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Federal Document Assistance Center

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Federal Document Assistance Center Reports & Reviews (17)

- Hickman, NE, USA
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I received a "final notice" letter in the mail saying that my student loans my be completely forgiven and that the "Dept. of Education may off an interest rate reduction with set-up of automatic payments". I spent about 45 minutes on the phone answering a series of questions and email the person I was speaking with my "downloaded aid data report". I had a gut feeling about this from the beginning, and after giving her my SS#, I was put on a long hold. During the hold, I researched this company (which answered the phone with a simple "student aid center" greeting) and found that this is a scam. When she came back on the line, she tried to get me signed up with a "Graduated program" with a fee to the program. I polietly told her I was not interested and that while on hold, I did my research and found that they were a scam. She declined being a scam and said I could call back if still interested. I asked her to delete all of my personal information from their database and to send me a confirmation that this had been done. She said they would email me the confirmation and never did. Shame on them, and shame on me for falling for this even though my gut was telling me not to.

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I received a letter from the FDAC Federal Document Assistance Center. There was no website or specific company information included. I read many previous people's experiences with this letter promising to Consolidate/Forgive student loans. They had specific loan information for me and my address. Because it does not come from my specific loan provider, I immediately thought that it was a scam. Do your research, people are being scammed by businesses like these.

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- Kalamazoo, MI, USA
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They have access to your personal student loan financials and will base their letter off of that. For me it was a letter indicating to "take action now", and that it was the "last chance to qualify", for a possible "complete student loan forgiveness".

FYI: Never take action for anything that is rushing you to do something.

They will make it seem like they are part of the federal government, as their name is stated, "Federal Document Assistance Center", but they are NOT. They are a private company putting on a facade of being a branch of the government that helps with taxes, student loans, etc. This is a scam company taking advantage of anybody with students loans. They are scam company giving a false business model with false claims, and false affiliations with the government.

They are a SCAM COMPANY do not reply to them, contact them, or give ANY information to them at all.

I am encouraging anybody affected by this scam company to report them in any way meaningful.

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Claimed to offer student loan consolidation, payment reduction and/or total loan forgiveness. Once the application is submitted, you are then asked to pay a fee for their services.

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- San Diego, CA, USA
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I called the number and went through an application process before some of the verbiage they used raised some red flags. They claimed to be able to eliminate my student loan interest and that I could possibly qualify for student loan forgiveness based on my income. When I researched student loan forgiveness and found I would not qualify, I looked up the organization and found reports of scams. I did this research while on hold. When the rep came back on the line, I asked if we could cancel my application. The rep then disconnected the call without answering.

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- Las Vegas, NV, USA
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I received a notice in the mail (attached below) to contact "FDAC" (Federal Document Assistance Center) to consolidate my student loan, lower the interest rate, lower monthly payments or receive loan forgiveness. It included all my contact information and my total student loan amount on it. I suspected that it was a scam as when dealing with federal loans, you should be working with your student loan servicer or getting your information from the Federal Student Aid website, run by the Department of Education.It is free to consolidate federal loans with the Department of Education. Also, using federal loan information that is protected by FERPA to market a scam is wrong and predatory, especially using the current COVID-19 crisis as grounds to lure people in.

I googled "FDAC scam" as well as the address on the notice. I stumbled upon stories on ScamPulse.com of how people were scammed out of large amounts of money for paying "service fees" to this third party "business".

I called the number listed on the letter to ask questions as I was curious as to how they operate. Immediately someone picked up and asked for my benefit number that was on the notice mailed. She stated that I may be pre-qualified to consolidate my student loans or qualify for a loan forgiveness program under a "Department of Education Act" so the sent me a letter to help with the application. I asked for more information about the company and she stuttered an answer out stating that they are the Federal Document Assistance Center and work with government programs to help students.

I asked her how they received my information as it is an educational record and should be protected under FERPA. She stated it was because I may be pre-qualified to government programs so they are given information to reach out and help.

I asked her what they process was just to get more information on how they operate and she stated I would log onto a website to get my student aid report, download a link, save the document with all my loan information, SSN, etc and then send the document it to her email address. She would then complete the application for me and then pass it to her supervisor to see what programs I qualify for.

I asked her if there was any fees involved and she said the supervisor would explain was program I qualified for and would tell me the fees associated.

She asked if I was willing to start the process and it would only take 15 minutes. I told her I was not comfortable with that process and would only work with my loan servicer or the Department of Education for my needs. I then asked if she could please take me off their marketing list and that I wasn't comfortable that they had my loan information.

She said she would ask her manager and tried to hang up. I stopped her and asked if she could do it now so I had confirmation. She then passed the phone to a "manager" who told me that they did not have my personal information and that I was contacted via postal mail by a marketing company they work with and he did not have control of the information. He then offered to tell them to take me off their list if I verified my address and I declined. Never confirm or deny personal information when talking to someone you are unfamiliar with.

He kept repeating that they are a business that tries to help students get financial relief . I stated that according to stories BBB, they have not been helpful to people (scamming them out of large sums of money or withdrawing from bank accounts without authorization). I also stated that there are free and legitimate ways for people to apply for loan forgiveness and consolidation through the Department of Ed.

He said there are a few bad apples in the business that do prey on people but he compared his "business" to an H&R block stating that people can file their taxes for free or get help. Obviously, this is clear use of a bandwagon fallacy that a lot of scammers fall back on to try and justify what they do and make people feel comfortable with it by comparing themselves to a widely known and familiar concept like H&R Block. However, this is a false comparison as a business models like H&R Block don't survive on the preying of vulnerable people and using sensitive information to market directly. Instead their customers actually seek them out and choose to go to them for help.

