Dear Claudienne,

I took out a loan with the Students’ Loan Bureau (SLB) in 2009, which was my final year at NCU. After I cleared off the account in late 2011, SLB sent me a letter stating that the account was closed.

I then borrowed more money from the SLB to complete another degree, and commenced payments of $28,223 per month on this loan in May 2012 for 36 months. Three months prior to the ending of my loan tenure, I made contact with my loan officer at the SLB via e-mail in 2015 but received no reply. I also called a month later and was told that my loan officer had been changed.

I spoke to my new loan officer and requested an update on my account. After it was reviewed I was told to continue the payments. I then called the loan officer again one month later and was told that my account was in surplus, but to be on the safe side I should conclude the payments as they were making transitions to another system.

Some months later I visited the SLB and I was told that my loan officer was at lunch. I waited for two hours but did not see this person. I spoke to someone else who told me that my last payments were not reflected on my account. Nevertheless, I was told that it should be okay since I had made the payments. I was told that I would be contacted, but nobody contacted me.

In the earlier part of 2017, my guarantors contacted me and indicated that they had received a letter from a debt collector stating that my account was in arrears and that legal action would be taken against them. I also received an e-mail from the debt collector on April 19, 2017 about the status of my account. I was a bit surprised, and immediately visited the SLB office to make enquiries. I spoke to a male agent who told me that my account was in arrears and that I needed to make the payments.

When I outlined my situation and explained that I had made all the payments to clear my account, he told me that there were some issues with the new SLB information system. He said that with the transition to the new system they had been receiving complaints similar to mine. He told me that he would do an audit and get in touch with me. However, I have not been contacted. I have made several calls to his extension and sent numerous e-mails, but he has not responded.

I got in touch with the debt collector in May 2017, and she instructed me to send her a list of the payments I had made on the account. She said that she would do the necessary checks and contact me, but she has not contacted me.

On September 19, 2017, I finally made contact with the debt collector who said that I should have been contacted by the Legal Department of the SLB as my account had been sent to her in error. She said that I was not indebted to the SLB, and that I should get in touch with the Legal Department.

I have been trying to contact the Legal Department, but I have been unsuccessful.

I would be grateful for your help in resolving this issue, because my relationship with my guarantors has been damaged, and my credit report has probably been affected by this situation as well.

AS

Dear AS,

Since September, Tell Claudienne has been in communication with the Legal Department of the SLB about your case. After combing through your accounts, they have concluded that two payments were not made, and in two cases you short-paid.

We note that you have made two of the payments and will clear the remaining payments before the end of December 2017. According to the SLB, they have decided to waive the interest on these payments.

We wish you all the best.