8008480981

They are legit.. I worked for this company. Its is Direct Loan Servicing Center who is contracted by the USDOE to service their loans. You do not have to give your SSN #, then can pull up infor from your ph# for name (it just may take longer). Even if you do nto have a loan, you could be listed as a reference and not know it. And their website www.dl.ed.gov is legit

Calls almost every afternoon.  No answer when I pick up, no message when I don't.

Just got a call from this number.  A hard to understand message about my daughter (I think).  We do not answer if we do not know who is at the other end and am I glad.  It seems to be shady.  Dec, 2008

Yeah it sounds fishy to me i just recieved the call with an automatic voice answering service say that there is a problem with my student records and that i should call the same number that i was called. so i did and a guy get's on the phone with an unpleasent voice and mumbled soc. sec. # and i asked him to repeat himself then very rudely said the same thing with out introducing himself. and i said i don't feel comfortable giving you that number and hung up. I pwned those scammers hell yeah.

Someone called and requested my social security number. It just didn't seem right...didn't really introduce themself as a standing company, but a private firm the works for the student loans of the United States. Very shady, someone should investigate.

I just got a call as described above.  It went to voice mail as I wasn't able to catch the phone.  The caller in the voice mail identified themselves as Lori with the U.S.Department of Education.  She stated that I was listed as a reference on a college loan application by a person whose name I had never heard before.  The message went on to say that the address on the application was incorrect and that I needed to return the call and give them "any information that I may have."  The number to call was 1-800-848-0981.

Before calling, I checked the number on this site and read all of the other comments about this number.  Then I called the number.

After the computer answered a pre-recorded voice announces "Welcome to the direct loan services center."  After you press 1 for English you wait a short time for an operator, an operator will answer with..."Please give me the social security number on the account."

I hung up.

Folks,

As a retired LE Officer, ANY legitimate company will introduce themselves and supply you with sufficient pertinent information without you saying much of anything that will convince you the call is legitimate. ANY caller who immediately answers or calls and states "Social Security Number Please" is pretty bogus.

Ask them, who are you calling about?

They should have the soc, account number, address and DOB of whomever they are calling about. If they refuse to give you convincing information, then hang up.

Lastly, if it is that important, they will mail a notice. Then, and only then if you or a family member does have some loan out, contact that lender immediately as the student and educational institution should have all the details of any student loan monies received.

NEVER give any personal information to anyone over the phone from a phone call received just like you would never click links in an email for similar "account updates" etc.

This phone number belongs to the Direct Loan Servicing Center Collections Department. It is not a scam and if you ask you can use other means to identify you other than your Social Security number. The number is mentioned on the OIG (office of inspector general) website for the department of education. https://wdcrobcolp01.ed.gov/CFAPPS/OIG/englishhotlineform.cfm (notice the .ed.gov in the web address). In addition the number is included in documents in a complaint which was found on the state of Ohio's website in case you needed alternate confirmation. ftp://data1.cco.state.oh.us/2005/C2005-04888- ... 001008257-1.pdf

Their tactics are very shady, however with a little investigation, they are on the up and up. You may not have loans out, but someone you know may have used you as a reference to get loans which may explain why you are receiving the calls. Be careful who you give your personal info to if you dont want people to use you as a reference without you knowing.

I did not answer as it was an 800 number. Voice message was left - it was for my daughter in regards to her student loans.

They try to make it sound legitimate but are poor at answering the phone.   The firsd thing they asked for was my social security number.  As soon as I said no, they hung up on me.

I'm retired and on Social Security.  Have never had a student loan.  Get multiple calls often all from 800-848-0981.  I'm so tired of it!

I just got a call from these clowns.  If they were legit, they would have spoken to me when I answered the phone.  Auto-dialer calls that ask you to call back are almost always bogus.  Guess its time to put the auto-dialer suppression back on my line.

this 800 number keeps calling for a shaun sombody. when i informed the caller they have the wrong number they said "let me transfer you and hung up. When i called back they continue to hang up. This number has called me 10 times in the last month or two.

Call was legit.  I took the semester off from grad school, and the grace period on my student loan will be coming to an end.  They were calling to make sure I was aware I would need to start making payments, go over payment options, make sure I was able to start paying, etc.

The number is the Department of Education. It is a legit company so look into it for those of you that said you never had a loan u might want to check it out that means either a you lie or b someone is using your information
Cause the company is legit I know they call me too and that is because I have a student loan

Federal Student Aid Website:
http://www.ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/013009CustServInfoforBorrowers.html

They called me this evening...4 times within a 5 minute period of time. First call came in at 6:47, then another at 6:49, another at 6:50 and the last one at 6:55pm. Don't they realize that if I didn't answer the first time, that I'm going to answer a minute later?! Give me a break...there is no need to call that many times back to back...no good reason at all!! (Unless the persons ass was on fire and they needed help!)

speaker identified herself on message as from "student records" with no associated university and provided the phone number as 1-800-848-0981.  She also identified their business hours as Mon-Fri. 8- midnight and Sat. 8-5:30.  Sounded sketchy, so I did not return phone call and Googled the phone number

I have been getting a few voicemails a week from this number and I do not have any student loans, so I did not call them back for months. I finally got tired of the calls, so I decided I would call them back. Just as all of the other comments here, they immediately asked for my SSN. I said "No, you may not have my SSN...I do not even know who you are or what you are calling for. Please search your database by my name and tell me the purpose of your calls". She searched her database and said "You name is not coming up, there must be some error in number so I will have your number removed from our call list".  Total scam!

Received message from Dept. of Ed asking for info on someone I have no knowledge of.  When I returned the call to the toll-free #, the lady asked if she could have my SS#, and I told her "no".  She said she needed it, and I told her, no, she didn't, because I had received a collections call that, apparently had the wrong # for the party.  She asked my # and told me she would remove my number from the call list.