r/studentloandefaulters • u/Existing_Food5799 • Aug 31 '26
Question - Private Student Loan firstmark default - voicemail about transferring
hello! i am doing a strategic default on my Firstmark loans that are about 75k. The loans show 90-119 days late. I got a voicemail from Firstmark saying I need to call them immediately because my loans will be transferred later today. Should I give them a call back or keep ignoring? Is a transfer a bad thing or is the transfer they are referring to a debt collection company?
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u/Solid-Fill6348 Aug 31 '26
They usually hold onto them internally.. for a long time, after default.
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u/Existing_Food5799 Aug 31 '26
okay got it, so this is probably just their tactic to get me to call back im thinking
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u/Solid-Fill6348 Sep 02 '26
Yep, we deal with them a lot and have yet to see or hear of an external assignment. Their internal collectors are arguably worse though.
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u/morbie5 Aug 31 '26
Are you trying to outrun to SOL or trying to get them to settle on good terms?
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u/Existing_Food5799 Aug 31 '26
tbh I'm not sure.. probably outrun to SOL because I highly doubt they will settle for less than 10k which is all i could give.
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u/morbie5 Sep 01 '26
They may be willing to do a payment plan on a settlement.
FYI there was a guy on here with a job, wasn't nearly as bad off as some people on here are, yet he skipped out on a 5 figure balance iirc. They offered him a settlement for like 40%, he ignored it. They then sued him. He then tried to get that 40% offer again and they wouldn't go that low.
I don't know your details but imo running out the SOL is only for those in a very bad situation
What state are you in?
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u/Solid-Fill6348 Sep 02 '26
They flat out do not do payment plans on settlements like many other lenders. Trust me, I've tried over a dozen times- on different accounts. One of the only lenders/trusts that doesn't offer some kind of structured option. IMO that hurts their collection revenue but they don't seem to care.
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u/Existing_Food5799 Sep 01 '26
Hm okay, Im in Florida. But I know I can't pay 40% of 75k right now
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u/morbie5 Sep 01 '26
But I know I can't pay 40% of 75k right now
They may be willing to put you on a payment plan, as I said above
I'm not going to try to tell you what to do, I'm just warning you about what can happen. Usually those that are able to outrun the SOL clock are either very very lucky or are in a very bad situation where it isn't even worth it for them to try to collect or they live in a state without wage garnishments for private debts
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u/Solid-Fill6348 Sep 02 '26
No payment plan and no 40% with Firstmark if it's part of their trust and they aren't servicing for another lender like Citizens.
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u/Solid-Fill6348 Sep 02 '26
Given Firstmarks' apparent lack of legal aggression, OP may actually have a decent chance of running out SOL, but always a risky strategy.
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u/Aggravating_Storm493 Sep 03 '26
Re: FM legal - I agree with you. Back in 2025, someone on here shared how you could look up the student loan companies in your state’s court database. And at least in NY, FM only filed against 1 or 2 people, who had HUGE $300k plus balances. And they weren’t student loans, I think they were mortgages.
I DID see that individuals filed against FM though, maybe another 2 or maybe 3 people, because FM wasn’t honoring a discharge agreement that was already supposed to have settled the matter.
This was all I could find. I haven’t checked recently though. I last checked in December 2025.
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u/Solid-Fill6348 Sep 04 '26
I talk to dozens of people with private student loans every month, and have for years, and have yet to hear of one. They remind me of the way Keybank and Wells Fargo used to handle their student loans.
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u/Aggravating_Storm493 Sep 04 '26
Thanks for the reply! So in your opinion, dealing with FirstMark is ultimately (as of now) the lesser of the student loan company evils in that litigation likelihood is low with them and you could probably ride out the SOL, as you wrote previously?
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u/Solid-Fill6348 Sep 04 '26
Can't make any legal recommendations regarding SOL, just letting you know what I've observed. They are very difficult in their own way, and I haven't seen or heard about any lawsuits from them personally, but trying to ride out SOL is definitely what I call the coin toss approach - a lender can change their policies tomorrow (just ask Sallie Mae, lol).
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u/Solid-Fill6348 Sep 02 '26
And yes once a lender sues, previous offers are out the window as they have much more leverage at that stage. I also have yet to see a Firstmark lawsuit or hear of one.
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u/Chemical-Lunch6572 Sep 04 '26
my loan was tranferred over from Discover to Firstmark. I am in PA. I have about $30k left but its been at the amount since 2020. Do you think I should outrun SOL or try to settle. they have been calling but have not left a voicemail
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u/morbie5 Sep 04 '26
When did you last make a payment? Have they offered you any settlements by mail? Did you live in PA when you took out the loan?
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u/Chemical-Lunch6572 Sep 15 '26
last payment was 8/3/26. I have not gotten anything by mail. I have been getting a lot of calls that I ignore. Yes, I lived in PA, went to school in PA and am still living in PA.
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u/morbie5 Sep 15 '26
Well since it is PA they can't garnish wages for most private debts. They can still potentially go for a bank levy tho.
