything, resulted).

Obviously, collection companies prefer that loans default.  Guarantors clearly share this preference.  That lenders and collection companies also share this financial motivation is sufficient, to characterize the lending system as predatory, since the lending system clearly has both motive and means to act in such a way as to encourage default, rather than being motivated to act in a way that avoids default.    

An unbiased observer should rightly object here, and point out that there is governmental oversight that should prevent this sort of activity.  After all, at the end of the day, these defaults must certainly be a drain on the taxpayer...right?  

Wrong.  It was reported in January 2004 by John Hechinger (WSJ) that for every dollar paid out in default claims, the Department of Education would recover every dollar in principal, plus almost 20% in interest and fees.  Further, supplemental materials in the president's 2010 budget show a recovery rate for defaulted FFELP loans of about 122 %.  This is the amount recovered compared to the amount of the loan at the time of default.  Compare this recovery rate to that for defaulted credit cards, which is usually about 25 cents on the dollar, and one can see that defaulted loans are clearly not costing the Department of Education money.  In fact, simple, comparative analysis shows clearly that the reverse is indeed the case.  In other words: The Department of Education is making more money on defaulted loans than loans which remain in good stead.

Therefore, all entities involved: The lenders, the guarantors, the collection companies, and even the Department of Education  and its agents have a financial incentive for student loans to default...and this all is a direct result of the lack of consumer protections and the draconian collection powers that exists uniquely for federal student loans as described above.

http://studentloanjustice.org/argument.htm

I just started getting these calls from this same number.  They leave a message that it is about my student loan.  No it isn't because we paid for our son's college and now he's going into the military.  I haven't been in school since the 80's and any schooling I get now is paid for by my employer.  They call everyday and leave the same message and I have let my answering service pick up the call.  I'm calling them today and giving them a load because I'm sick of this.  They are morons and if they continue to call after I call to stop it then I will report them.  It does sound like a scam.

I'm getting a little sick and tired of these jerks calling my home several times a day.  I have no idea what it is about.  They just say we have a personal business matter to discuss.  I am 74 years old and I have no outstanding business matters  floating around anyplace.  I hate to resort to violence, but I just might have to track these jerks down, and do something that they will not like, to get these a***oles off my back.  I've had it.

from Aug.30,31,- Sept.1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12, 2011 constant calls, So starting on 9-7-11  I had  phone off each day until the eve for about a week or more. this way, did not to get so many messages or hang ups Left on the answering machine. on some calls using the *69 Service, I can't get the phone number, either out of area or unknown. Makes Telemarketers Look Bad-When Most Telemarketers Offer Some Good Services and call on an average of weekly or Monthly Basis. All These Calls-All Day Long Are From The Same People, Are Prank/Scam Callers. the main two numbers calling, That I did get are. # 866-732-1626 and # 800-635-3743

They call several times a day. We have no student assistance needs. When I called to tell them to stop calling, a very rude little girl snarled that they would remove my number from the list.  I am reporting them!

Just started getting these calls. They don't say anything about a student loan just that they want to talk about "An important business matter."  They leave the number below. We have never answered the call and they call several times a week.

We keep getting calls from this company about my husbands XWIFE regarding her student loans! Why in the world are they calling us? They divorced 20yrs ago, she went back to school after she remarried. She's made sure we have no contact with her at all, but we keep getting these calls about her student loans. We've told them repeatedly we dont know how to contact her but they wont stop calling us. Its seriously gotten very annoying and we really wish it would stop. There has got to be a law of some kind against these companies doing this to people.

Got one today... I hope I dont start having the same problems like everyone else, where they won't
stop calling :(

This number keeps calling our house the 1 time I picked up the phone they said they were calling about Son's student loans. I told them Son is in the US Army and stationed overseas they wanted his number to call him I told them I would relay a message to him. Of course they wanted to know who I was when I replied his Mother they wanted me to varify his SS# I would not do that over the phone then they said his student loan was not paid and they could take a payment over the phone by check. DUH!!I told them no I would not do that but I would take their number and send it to him and he would call.  Well that was a month ago and since we have had 26 phone messages from their robocaller. They call morning noon and night(1 time it was 855 in the evening!) I wanted to find out who they were and the next time they call I am going to get ugly with them then I will report them for harassment! From what I read they are not with Salle Mae(who does hold his student loans) Spoke to son who said his Student loan is paid by allotment from military pay. Glad I didn't give them anymore info on son or bank account they look like they are trying to make some extra cash through scaming money from unsuspecting people. It's amazing who some of these companies hire!

