Defaulting on Student Loans is One Way to Prevent Identity Theft

by guest blogger The Angry Future Expat


One of the largest student loan guarantors and collectors ECMC - which if Google is to be believed has close ties to Aunt Sallie - was robbed last week. Personal data for more than 3.3 million borrowers, including names, addresses, social security numbers, and other info were taken and are now, presumably, in the hands of the Russian mob.

ECMC is the designated guarantor for loans in Oregon,
Virginia and Connecticut, but borrowers from all states could be
affected.


The 3.3 million social security numbers that were stolen from ECMC
represent 8.9 million loans, Mr. Kelash said. One borrower may take
out multiple loans.

Indeed, Mr. Kelash, one borrower may take out multiple loans, examples include just about every reader of this august blog. But even more interesting is that whoever orchestrated the theft seems to have known what not to take:

ECMC services and insures more than $11 billion in student loans for the U.S. Department of Education. ECMC also owns Premiere Credit LLC, a federal student-loan collection agency. No Premiere accounts were affected by the theft, Mr. Hawn said.

There you have it kids. A consolation prize for defaulting on your student loans and getting kicked over to the collection arm.