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The story begins with a 22-year-old student who is attending college working on two degrees. The student, being an adult, secures student loans totaling $45,000 to further her education. The loans were given to her and her alone and no one, including her parents, co-signs for the loans. Now the unfortunate part. The student develops a rare form of cancer in her tear ducts, and after chemotherapy and radiation treatments, subsequently dies.
One would think that the misery for the family dealing with their young daughters death, would be enough for any family to deal with. Two of the lenders forgave the girls debt since she was deceased. But in steps Wells Fargo Bank and their bean counters. Wells Fargo Bank wants the parents to pay the debt in the amount of $6,000 and will not forgive nor forget what is owed to the bank.
In steps the local television station and confronts Wells Fargo Bank, who suddenly and inexplicable, forgives the debt. No sorry, no we made a mistake, no thing except the debt no longer needs to be paid by anyone.
What is surprising is that different lenders have different policies covering the death of a student who owes them money. What is also hard to understand is that the girls parents had no idea their daughter had even borrowed money and could not obtain any information because of the existing privacy laws. All they knew is that the bank wanted their money and that was that.
The bank continued to harass the family via letters and phone calls demanding payment.
Had the TV station not stepped in and made Wells Fargo Banks appear like loan sharks, one can only guess to what lengths the bank would have gone to get their blood money.
It is stories like these that make us all hate the banks, no matter which bank it is.
The best thing you can do is move your money out of big banks. I saw a story last year about Wells Fargo harassing a couple because their daughter had defaulted on her student loan. The daughter had been living on her own when she took the loan out and didn't have her parents as co-signers. I'm sure a lot of people think, "Well if the girl can't pay her bills then the bank has every right to harass her parents to get on her daughter to make payments". Maybe the parents should have told their daughter not to die of cancer before she paid off all her financial obligations....
I think I'm coming along with the view that Ron Paul has toward the Federal Reserve, a corporation that is owned by the banks. Too much conflict of interest for it to exist.