I am visiting about my student loan and let them know that i am experiencing financial difficulties and need some help

call 1 800 635 3743 there open until midnight monday - saturday est

On May 10, I had received a voice mail directing me to call 1-800-635-3743 to discuss my student loan. When I called, I was informed that the company was calling on behalf of Direct Loans. They gathered my PII including my name, address, phone number, birth date, and SSN. They agreed to a forebearance on my student loan that would bring me current and postpone my payments until July. I was put on the line with a manager who told me she was recording my acceptance of the forebearance terms. I verified my PII and accepted the terms.

I was then surprised to continue receiving notices from Direct Loans regarding my account. I called Direct Loans today after receiving another email and expressed my confusion that they were claiming my loan was delinquent when I had just received a forebearance that would delay my payments through July. The Direct Loans rep told me their was no record of any communication with them since March. I told her that was not possible since it was just at the beginining of May that I had talked to them and received the forebearance. I told her I had even spoken to the manager and had my acceptance of the term recorded. She informed me that it is not their practice to have manager approval or to record acceptance. She stated she didn't know who I had spoken to and questioned if it was in regards to another loan. I told her that I was specifically informed it was in regards to my Direct Loan and that my two only other loans with Sallie Mae were deferred until August or current in payment, so I knew it could not be regarding those. She stated she didn't know what happened but applied my forebearance. I expressed concern that someone called and collected my PII claiming to be on their behalf.

When I got off the phone, I went back to my phone log and saw the number I had called on May 10, was 1-800-635-3743, different than the one on the Direct Loan correspondence that I called today.

I then called the 1-800-635-3743 number again. When a rep answered I explained that I had called them on May 10 and was informed they were granting me a forebearance on my Direct Loan, when  Direct Loans informed me that no one was authorized to do so and had not granted a forebearance based on that call, so I wanted to know for what purpose they had collected my PII. The rep hung up on me without responding.

I have filed a complaint with the FTC at the direction of the Arizona Attorney General's office. If the call was legitimate, you would think the rep would have offered an explanation for the discrepancy, but instead he hung up on me- not a good sign. The facts that Direct Loans expressly did not authorize them to call, that they expressly represented they were calling on behalf of Direct Loans, and they hung up on me when I politely gave them the opportunity to correct any misunderstanding do not bode well for a claim of being a legitimate company.

Sallie Mae has sold me on how ridiculous an organization they are.

@ Sac Employee, Dec. 5, 2007 -- your remarks are outrageous.  Please try to understand that it is you/your employer who is at task to correct your wrongdoing, NOT the responsibility of the public to run through hoops and spend time "researching" just who to call to get you/your org. to correct your bad behaviors.  

Why don't you STOP USING THE TELEPHONE to harass the public?  If  you can't keep up with your borrowers, it's your problem and it certainly is not the public's problem to spend time and money (and patience) trying to even get through to some loopey organization who is clearly leeching off the public and being additionally quite irresponsible.  I bet you all are hourly employees and are just chalking up paychecks by accruing hours, undoubtedly being bailed out by the US taxpayers afterward.  Write to your borrowers, if no answer, then emply someone to go find them but stop randomly calling anyone/everyone who has a phone just because you can.  

I really loathe this type of sloppy business that seems to think the public and private utilities paid for by the public are there to be used/abused.  If you can't keep track of your borrowers, it's certainly not the public's responsibility to keep track of them for you, nor to keep track of your bad behaviors, and even TRY getting through to whomever at your wherever place of business.

Another thing:  IF you're going to continue abusing the public over the phone, at least do the right thing and have live operators calling who are capable of taking complaints and of stopping the abuse when it's identified.  All the "robot calls" from your ridiculous computer messages only amplifies your incompetence as an organization and as employees of that org.

Long story about a bad experience trying to get through to this weird organization who continues to call my home number:  I owe no student loans and have never heard of this org ("GRC Student Assistance Corp."), which has left various #'s to callback ("800-635-3743" "800-635-3786"). A recording "calls" me, if/when I pickup, recording continues on and ends, no live operator; using *69, I find that their ongoing calls are from various #'s at 317 (as many have identified above). I tried calling the 317 numbers, got immense passes through from one recording to another, live operator says "I'll put you through to someone who can help you with that" (when I asked to remove my # from their computer), she transferred me to another round of recorded messages, asking me to hold "for a Customer Advocate" (recording) then transferred me to yet another recording advising me that their office hours were M-F, 9-5 while I was calling after 10:30 AM on a Tuesday.  Recording asked me to leave my "name, number, etc." and they'd "call me back within two business days"...blah, blah, blah....

