Although not as large as Navient or National Collegiate Trust, Wells Fargo takes up a large stake in the private student loan market. Wells Fargo is aggressive when it comes to the collection of defaulted private student loans and initiates litigation often in order to obtain judgements against consumers. A judgment, most often on default results in wage garnishment, bank levy, property liens and judgment interest accruing on the total debt. Wells Fargo can be defended against however, and are often more reasonable when it comes to resolving student loan matters especially in settlement. Wells Fargo frequently accepts settlements to resolve private student loans for 70% or more off of the entire balance of the loan. There are many factors that affect that range and result, but thes fantastic settlements can be achieved regularly with Wells Fargo.
There are several meritorious defenses that can be used against Wells Fargo when a consumer debt lawsuit is initiated. Standing and Hearsay defenses can help protect the consumer against judgment and project leverage if seeking to obtain a settlement. In this matter, our client was sued by Wells Fargo for over $110,000. Wells Fargo retained Harris Beach, a debt collection law firm to sue our client. Harris Beach is the law firm that most often handles litigation and collection matters for Wells Fargo private student loans in New York. After submitting our answer with defenses, we requested discovery from Harris Beach to show proof that this student loan was our client’s and to prove that the amount allegedly owed had been accounted for properly. After Harris Beach failed to respond to multiple discovery requests, we realized that they likely did not have the documents necessary to establish their burden of proof in court. The case against our client was dismissed due to this lack of proof tying him to this debt and over $110,000 of alleged debt was discharged along with this matter.