• Upfront fee for a set amount
• Enrollment or subscription fees
• Monthly maintenance fees

These are Out of Pocket Costs for Services Provided Entirely for Free from your Federal Student Loan Servicer

In some cases, the companies unethically or, possibly illegally misrepresent themselves as having a legitimate relationship with the Department of Education or one of the federal student loan servicers.

• Use a logo or website similar to that of a legitimate organization
• Claim federal student loan programs as their own, often crafting similar or catchy names for the programs

Once they Make Contact with you, Some Debt Relief Companies Take the Following Questionable Actions:

• Request your private information to inappropriately access your accounts on the Department of Education or your servicer’s website
• Gain your consent for them to serve as power of attorney to make changes and decisions on your account
• Change the contact information for your account to redirect correspondence and calls to their company rather than to you