Stevens Transport and thier loan: the truth!!! Be very careful

California Redneck · Dec 12, 2010

Jakewalker, not saying not to drive for them.They got some good equipment and you will get great miles if you want to run. Just saying know what your getting into with the contract. Not saying they did'nt deserve thier pee's for the school. I paid them within two months of termination or at least I thought I did. Maybe they just need to redo the way they collect on the contract so the honest guy don't get screwed. I am sure that a whole lot of guys never pay them back, but I tried to do the right thing. Good luck with your time with them. Be safe

lilillill · Dec 12, 2010

bigblue19 said: ↑

...always pay something to keep it out of collection. When it goes to collections you tell them to pound sand because your credit is already screwed anyway...
Click to expand...

This is exactly the point the OP is missing. He still *thinks* he was talking to a lawyer. He got scammed.

I highly doubt he even talked to anyone at Stevens about the debt. They supposedly sold the debt to a collection agency after not receiving any payment for 45 days? That's ridiculous.

California Redneck · Dec 12, 2010

Well Brother, your right some folks don't have a choice. I did and I will be fine. Just want to make sure that the young guy with kids and a wife needing a job does not sign up for something he does not fullu understand thats all. The more the new drivers understand how these schools that Stevens, Swift, England a nd all the others work they better off they are. Your right you make very little the first year. So it is really important to understand the whole deal.

TLeaHeart · Dec 12, 2010

The problem here california redneck, is not with stevens...it is with the collection agency. They do not represent Stevens. They bought the debt from Stevens, for pennies on the dollar, and then try and collect the debt from you. Had you understood this, you could have told the debt collection agency, to take a flying leep, that you owe them nothing.

Your problems is not with stevens, it is not understanding credit, and how debt collection agencies work. And even when you and the agency agree to a reduced payment, the full amount must still be accounted for, and it WILL show up as a non payment on your credit report, and if it is forgiven, then you will owe the IRS income tax on the forgiven amount.

Truth is important.

clbell66 · Dec 12, 2010

California Redneck said: ↑

Jakewalker, not saying not to drive for them.They got some good equipment and you will get great miles if you want to run. Just saying know what your getting into with the contract. Not saying they did'nt deserve thier pee's for the school. I paid them within two months of termination or at least I thought I did. Maybe they just need to redo the way they collect on the contract so the honest guy don't get screwed. I am sure that a whole lot of guys never pay them back, but I tried to do the right thing. Good luck with your time with them. Be safe
Click to expand...

Call all three credit bureau's, and file a dispute against the collector, if you got a receipt.

clbell66 · Dec 12, 2010

bigblue19 said: ↑

The whole training program is a scam to me. You go to this school for a few weeks and it costs thousands of dollars. Then they pay you peanuts while they skim the top to pay the loan and make a hefty profit off your labor. Then the Gov pays them for hiring you and making life hell for you to make room for the next guy. Then they send the unpaid balance to collections who snookers you into paying them after your credit is already going to be dinged anyway.

Then you go to the burbs for a year and you can't get a home loan when you get back because your credit score is to low and they won't finance without a large down. Or they tell you you have to pay the 4 large before you can qualify.

My credit score is 828 and I always pay as I go. I have had a separate account for years that I use for emergency's like if my car breaks down and i need money to fix it etc.. No one needs to get into debt if they stick to a budget, but if you do go into debt you always pay something to keep it out of collection. When it goes to collections you tell them to pound sand because your credit is already screwed anyway.

If your planning to buy a house and get financing for it you have to keep your credit tight or it will cost much more then that student loan repayment would of cost.

Credit is designed to keep you paying and keep you poor so avoid it unless you have no other option.
Click to expand...

How did you get started 19 yrs ago?
Is $25.00 a week to pay back the loan is too much??? I spend more than that a week on cigarettes.and how much would you, or you company pay a driver with zero experience? Its not like it was 20-30yrs ago to start out driving a truck.Where one of your buddies teach you and he can get you hired on at his company.

Rug_Trucker · Dec 12, 2010

Barndog get WIA financing. That is what I did. I owe nothing to nobody.

Stevens probably didn't sell the debt. They got a percentage. Collection agencies are jerks and they threaten you to get what they want. Record them and tell them they are being recorded. They usually talk different.

They hosed you. Got you to believe they were going to take everything you owned. Classic. Having that bozo on tape would have netted you tax free money for his BS lies. I did it.

BarnDog · Dec 12, 2010

Ah, thanks Rug Trucker. I actually don't need financing, and can pay my bills for a while yet 'til I see if this dog hunts.

Nope, don't owe anybody anything either.

Broken Spoke · Dec 13, 2010

California Redneck said: ↑

Well folks I am back as I promise. I wrote a blog about two months ago about the Stevens Transport loan and told you that I would get back to you as soon as I got the answers on the facts. Quick reminder: I went through the Stevens Academy about a year ago. I drove for them and logged quite a few miles. I was just about to sign onto their infamous Alliance Program and just got fed up with the bull. I got tired of the all of the deductions and making $175.00 per week so I quit and went to work for Schneider National. Awesome company, but that is another blog.

OK, fast forward to now. I drove for Schneider National until last month and got an offer to go back to Afghanistan for a year as a contractor. Schneider National said I had an excellent driving record, told me to go ahead and go and a job was waiting when I got back.

