Recently, Lebedin Kofman LLP was retained as counsel to defend a private student loan lawsuit matter that was well into the litigation process. The creditor and plaintiff was Arrowood Indemnity Company who were represented by the law the firm of Meyers, Saxon & Cole. Our clients were attempting to defend the case pro se, i.e. self-represented, but when it reached time for a possible trial, they reached out to our firm for representation. Representing yourself in a complicated civil matter where thousands of dollars are at stake is never a good idea because the court rules are difficult to navigate and the laws are very technical.
Based on our extensive experience successfully defending and settling Arrowood Indemnity private student loan lawsuits, collection matters and judgments, as well as our vast experience dealing with the law firm of Meyers, Saxon & Cole, we advised our clients that the best option in their particular case would be to use our leverage to try and settle with the creditor for a reasonable payment plan. Our clients were a mother and son, where the mother had co-signed a student loan for her son, which is often the case in student loan matters. However, her son struggled for several years to obtain steady employment and defaulted on the loan. This is also a very common situation for student loan borrowers in today’s economy. Many people do not know that when they co-sign a student loan, they become just as liable as the borrower for the debt.
In this situation, because the son had defaulted on the loan, Arrowood which is a guarantor agency somewhat like an insurance company, was attempting to collect from both parties and eventually sued both parties to try and obtain a default judgment. The son was struggling to cover all of his bills, and his mother was disabled and living off of social security. Although they were both in a difficult situation, they were determined to resolve this matter, move on with their lives, and improve their credit to get back on to a good path. Had they lost this case, Arrowood would have obtained a judgment against them, which would have had devastating effects on both of their credit profiles.
After rigorous negotiations, our office obtained an excellent settlement for our clients: securing a discount of 65% off of the $20,939.33 balance owed. More importantly we were able to obtain a favorable, interest free payment structure for our clients and save them thousands of dollars in interest payments.