Nelnet Hit with Class Action Over Alleged Student Loan Robocalls

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A proposed class action claims Nelnet has placed unlawful debt collection robocalls to consumers’ cell phones without securing prior express consent to do so.

The 10-page lawsuit alleges the loan servicer has run afoul of both the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act. The case, filed in Florida on February 25, says Nelnet has placed student loan collection calls that use a prerecorded or artificial voice to consumers who have never consented to receive the calls, and even after they’ve asked the company to stop calling.

The case emphasizes that the “primary purpose” of the TCPA is to protect consumers from “the harassment, invasion of privacy, inconvenience, nuisance, and other harms associated with unsolicited, automated calls.”

The plaintiff is a Gainesville, Florida resident whose Nelnet-serviced student loans are in deferment status through May 1, 2022, according to the complaint. The suit alleges, however, that Nelnet last fall began placing collecting calls to the plaintiff in connection with the student loans.

The plaintiff states in the case that she was “perplexed” by Nelnet’s calls given her loans are in deferment status and since she is still in school. Per the case, the plaintiff answered one of the defendant’s “erroneous” calls in February 2022, informed the company of the status of her loans and requested that the calls cease.

Nelnet nevertheless continued to call the plaintiff, according to the complaint, and allegedly left the following prerecorded voicemails:

Per the suit, Nelnet placed “no less than ten (10)” robocalls to the plaintiff’s cell phone after she requested that the company stop calling.

“Due to Defendant’s refusal to honor Plaintiff’s request that the calls cease, Plaintiff was forced to retain counsel to compel Defendant to cease its abusive collection practices,” the lawsuit states.

The plaintiff looks to represent anyone in the U.S. to whom Nelnet or a third party acting on its behalf placed or caused to be placed a call to their cell phone that used an artificial or prerecorded voice without the individual’s consent within the four years before the lawsuit was filed and until the date of class certification.

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