BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – Officials with the Better Business Bureau are sounding the alarm as people have started getting phone calls from businesses and individuals claiming they can help wipe out their student loan debt. Laurie Mercier says she got one of those calls out of the blue. The person on the other end offered what she considered to be a lifeline.
”They were very persuasive,” Mercier said.
Mercier says whoever called her was offering a deal too good to turn down. It was a chance to eliminate her husband’s student loans through the student loan forgiveness program but she tells the 9News Investigators something about the offer just felt off.
”They wanted me to pay them like a 500 dollar deposit,” Mercier said. “It was like a good faith deposit and I’m like well if it’s forgiveness and you’re trying to eliminate money, why is it costing me so much money?”
Mercier couldn’t shake that question and told the caller she would need to discuss it with her husband. That’s when she says things got interesting.
WAFB’s Scottie Hunter asked her how many times she was called.
“Oh my gosh. They were calling every day,” said Mercier. With each call, Mercier says the pressure picked up.
”They were trying to wheel and deal just to make sure they got some money and I’m like no. The more you pressure me wanting my money, the more red flag I have that this is something not right.
”It’s that feeling Carmen Million with the Better Business Bureau says may…
