ACS student loan consolidation discontinues services

There are many reasons why consumers and loan debt holders should be wary of whom they entrust with their repayment and sensitive information.  ACS student loan consolidation services provides us with a tell-tale example of what can happen when the appropriate security measures are not put into place (or perhaps some other debacle rears its ugly head, something that was not anticipated at all).

What did ACS do wrong?  They inadvertently created a loophole that allowed unauthorized individuals to view and/or access individual’s personal information (social security number, birth date, and name).  Experienced hackers / thieves prey upon structural flaws such as these and use them in order to organize identity theft rings.  Luckily, everyone that might have been affected have been notified and everything seems to be normal, but it is still a shining example of infrastructure gone wrong or misplaced consumer confidence.

What kinds of services / benefits was ACS student loan consolidation offering?

ACS was / is a loan consolidation organization that is comparable to many others in the industry, their specialty however, was in helping students to reduce the size of their monthly payments.  While ACS would be able to help you reduce your monthly payment by as much as 53%, they might also want to increase your interest rate slightly above where it would rest if it were to remain federally liable.  However there is a hidden benefit here as well, ACS would also lock your interest rate down so that it could not increase unexpectedly.   Individuals that were able to keep up with their payments on the long term also reported that their credit ratings gradually improved.  But as with any other loan consolidation program, there will be winners and losers; some individuals with a significant amount of outstanding debt might be paying on their loans for up to 30 years.

Arguably, ACS may have had to shut down because of the financial threat of multiple lawsuits from disgruntled loan holders.  To many, not taking the appropriate measures to ensure that their private information was kept secure is tantamount to simply giving it away.  While a company like ACS never dreamed of intentionally leaving customer data in such an easily accessible predicament (?), nevertheless, the unthinkable occurred.  Even if none of the loan holders have to worry about or face problems resulting from identity theft, they shouldn’t be dealing with this type of scenario in the first place, they have enough worries as it is.

The downfall of ACS student services should serve as an apt warning to other loan consolidation organizations; keep your customer information secure!  However, on the other hand we shouldn’t judge companies that fall short on internet security too harshly; after all, it is their failures that lead directly to the creation of more efficient security measures.  Just to be fair, ACS isn’t the first organization to deal with privacy issues and certainly won’t be the last.  Groups that specialize in handling sensitive client data must know that there are individuals out there lurking around, looking for ways to exploit their data, this is why it is absolutely necessary to take every step necessary to ensure that you don’t fall prey to these thieves.  Let ACS serve as an example of what can happen if you don’t protect your informational assets.

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