Student Advocacy Group

Victim Location 79932

Type of a scam Debt Collections

Called me to charge me about student loans which I payed off years ago

Victim Location 76226

Total money lost $750

Type of a scam Charity

I was called initially about receiving help to take advantage of new student loan forgiveness programs buy a guy. Then we were in the middle of going through some of them and my phone died. So I called back and left a message about continuing the conversation. Sherry *** call me back and said based off of my income I did not qualify 4 the forgiveness program based off of income but that I did qualify for the Public service loan forgiveness program since I work for a hospital. She told me there would be a $187.50 payment for 4 months which was a donation since they’re nonprofit for them to help fill out the paperwork and submit it. So I paid that amount over 4 months and had filled out the paperwork was in the first week. Once the payment was completed they filed a consolidation loan request but my loans were already consolidated so I was denied. A couple months later I still had not heard anything so I called their customer service and the man on the other line told me they had not received the Public service loan forgiveness program paperwork so he emailed it to me and I filled it out and emailed it back. I was told that they would get it filed. When I was filling out the paperwork one of the requirements is that you work for a non-profit Hospital which I do not. I emailed asking about that and they said just to fill out the paperwork that a lot of times you’re approved even without that. After that I have not heard back after emailing multiple times and I’ve just now tried to get on their website which will not work and all the numbers I have from people in my email are disconnected.

Victim Location 92595

Total money lost $550

Type of a scam Credit Repair/Debt Relief

My daughter received a phone call from the Student Advocacy Group stating they were a nonprofit organization that helps people consolidate their loans. She had to pay an upfront service fee of $550 (first mistake) and then give her SS# (uh!), and her student loan #’s (third error). Then, they would process everything by contacting the Federal Loan office and "take care of paying off her loans," while she would reduce her payments from $350/month to ONLY $39/month. There was no verification, no email follow up to the process, no banking information about underwriting, and no proper explanation of the payment plan. The website asks for donations to help support students with their loans (I am sure they take their money too). https://studentadvocacygroup.org/

Unfortunately, my daughter, a hospice nurse with a heart of gold, who sees good in the world and would never cause harm to another, made this decision thinking she was making a grown-up move, without consulting me. She did not proper vet this company, which took me 30 seconds on the internet to see what an obvious scam this is!

Young Professionals who are carrying student loan debt, LISTEN: Please vet your sources. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER pay any money upfront and never give personal information. No legitimate company would ask for these things.

At this point, the man who spoke to my daughter did call her back and reassured her this was not a scam. He said he needed to schedule an Exit Interview to determine if she should get her money back. We shall see but are resigned to the fact the money is gone. Thank you for reading this and spreading the word about this horrible situation.