Sometimes when I trace the ownership and corporate governance of a company that I believe is misbehaving, I discover it is actually part of another larger company with a more respected reputation. Relationships like this aren’t always easy to follow, connect or confirm.

Pioneer, proudly owned by Navient

I often wonder if something that I was told a long time ago is true: when it comes right down to it, the banks and major corporations all over the world are really controlled by about five families who own it all.

I am working on a case of Zombie debt where the debt collector has been kind enough to respond to letters and has provided all kinds of information in writing that illustrates their practices. The young woman being targeted is about 6 years out of college, and the debt seems to be connected to time period during college. They must believe she is more vulnerable to these tactics;  but she met me, this one really got my attention. I’ve helped with letters and now, with enough information in written responses, complaints.

PIONEER forget about who owns us, we just want your money – whether you owe it or not!

The company chasing this Zombie Debt is Pioneer Credit Recovery – the correspondence gives different addresses but  the company’s main corporate offices are in FL.

Now I learn via research, this Zombie Debt Collector is owned by Navient, formally Sallie Mae.  Pioneer recently lost it’s contract with the Feds to collect federal student loans and, along with several other debt collectors who also lost their contracts, tried to fight that decision in court. They lost.  According to Huff Post:

Coast Professional, Enterprise Recovery Systems, National Recoveries, and Pioneer Credit Recovery sued in March after the Education Department said it wouldn’t send them any more accounts under their current contracts. The Education Department said Feb. 27 that the four firms and West Asset Management had misled distressed borrowers ‘at unacceptably high rates.’

When you feel like the deck is stacked against the middle class, that consumer rights are there but the work to claim your rights isn’t worth it, consider that this company lost a huge federal contract (which would seem to most of us to have some sort of conflict of interest being owned by a major student-loan servicer ) because people COMPLAINED about their tactics and practices.

Don’t assume that banks, debt collectors, utilities, stores or corporations are always right, or that they are so big and powerful nothing will ever come from a complaint.

When you get the sense you’ve been mistreated, FILE A COMPLAINT! Quite honestly while complaints can generate corrections in your own personal situation, for the most part any legal findings aren’t public. But when we read stories like this saying that this company lost a major contract based on complaints, we know that our voices are heard.

I will share the details about my work with this victim of this Zombie Debt collector, Pioneer, who in this case tried to hide behind legal statute of limitation loopholes and skirt the Fair Debt Collection Act  to abuse and badger this person, a person who never even owed the debt in the first place.

It is very interesting and I’ll be able to share once all complaints are filed and distributed.

Again, the message is: FILE A COMPLAINT!  A page dedicated to Debt collectors is filling up  with advice and information here: Debt Collectors.

If you have a story to share, send it to me and middleclassadvocacy@gmail.com

Photo from a story in The Buffalo News about Pioneer cutting 450 jobs after losing a contract with the federal government.