NATIONWIDE — Many Americans are currently dealing with student loan debt.
Borrowers in the state of Maine have racked up over $6 billion worth of debt, according to Yrefy managing partner Mary Jo Terry.
Currently the student loan pause has put a freeze on payments until August 31, but Terry said this has given scammers an opportunity to victimize borrowers.
“What we’ve seen is an uptick in scams requesting information associated with your federal loans that may not be in repayment,” Terry said. “What (we are) seeing is people are asking for your personal information.”
Yrefy is a national specialty consumer finance lender, focusing explicitly on distressed private student loans, according to the company’s website.
Terry said scammers will call and send emails impersonating lenders to try and fish for sensitive information such as bank account numbers and credit card information.
“We’re seeing a lot of things around ‘let’s get your loans charged off, let’s get your loans forgiven, give us your credit card number,” Terry said. “And last but not least, one of the oldest scams that’s been going on forever is ‘pay me, and I’ll help you complete federal forms.”
Terry said these federal student loan forms should never cost money to fill out.
She said scammers prey on the fact that many borrowers aren’t fully up to date with how much they owe or who their loan servicer is.
According to Terry, many loan servicers have changed…
