March 25, 2013

You Might Want To Think Twice About Suing Your Student Loan Company

The U.S. Supreme Court handed down a ruling Tuesday that could stop indebted grads from taking their student lenders to court, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The high court ruled that Olivea Marx had to pay Sallie Mae subsidiary GRC $4,543 on top of all the student loan money she already owes the company.

Marx has to pay GRC's court costs because she lost a case claiming it violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. That law allows borrowers to sue lenders that engage in allegedly abusive practices.

Marx said that GRC called her multiple times a day and even threatened to garnish her wages and take money straight out of her bank account, the WSJ reported.

Even though she lost the case, Marx's lawyers said she shouldn't have to pay legal costs because she didn't knowingly bring a bogus lawsuit, WSJ reported. The Obama administration also filed a Supreme Court brief to support her case.

A 7-2 majority of the Supreme Court ruled that it didn't matter that she filed her lawsuit in "good faith," though.

Her lawyer told WSJ that her legal team was concerned the ruling would scare student debtors from suing debt collectors.

www.businessinsider.com

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