Rescuing money

virgil · Post by **virgil** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 1:33 am

Filed taxes jointly with wife, got a nice return, it got delayed. Got a letter in the mail; the entire tax return has been offset into a Sallie Mae student loan account in Washington state. I have no debt with Sallie Mae, and neither does my wife. My wife's identity has previously been stolen by her mother, so this is a very good chance of being a default account from her. Their offices are closed as far as living people are concerned, but their automated system won't tell us anything because the contact information (phone & zip) doesn't jive with anything my wife's done over the last decade+.

What are the chances of recovering the several thousand dollars we've lost?

Josh_Kablack · Post by **Josh_Kablack** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 1:55 am

Reasonably good, but not fast and not easy.

Sashi · Post by **Sashi** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 2:55 am

Yup, welcome to "guilty until proven innocent ... like ten times over"

DSMatticus · Post by **DSMatticus** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 3:54 am

Sashi wrote:Yup, welcome to "guilty until proven innocent ... like ten times over"

I do love how financial institutions can just sort of point at your things and say "mine," then let you sort out why they're wrong and shouldn't have your things. Meanwhile, your actual things are being sold and dumped and are gone forever.

The good news here is at least your house isn't being falsely repossessed and money is fungible and has a clear value, so... sometime in the next few months you'll probably get the thing that is your's back from the person who has no right to it.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 4:18 am

I have to say, "Rescuing Money" sounds like a movie the GOP want to produce, about how one brave man called Mittens will save the common billionaire's money from the hands of the evil communist terrorist muslim president.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 4:33 am

I had a similar problem (only I check my credit every year before I submit my return, so I caught it before they applied my return to the loan). Call Sallie Mae. Tell customer service that you are disputing the loan, and ask for the phone number of the fraud department (I'm sorry - I threw the phone number away when my case was resolved). The fraud department will investigate the paper trail and send you copies of the original paperwork if you ask them to.

I don't know how all this interacts with the IRS, but I would call and tell them what's going on, even if it's Sallie Mae that refunds you. Also get copies of your credit report - annualcreditreport.com - and see if you can figure out whose details got mixed in with your wife's.

Good luck.

virgil · Post by **virgil** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 6:20 am

Yeah, it's going to be a struggle to get her credit report; their proof of identity questions concerned mortgages, student loans, and auto loans that she never even thought about doing over the last five or six years...

TarkisFlux · Post by **TarkisFlux** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 7:12 am

Koumei wrote:I have to say, "Rescuing Money" sounds like a movie the GOP want to produce, about how one brave man called Mittens will save the common billionaire's money from the hands of the evil communist terrorist muslim president.

That sounds like an unintentionally hilarious B movie. Would watch.

virgil wrote:Yeah, it's going to be a struggle to get her credit report; their proof of identity questions concerned mortgages, student loans, and auto loans that she never even thought about doing over the last five or six years...

If your wife had her identity stolen, you should take this opportunity to get everything they want together and then keep it handy. Because this will come up again. And again. And then again some more. Having her documents and proof available will reduce future frustration to only annoying, rather than infuriating. Maybe. We can hope and try anyway. It's a shitty place you're in and it's on you to sort it. You have my sympathies (which aren't worth much, but whatever).

Eikre · Post by **Eikre** » Thu Feb 27, 2014 6:43 pm

Koumei wrote:I have to say, "Rescuing Money" sounds like a movie the GOP want to produce, about how one brave man called Mittens will save the common billionaire's money from the hands of the evil communist terrorist muslim president.

All with a scene where the valiant action hero bravely unloads into a crowd where the nefarious henchmen are trying to lose him, laying low both villains and bystanders, and then wading into the pile of bodies to recover a bag of cash from under a child's body. The contents are unharmed, and it is a testament to his phenomenal marksmanship.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Thu Feb 27, 2014 7:25 pm

"ADAPTED FOR THE BIG SCREEN

TERRY GOODKIND'S

GUN OF TRUTH"

Shrapnel · Post by **Shrapnel** » Thu Feb 27, 2014 8:51 pm

"STARRING
CHUCK NORRIS
CLINT EASTWOOD
STACEY DASH
CINDY CRAWFORD
BETTE MIDLER'S HEAD ON PAT ROBERTSON'S BODY
AND BOO RADLY AS THE RAT BASTARD

PRODUCED BY DON MURPHY AND DIRECTED BY A LUMP OF SODIUM BICARBONATE

RATED R FOR REPUBLICAN"

RobbyPants · Post by **RobbyPants** » Fri Feb 28, 2014 4:58 pm

Koumei wrote:I have to say, "Rescuing Money" sounds like a movie the GOP want to produce, about how one brave man called Mittens will save the common billionaire's money from the hands of the evil communist terrorist muslim president.

Replace "communist terrorist muslim president" with "47%", and you'd have one of his actual campaign platforms.