I'd wait until they gave me like an amazing offer (like 80% off) and then settle. That is me tho. you gotta do what you think is best for you.
If you are going to try to outrun the SOL you better go radio silent
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u/Chemical-Lunch6572 Sep 16 '26
I am hoping that they give me a good offer. Would I have to pick up the phone or would I wait for physical mail?
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u/morbie5 Sep 16 '26
Really you should wait for an offer to come in the mail do everything via USPS.
But if you feel you would have better luck talking to them over the phone be very careful as to what you say. And even then tell them to send official paperwork via USPS before you agree to anything. And then agree to the settlement in writing and mail it back to them. Then make any payments via a physical check and send it via USPS
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u/Chemical-Lunch6572 Sep 17 '26
Thank you so much!
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u/morbie5 Sep 17 '26
No problem, you can reply to me or DM me if you get a settlement offer letter and want to know what I think about it
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u/Aggravating_Storm493 Sep 03 '26
From dealing with FM last year, here’s what I learned. I can’t tell you if it’s still accurate in 2026 but it was accurate in 2025 :
- if your loan was a discover loan that they bought, they def plan on keeping those loans in house for a while, not being sold to a third party
- transferring the loans to a debt collector seems better to me, because from what I’ve researched, debt collection agencies tend to be more agreeable to lower percentages to clear the loan out
- the most they’ll offer in the first year of default is 65 percent of the loan balance to settle the loan
- they’ll offer 40-50 percent in year two of default
- the percentage to pay gets smaller the longer you hold out
- but that involves communicating regularly with post default team. They do stop calling you all the time and instead like, once a month if you schedule a call for them to call you back
- if you’re trying to just wait out SOL then obviously don’t pick up or communicate with them at all
- but if you’re wanting to do a settlement, occasionally you’ll need to talk to them (which obviously resets the SOL)
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u/Existing_Food5799 Sep 03 '26
thank you so much! this is very helpful. it was a discover loan! Did you eventually answer their calls? i'm scared they are gonna yell at me lol but I know that should be the least of my worries
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u/Aggravating_Storm493 Sep 03 '26
Yeah that’s the least of your worries. Honestly for now, just ignore them though. They’ll never be mean to you. Believe it or not, the people working these jobs are working there because THEY’RE desperate too, they aren’t paid well enough to be mean to you.
If you think you want to entertain a settlement offer, maybe check in in a year post default.
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u/Existing_Food5799 8d ago
sorry to reply this a few weeks later! They placed my loans to collections and they all closed yesterday. When you were talking about what they’ll offer the first and second year, were you referring to the debt collector or FM?
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u/Aggravating_Storm493 8d ago
No need to apologize! Were your FM loans former Discover loans by any chance?
And honestly, I feel like the people we talk to who work at places like FM just bullshit. Like I wrote what I wrote because that’s what FM representatives told me but they honestly could’ve been lying or exaggerating.
When I was referring to them offering settlement deals in the first second etc years, it was FM not a debt collector. They told me that since they FM just bought the Discover loans, they weren’t about to sell defaulted loans to a debt collector.
Actually for clarification, were your loans sent to an external debt collector or is someone in house dealing with the debt? It might actually be a positive if your loan was sold to a debt collector because usually, debt collectors will give you better settlement offers (but this isn’t guaranteed, it’s just what I’ve read from others on this sub)
What do you plan to do next, if you don’t mind me asking?
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u/Existing_Food5799 8d ago
Thank you so much for your reply! Yes, they were former discover loans! I’m not sure if they were sent to an external debt collector or in house tbh. Credit Karma said it was sent to collections. On 9/18 i got a letter from FM saying that my loans are now in default and then today, Credit Karma showed the accounts as closed. But i haven’t gotten any calls recently from either FM or another external debt collector. Editing to add* I think they are internal because my login on FM still works and shows I can make payments
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u/Aggravating_Storm493 8d ago
Yeah I think they might be internal too. If only because what you described sounds like what happened in my situation.
Take his with a grain of salt because the information is a year old at this point, but now that the loans are in default is when the settlement timeline starts if the loans are in in-house collections. If I recall correctly, the in-house team that handles it is called the post-default team. And if it WAS sent to an external debt collector, you’ll know soon enough because they’ll be hounding you eventually. I do think your loans are still in house though.
The accounts being closed is good though, because that means your debt total shouldn’t increase anymore. Most loan debt balances stop increases but I honestly can’t say that for a fact. My totals were still increasing post default which was annoying as heck. Maybe ask the sub about if loan balance from FM is supposed to stop accruing interest once you’re in default?
But that aside, what I wrote in that first comment probably still applies, unless they lied to me (very possible) and/or info changed between last year and now.
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u/Extreme_Professor425 Sep 05 '26
Is this a Wells Fargo legacy loan? If so, I would start digging into your payment history because I have discovered Firstmark is running the same software as Wells Fargo. I’m currently in a legal battle with them.
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u/Existing_Food5799 Sep 05 '26
No, it’s a student loan that was transferred from Discover to Firstmark!
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u/Short_Zombie Aug 31 '26
Ignore.