---
title: Thousands of Student Loan Debts Could Be Erased Because of Missing Paperwork
description: Tens of thousands of people who have been unable to pay off private student loans could see their debts erased due to missing paperwork
authors:
  - name: Katie Reilly
    url: https://money.com/author/katie-reilly/
    at_money_since: 2017
    articles: 13
    covers:
      - Loans
      - Business
      - Education
      - Housing
      - Identity Theft
      - Lifestyle
      - Retirement
      - Taxes
    social:
      - https://x.com/katiemacreilly
    former_staff: true
published: '2017-07-17T23:43:24.000Z'
modified: '2017-07-17T23:43:24.000Z'
section: Loans
tags:
  - College
  - Education
  - family finance
  - onetime
  - Student Loans
word_count: 185
canonical: https://money.com/student-loan-debt-missing-paperwork/
type: Article
source: structured-blocks
---

> **Disclosure:** We may earn a fee if you click on the links below. Compensation does not determine ranking. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/).

![Thousands of Student Loan Debts Could Be Erased Because of Missing Paperwork](https://img.money.com/2017/07/student-loan-debt.jpg?quality=85&w=1012&h=569&crop=1)

Tens of thousands of people who have been unable to pay off their private [student loans](https://money.com/student-loan-defaults-record-2016/?iid=sr-link2) could [see their debts erased](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/17/business/dealbook/student-loan-debt-collection.html) due to missing paperwork and incomplete ownership records.

The National Collegiate Student Loan Trusts, one of the largest owners of private student loans in the United States, is at the center of a legal dispute over at least $5 billion in loans, the [New York *Times* reported](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/17/business/dealbook/student-loan-debt-collection.html) on Monday. Judges have dismissed dozens of lawsuits brought by National Collegiate against student borrowers because the former lacked the documentation to prove that it owns the loans, according to the *Times*.

National Collegiate — which includes 15 trusts that hold 800,000 private student loans — has brought tens of thousands of lawsuits in the past five years against borrowers who have fallen behind on their loan payments. The trusts hold loans totaling $12 billion, and more than $5 billion of that is in default, according to court filings analyzed by the *Times.*

The loans held by National Collegiate were originally made by banks and then sold to investors, but ownership records were lost in the process.

```json
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@graph": [
    {
      "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
      "@id": "https://money.com/student-loan-debt-missing-paperwork/#breadcrumb",
      "itemListElement": [
        {
          "@type": "ListItem",
          "position": 1,
          "name": "Home",
          "item": "https://money.com"
        },
        {
          "@type": "ListItem",
          "position": 2,
          "name": "Loans",
          "item": "https://money.com/loans/"
        },
        {
          "@type": "ListItem",
          "position": 3,
          "name": "Student Loans",
          "item": "https://money.com/student-loans-category/"
        },
        {
          "@type": "ListItem",
          "position": 4,
          "name": "Thousands of Student Loan Debts Could Be Erased Because of Missing Paperwork"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "@type": "WebSite",
      "@id": "https://money.com/#website",
      "url": "https://money.com",
      "name": "Money",
      "publisher": {
        "@id": "https://money.com/#organization"
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "WebPage",
      "@id": "https://money.com/student-loan-debt-missing-paperwork/#webpage",
      "url": "https://money.com/student-loan-debt-missing-paperwork/",
      "name": "Thousands of Student Loan Debts Could Be Erased Because of Missing Paperwork",
      "isPartOf": {
        "@id": "https://money.com/#website"
      },
      "datePublished": "2017-07-17T23:43:24.000Z",
      "mainEntity": {
        "@id": "https://money.com/student-loan-debt-missing-paperwork/"
      },
      "inLanguage": "en-US",
      "breadcrumb": {
        "@id": "https://money.com/student-loan-debt-missing-paperwork/#breadcrumb"
      },
      "dateModified": "2017-07-17T23:43:24.000Z"
    },
    {
      "@type": "Article",
      "headline": "Thousands of Student Loan Debts Could Be Erased Because of Missing Paperwork",
      "articleSection": "Loans",
      "image": [
        {
          "@type": "ImageObject",
          "url": "https://img.money.com/2017/07/student-loan-debt.jpg?quality=85",
          "width": 5184,
          "height": 3456
        }
      ],
      "author": [
        {
          "@type": "Person",
          "name": "Katie Reilly",
          "url": "https://money.com/author/katie-reilly/",
          "@id": "https://money.com/author/katie-reilly/#author",
          "email": "Katie.Reilly@timeinc.com",
          "sameAs": [
            "https://x.com/katiemacreilly"
          ]
        }
      ],
      "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization",
      "datePublished": "2017-07-17T23:43:24.000Z",
      "description": "Tens of thousands of people who have been unable to pay off private student loans could see their debts erased due to missing paperwork",
      "abstract": "Tens of thousands of people who have been unable to pay off private student loans could see their debts erased due to missing paperwork",
      "@id": "https://money.com/student-loan-debt-missing-paperwork/",
      "inLanguage": "en-US",
      "dateModified": "2017-07-17T23:43:24.000Z",
      "wordCount": 185,
      "keywords": [
        "College",
        "Education",
        "family finance",
        "onetime",
        "Student Loans"
      ],
      "about": [
        {
          "@type": "Thing",
          "name": "Loan",
          "sameAs": [
            "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loan"
          ]
        },
        {
          "@type": "Thing",
          "name": "Student loans in the United States",
          "sameAs": [
            "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_loans_in_the_United_States"
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}
```