Overall, please be aware of student loan forgiveness and consolidation scams like this as they know how vulnerable the student debt population is and how financial impact has been exacerbated by COVID-19 and can be relentless in convincing people to hand over money. Also, please know that it has been documented that 99% of applicants for the loan forgiveness program through the Department of Education have been denied. It is not an easy process that takes 15 minutes over the phone. It is heavily bureaucratic and you have a 1% chance with the current system used.

If you are looking to consolidate or have questions about your loan always go through your loan servicer or the Department of Education. Scams are evolving and becoming more creative, convincing, relentless and predatory.

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This letter came in the mail that uses covid-19 and other tactics to make it feel like you are eligible for loan reduction and even forgiveness. They assign a federal benefit id# making it feel like a legitimate government notice. And while it may seem too good to be true, it was very believable with all this talk of government funding due to the virus. In our excitement and desperation we immediately called before reading the fine print. Luckily we didn't give any more information on the phone, but were waiting for a return call from them. I read the fine print, which was suspicious... Then noticed the date on the letter was 2 days in the future... Then googled the phone number and nothing legitimate came up. Really really sad the measures dishonest people are taking to take advantage of vulnerable people right now.

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- Pueblo, CO, USA
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So they said they will consolidate my for Student Loan’s and I was approved for student loan forgiveness with one loan leaving me and they said I could pay $20 a month if I let them take out $274 a month for four months and then by the time August came on the fourth one came out they would let me know how to stuff I need to fill out and so forth.So they said they will consolidate my for student loans and I was approved for student loan forgiveness with one loan leaving me and they said I could pay $20 a month if I let them take out $274 a month for four months and then by the time August came on the fourth plans came out they would let me know how to stuff I need to fill out and so forth

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I received a letter from Federal Document Assistance Center. They told me they could consolidate my loan, and they had me sign a large docusign document, took my social security number, and had me send my student loan data from my student loan website. The final step was for me to email hand signed paper work. I have not emailed this paperwork, but I am worried because I already signed a large docusign document, and they have so much of my information including my routing and account number. I am taking efforts to make sure that they do not take any of my money (I'm unclear if I've already signed enough paper work to be charged the 3 monthly payments of $299, if so the first payment will be may 1st), and that they do not tamper with my loan in any way.

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- Amelia, OH, USA
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I received a letter in the mail stating I'm eligible for a consolidation with the U.S. Department of Education and loan forgiveness. I'm not sure how the company received my personal information and loan details. After reading more about this company I found out Federal Document Assistance Center is a privately own company that is fee-based for aid assistance. Please read the small print located at the very bottom of the letter and it has a disclaimer. The rest of the letter is in large (easily readable print) that makes you think you are dealing directly with the U.S. Department of Education. I did not call them directly after reading the complaints on BBB.

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I was contacted by this company, claiming that they wanted to help me set up a payment plan to pay off my student loan debt. They claimed that they were tasked with calling individuals by the government, to set up this program. The woman I spoke with was very convincing and professional. She explained the process, and asked for my email address. After I gave her my email, she asked for the password I used to log into the federal student loan website. I thought this was odd, as she followed by saying “if that’s ok with you”. I gave her the password, and then she said she’d have to call me right back. The whole situation felt incredibly sketch. She did call back, and tried to encourage me to set up this program to make monthly payments of forty five dollars a week, despite the fact that I’ve been furloughed due to the covid 19 pandemic. She said that this is a limited time program, and that in order to initiate the program I would have to pay $800-$900 upfront as a fee. That made no sense to me, so I asked if I was speaking directly to the department of education. She said no, and gave me this name of the company “Federal Document Assistance Center“, followed by, “we’re a legit business.” I told her that I’ll do more research on this, which lead me here. I changed my passwords right away, however I’m nervous that they’ve already mined any kind of info available from the federal student loan website.

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- Saginaw, MI, USA
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They have been calling and sending letters beening misleading and their taking your money do not give your information any information they have is public record

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- Richmond, VA, USA
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Received a letter from FDAC to consolidate my student loans, which seemed pretty legit. I called them in order to learn more information about the consolidation process and Israel talked me through it. I started getting suspicious when they said it would be $800 to be enrolled in the program and he asked for my bank account number. I didn't follow through with the process by ending it before I spoke with a "compliance officer".

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- Colorado Springs, CO, USA
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Cesar *** proposed a contract under the name of Prosperity Bank. My research on Prosperity Bank seemed legitimate, so I signed the contract for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, since I am a teacher for public education. They took $1000 out of my bank account, and however they are connected to the Department of Education, was able to get my loan in forbearance. Since I am now paying loans again through the same provider I was before Cesar *** Nelnet, they have reported to me that I was part of a scam, because Cesar ***, and Prosperity Bank, never contacted them with new paperwork that stated I was approved for student loan forgiveness. The last couple times I tried to contact Cesar Roman, they hung up on me. Here is the link they sent me: ***

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- Erath, LA, USA
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I am a graduate of a college and owe quite a bit to this college. This company contacted me by means of mail to force me to consolidate my loans as a “final notice”. I called-nervous, then towards the end of the consolidation process (after i told them my SSN over the phone) they proceeded to tell me it would be $1000 to consolidate the loans i have! I had given them my checking account number but closed the account because i just felt a pit in my stomach of nerves! I was told they are fraudulent if they are asking for any of that information over the phone. Sad that I was stupid enough to fall for this.

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Are you closed your account they didn’t get any money from you right? And issues with your credit since they got you ssn?

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Attempted to obtain secure and personal information claiming to be able to aid in student loan forgiveness. Mentioned a law created by former president barack Obama. Person seemed knowledgeable but something definitely did not feel right.

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