I then called one of the 800 #'s (800-635-3743).  After more long holds, I got "Marie" who said my number would be removed but then asked, "who does the recording say we are calling for?"  I responded with first name only (that their recording states, but whoever, this is a violation of privacy of that borrower and should not be tolerated anyway).

She then added, "I'm sorry if you get any more phone calls."  AND I SAID, "if I get ANY more phone calls, I'm going to write a complaint to my Congressman."  She "got offended" and said, "OK, I'm ending this call now."  And I hung up.

I advise everyone who is being abused/harassed by whoever this weird conglommerate is to write a complaint to their Congressman.  Whether they stop calling or not, clearly this "group" of callers should be complained about to Representatives in Congress.

To all who have posted here: please go to http://www.studentloanborrowerassistance.org/collections/collection-agencies/ & read the 3 pages as well as click through to the links entitled "contracted collection agencies" - which, when you click through to gives you a list of the collection agencies the Dept. of Education currently contracts with (& you'll note that this collection agency isn't one of them), & a link to "tell us about your experiences" - they might just like to know about this company.

I'm struck by the statement made on this web site's first page: "The complexity of the student loan program leads to confusion about who is collecting on a debt, & makes it easy for an independent contractor to misrepresent itself as the government".  I'm not saying this collection agency is doing this.  What I am saying is that it doesn't appear to me that this company has any government-conferred contractual right to attempt collection on defaulted student loans, but don't take my word for this: contact the government.

I ran into a peculiar consumer situation from a caller when I worked for the Better Business Bureau.  The caller said someone claiming to be calling from a so-called collection agency had her student loan information; her Social Security number, etc.  In checking on her behalf with the Dept. of Education I learned from their internal fraud investigation dept. that former employees had stolen borrowers' records, & set up a bogus company using a Mailboxes, Etc. rental post office box, & were attempting to collect on student loans.  The bogus agency collector had told my caller that the Federal government had turned her account over to his agency for collection efforts.  So, it pays to be aware that this kind of thing goes on.

HAHA Lawsuit thats funny...But it wouldn't hold up in court. Sallie Mae DOES provide FEDERAL student loans. Maybe if you weren't such a dick to the SAC rep then they wouldn't keep hitting "callretry" on your a**

EVERYTIME THESE A***OLES CALL I TELL THEM OVER AND OVER AGAIN THE PERSON YOU THINK YOU ARE CALLING DOES NOT LIVE HERE.....AND EVEN WHEN I'VE CALLED THEM SEVERAL TIMES TO TELL THEM, THEY STILL CONTINUE TO CALL.....SLM IS NOT A GOVERNMENT AGENCY, NOR IS SALLIE MAE, THEY WENT PRIVATE IN 2004. THEY ARE JUST ANOTHER COLLECTION AGENCY, SO SPARE ME WITH YOUR BS!!! CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT WILL BE THE ONLY THING TO STOP THIS COLLECTION AGENCY!!!

HERE ARE MORE NUMBERS FROM THEM:
317-578-6000
888-272-5543
765-283-3500
800-635-3743

EVERYTIME THESE A***OLES CALL I TELL THEM OVER AND OVER AGAIN THE PERSON YOU THINK YOU ARE CALLING DOES NOT LIVE HERE.....AND EVEN WHEN I'VE CALLED THEM SEVERAL TIMES TO TELL THEM, THEY STILL CONTINUE TO CALLED.....SLM IS NOT A GOVERNMENT AGENCY, NOR IS SALLIE MAE, THEY WENT PRIVATE IN 2004. THEY ARE JUST ANOTHER COLLECTION AGENCY, SO SPARE ME WITH YOUR BS!!! CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT WILL BE THE ONLY THING TO STOP THIS COLLECTION AGENCY!!!

HERE ARE MORE NUMBERS FROM THEM:
317-578-6000
888-272-5543
765-283-3500
800-635-3743

I worked for Student Assistance Corporation for two years.  Whenever someone told me that we are calling them and they do not know the person we were calling, I promptly and politely removed the number from our calling list.  About 2 years ago I moved and got a new phone number.  I got a new job years ago, but I knew exactly how to handle the situation when I found the new phone number I received had belonged to someone who was on their calling list.  All I had to do was call 1-800-635-3743 and tell them I did not know the person they were calling.  Guess what--It worked perfectly and I have not heard from them since.  That's all it takes.  These people are calling your number because they believe that is the correct number for the person they are trying to reach.  Once they know it is not the right number, they will not call you.