Hi, all,
For a few years now I have received a letter every 5-6 months from American Student Assistance, saying there is "a data discrepancy between the information they have for your social security number and the social security number we [ASA] supplied in our recent electronic submittal." Then the letter asks me to "please provide at least two forms of the requested supporting documentation listed below so that we can resolve this matter. Please be sure that at least one form of identification contains your social security number." The list of acceptable documentation includes passport, drivers license, W-2 form, pay stub, etc. And plus, they want a signature.

Talk about sending up red flags all over the place...

So my question is: are these guys legit? Has anyone else ever gotten a letter like this? Because it sounds like a snail mail identity theft phishing scam.

My student loans were taken out in 1998-99, and have always been in good standing. I bought a house a week ago, and my credit scores were very good (791, 800, 801), so I know whatever "discrepancy" this is hasn't affected my credit.

Should I contact the servicer on my student loans (Access Group)?

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

-Mike

Enter Your Samebox Message:

Personally, I would Not send them anything

Enter Your Samebox Message:

i would alert your loan provider,and file a complaint at WWW.FTC.GOV.let them know a possible id theft scam involving student loans is out there.because it is a scam to get your information.

Enter Your Samebox Message:

__________________
giving hope to the hopeless,help to the helpless,and hap to the hapless.

American Student Assistance is very much a legitimate guarantor or stafford and private loans. http://www.amsa.com/about/ The Access Group is a lender/servicer....ASA would be your guarantor. I would suggest you follow up with ASA...they are probably required by law to send you that notification.

Enter Your Samebox Message:

the notification yes,but all of that documentation?say it ain't so.i do think there is a scam using that name.i never meant to infer that they are a scam.it's just that someone could use that name to phish.do student loans really ask for passports,drivers license,w-2,and a pay stub?again say it ain't so soaplady.

Enter Your Samebox Message:

__________________
giving hope to the hopeless,help to the helpless,and hap to the hapless.

There were times when I was in collections that social security numbers were conflicting....apps are done on paper and manually keyed in by some minimum wage data entry person at the lender. Errors DO happen so we did have to collect multiple sources to correct the error. Nowadays will online apps, errors do not occur as often.

Enter Your Samebox Message:

wow!!!!!!!!!! it's just with all the phishing scams it does look weird,but if you say so.then it's legit.

Enter Your Samebox Message:

__________________
giving hope to the hopeless,help to the helpless,and hap to the hapless.

I think it is pretty irresponsible that the poster has been getting these letters for a few years and has ignored them. People always seem to find fault in the guarnators activities but they dont follow up when requested.

Enter Your Samebox Message:

Thanks for the info, Soaplady.
Irresponsible? I hear what you're saying, but on the flip side, one could say that it would be irresponsible to blindly send my SSN and other data to some group I've never heard of. If Access Group had sent this request, that would be different.

Thanks, again,
Mike

Enter Your Samebox Message:

Did you ever look up who American Student Assistance is? Call them? They were not blindly writing you. You could have looked them up on NSLDS as well.

Enter Your Samebox Message: