Student loan Collection

I am currently working overseas with a company that is contracted to the U.S. Goverment. I have been in this position for 28 months. Just recently, I have received three calls from a collector trying to collect on a student loan that I thought was paid by the Texas Army National Guard in 1993-1994. I have not received any notice or phone calls from any one since 1993 until November 20th of this year. The first lady that I spoke to stated that I needed to get in touch with the National Guard Unit that I was with and get permission for her to call them. Once I obtained permission, I called the lady back and she told me that she would track down the information to help me out. She called once more before I returned to work overseas, stating that "She was checking in and giving me a status on what she had done to date" I just received another call, this time at my place of business and I first asked them not to call my place of business again and that if there needed to be any type of communication, it needed to be by mail unless I call them. They then proceeded to tell me that it was my responsibility to track down all of this information and that if i didn't cooperate that they were going to turn in to garnish my wages. As far as I have known for the past 8-9 years these student loans have been paid off, never once thinking that they were not. The Texas National Guard stated that they were going to take care of the student loans and I figured that they were. What grounds to I have to stand on? Is there any type of Statute of Limitations? How can I keep them from garnishing my wages? How do I put a stop to any phone calls to my work and to my home? How can I fix this in a timely manner, to where there are no more harrassing phone calls, no garnishment of my wages and to ensure that the loan is taken care of and this never happens again?

It seems like student loans are ALWAYS screwed up in the lender's favor. The lender loves to make it difficult for you to straighten things out, all the while hoping you will just pay the amount in question out of frustration!

Your best bet, put EVERYTHING in writing (& send certified return receipt). Write the lender a letter stating what you believe has occurred. Let them know that you do not wish to receive phone calls, & want to deal exclusively in writing. (Dealing via phone does not give you proof of anything, & once you THINK it straightened out they can come back with the same bull years later so you will want documentation--I know becuase it happened to me even though I had stuff in writing from my lender!)

In the meantime write to the TX National Guard & find out how to start tracking things down. Make sure you include copies of this correspondence to the lender, so they know you are working on it.

The lender can be a real jackass & sue you while you are working things out. Which would not be fair, after all it took them 8-9 years to contact you they should give you time to track down the info they need. If they sue you, contact the Banking commissioner for the state the lender is in & file a complaint. They might be able to help you.

I have already put things into action. I contacted the Texas National Guard and I have to retrieve my records from St. Louis. The gentleman that I spoke to said that I have to find out who is suppose to pay back the student loan, even though the Administration Staff Non Commisioned officer at the time I was in said that it would be taken care of. I can not afford to be sue at this time. Is there a way that I can get the lender to back off until I can get the information that is needed? What am I to do if there is no record of what I was told and the loan is not taken care of? Is there a time limit without contact that the gives me a leg to stand on? If I was in the inactive reserves while I was in school, going to a military acadamy, does that make the military still liable to pay back the student loan? If I get sued will they try to take it out all at one time? Do I need to get a lawyer? The process of obtaining my military records could take months and possibly years to resolve this and in the meantime is there a way that I can stop any intrest build up from continuing on the loan? What kind of recoarse do I have? Can they garnish my wages even though I work overseas with a company that is contracted to the U.S Goverment? This could possibly put a serious hardship on my family and it is hard to take care of things while being overseas but I have to stay employed. I don't even think that the gentleman that "took care of" my student loan is even still in the military.