Thanks to John Leblanc and the Canadian Financial Wellness Group, my student loans of $55,000 have just been settled with the Royal Bank for $18,000!!
Here is my story….. it’s quite long but I hope it’s worth reading and will give hope to some of you out there….
As a single parent, I accumulated over $50,000 worth of SLs during 1995-1999 but unfortunately was not able to complete my studies due to serious medical problems. For the first couple of years after university, I was not able to maintain steady employment (mostly due to health reasons). I defaulted on my SLs because I was not aware of interest relief and by the time I found out about it, I couldn’t afford the $2000 the CA wanted from me before I could even apply for IR. Three years ago, I met a wonderful man (who I eventually married) and with his support, have been able to get my medical condition somewhat stabilized and maintain steady employment.
Over a year ago, Federal Credit called me and threatened to take me to court unless I paid this debt in full. They would not even discuss a payment plan even though I was willing to pay over 30% of my net income. They called on a regular basis, pressuring me to take out a loan or get family to help (both not possible options with my income, ruined credit rating, no assets, and family with very limited resources). They even offered to settle the debt for $40,000, telling me what a great deal I was getting, but it made no difference to me because I had no way of coming up with that kind of money. They continued to threaten me with legal action, telling me they would garnish my wages so that all I would be left with after rent is a couple hundred dollars a month for each dependent and made me feel guilty and scared by saying things like “what kind of life will that be for your children?” Since they would not even discuss a payment plan unless I gave them a significant lump payment, I stopped taking their calls and decided to take the chance that they’d take me to court. From my previous experience with the court system (for child support), I had a fairly good idea that the courts would not leave me as destitute as the CA was threatening.
Needless to say, this was putting a lot of stress in my life and affecting my health. I was also pregnant at this time and already dealing with the stress of potential health problems with my unborn child, so I went on early maternity/medical leave.
Federal Credit contacted my employer and was told I was on medical/maternity leave. For the first time, when they got in touch with me, they did not even bother bringing up the topic of settling the debt. Instead they negotiated a payment plan with me (the amount ended up being very significant compared to my now decreased income through EI) but I was happy to get them off my backs for the time being.
A couple months ago, during a call to make sure I was sending them post-dated cheques, the CA brought up the topic again of settling this debt. Instead though, she based it on what I was currently paying, and came up with the amount of $20,000. She suggested that if I took a loan for that amount and made the same kind of payments, I would have that debt paid off in five years. It sounded too good to be true and told her I would pursue this option and see what I could come up with.
I was very surprised that this $55,000 loan could be settled so low so I started investigating because I thought perhaps it could even be settled for lower. Through my investigations, I stumbled upon this website (THANK YOU, MARK O’MEARA!!!) and after reading through the few postings on settlement, I started to panic because the figures I was seeing was about 70-80% of the debt amount and saw comments like “you’ll be lucky to settle for 50%”. I realized that perhaps the CA was lying to me (again!) and saw my vision of being rid of my SL burden slowly disappearing.
I stumbled upon “Johnny” on this site and contacted him. Even though it was very difficult to trust a complete stranger to work on my behalf in resolving this issue, I figured it was better than having the CA do it. I also saw all the free help he was giving on the site and numerous recommendations and figured he’s probably a good guy.
I found Johnny to not only be very professional and knowledgeable but also very emphatic and supportive. I could tell during our calls that he is a very busy man, helping many out there, but he always responded to my calls and emails right away. I was concerned about whether this debt could be settled for so low and what kind of fees I would end up paying but Johnny was always reassuring and made adjustments to his fees to keep it within my budget. And the fees are more than worth it because not only was the debt settled for such a low amount but I did not have to deal with the stress and work of submitting a proposal and negotiating with Federal Credit/RBC.
Thank you Johnny and the CFW Group. You guys do a great service to those who really need the help and hope you are richly rewarded for it!! And thank you also to Mark O’Meara for creating and administering this site. This place is not only a wealth of information but also of support! I wish you all the best in getting through your SL nightmares!