Access Tried To Compound Student Woes

his came out back in May 2008, but I am putting it up because it goes to show what we can accomplish if we stand up to these greedy scumbag bankers.

Jill Savedoff, a law student at American University Washington College of Law, sued Access for violating its loan agreement for charging her additional interest of $650 that accrued during the first two years of her loan. Access didn’t bother to notify her that her interest rate had gone up and didn’t raise her monthly payments to reflect the new interest rate. Instead, they simply added the amount to her principal and then charged her interest on the whole thing.

In May 2008, the 6th Circuit affirmed a district court decision that found Access liable for charging borrowers additional interest and then adding the interest to the principal. The class action included around 7000 students from law and medical schools who had loans in 1993-2006 from Access.

The case was sent back to the US District Court in Ohio to determine if Access Group acted in bad faith. You think? Access settled, and because of this brave law student, Access had to undo over $400,000 in compound interest charges and:

The District Court entered judgment determining that Access Group’s compounding of Additional Interest breached the Class Members’ loan agreements and enjoined Access Group from compounding Additional Interest again in the future.

Way to stick it to them Jill! Well done.