Published: August 14, 2006 08:39 am      

Local attorney sued for default on student loans

ADA — A civil lawsuit was filed Aug. 2 in Pontotoc County District Court against a local attorney for default on student loans since September 2002. James R. “Rob” Neal is being sued for $79,615.63 representing total unpaid principal and accrued interest on promissory notes, plus an additional collection sum of $14,635.02.

“I have to get this corrected. It’s my note, my responsibility,” Neal said about the unexpected suit.

Neal said he was informed by letter that the auto-draft agreement had expired and needed to be renewed annually. However, the payments were still being made through the bank, according to Neal.

“I’ve paid on these loans by autodraft and have the bank documents to show that. My payments were over $1,000 per month for a couple of years. I mistakenly thought the agreement was renewed, and the financial documents they asked for to readjust the payments sent in, but for some reason unknown to me it wasn’t handled. It’s embarrassing for this to be public, but it builds character, I guess. I’ll get it taken care of.”

Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education are pursuing legal remedies to collect the money allegedly owed by Neal related to attendance at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. A guaranteed student loan in February 1992, according to the petition filed with the court clerk, and seven others through July 1995 were listed as being in default of payment.

In recent years, the Department of Education has significantly increased its efforts to lower student loan default rates and collect defaulted student loans. In fiscal year 2000, the government collected more than $4 billion on defaulted loans through a variety of collection methods, including offsetting federal income tax refunds and other federal offsets, wage garnishment, consolidation of defaulted loans and other collection tools, such as by third-party private collection agencies and civil lawsuits.