Well while I my way here to Washington DC, I got a call (12 October 2010 at 1410, while I was in TN.) from a law firm named Lockhart, Morris and Montgomery. (I thought about adding the actual Lawyers name, but lets keep it non-personal). He immediately started attacking me saying "we are taking you to court, we can put a lean on ALL of your assets, and we can take your 401k, so on and so on". I am sure you got the point. After he finished I told him very respectfully, "Sir, this is the first I have heard of this law suit, I just terminated Stevens, and I would appreciate it if you would just talk to me with some sort of respect". He immediately started in again saying you owe us $7400.00 and if you don't pay it immediately it will be in excess of $18,000 with all of the lawyers fees". By this point I have this guy on speaker phone and my wife is just amazed with his attitude. So when he was done with his second set of threats, I once again said very respectfully, "Sir, I am on my way to DC for a new job, am deploying to Afghanistan in January and once I get the money I will pay you back". He once again starts the heavy language and threat of how he could ruin me financially. Now it is important to note that I spend a lot of time making sure that my credit stays in good shape because my dream is to buy my wife a house when I get back from Afghanistan, so at this point my wife is really freaked out. (Keep in mind this is all on my I-Phones speaker). Finally I got this guy to ease off and to make a really long story short this is what he said" Look Mr. XXXXXX, I have a ton of files to settle for Stevens and really don't have a lot of time to deal with this, if you are willing to settle this loan for $3000.00 within ten days then we will consider this loan owed to Stevens Transport fully paid" I told him that I did not have the money. Believe it or not his exact words to me were" you don't have any family members with money that can help you out". Pretty rude right. I told him no. He told me well then try and get a loan or we will submit the paperwork on Thursday to the court and just financially ruin you. I asked him if I could call him back in a few days and he said I had until Thursday, and this was already Tuesday. I looked at my bills, decided not to pay them for a month and called him back. He stated that once I paid the $3000.00 that the law firm would send a letter to my house in Dallas, Texas stating the loan was paid in full. I gave him the account information and they drafted the $3000, 00 out on the 22nd of October 2010. Now like I said I keep up with mu credit pretty regularly, so today I was checking my credit reports and I found out that they reported me to Experian ( as still owing $4000,00 for a student loan), and as well they reported to Equifax as be a collection for a student loan. Both negative credit reports were injected on the 22nd of November 2010, a month after I paid them. I have the receipt from my bank for the $3000.00 drafted from my account and have sent all of the credit reporting agencies a dispute. I find it very coincidental that the report says I still owe $4000, 00 after paying $3000, 00 and the total was $7000, 00. What happened was once I paid the money that the lawyer asked for, he just simply reported $4000,00 to the agencies even after he said if I paid the $3000,00 the loan would be satisfied.

Bottom line: If you are thinking about dealing once ounce with Stevens Transport, please do your homework. Everything I have ever heard about MR. Arron was nothing but good. The old timers loved this guys and his ethics. But ever since his sorry two Sons and Daughter have taken over the company, it has just been run into the ground and all they want to to is make money at the expense of all of us hard working folks that need a job. All of the Instructors on the hill will tell you that ever since his Daughter took over the recruiting and financing department that the whole thing is a major scam. The company used to care about quality drivers, now all she wants is quantity. Bodies equal money. There is a big joke out there in the truck stops" the buzzard will always look for a drive through, because they can not back". Well this is a lot more factual than you think. If you need truck driver training try and use the state funded job training money. Most states have it. If not please try and either pay for a good school cash (it was $3500 in Dunn,NC) or figure out a way to get the money, but by all means stay as far away from the Stevens school as possible. It will ruin you life financially. We had 25 students in my class an ALL have quit. Do the math on how much Stevens made. I am not writing this because I am some ticked off guy that got his feelings hurt. I started driving because I love the job. I will return to it when I get back. I am writing this to hopefully help the next guy or gal, that gets roped into the hype these companies like Stevens Transport offer in a time of desperation. Stevens is not the only rip off (I use that term very lightly). There are other starter companies that pull the same crap. I can only speak to Stevens though. STAY AWAY. I know that Swift and some other companies were looking at aquiring them, and hopefully it happens. They need some real leadership.
Click to expand...

seems to me these trucking companies now make more money just running a school then they do for hauling freight! (Maybe that's what they have in mind)

truckerx1 · Dec 13, 2010

Just an after thought: You are going to work for a contractor, you are not deploying. You are taking a job that requires you to work in Afghanistan you are not being deployed. It is an insult to the people in the armed forces to have you say that you are deploying.
It will probably be just a matter of time before you start telling stories about the "Black OPs" you where actually on during your "deployment". ROFLMAO.......

Log in or Sign up

Forums

Find Trucking Jobs

Stevens Transport and thier loan: the truth!!! Be very careful

California Redneck Bobtail Member

Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

Wait, employers can't reach you!

lilillill Sarcasm... it's not just for breakfast

California Redneck Bobtail Member

TLeaHeart Road Train Member

clbell66 Light Load Member

clbell66 Light Load Member

Rug_Trucker Road Train Member

BarnDog Light Load Member

Broken Spoke Medium Load Member

truckerx1 Light Load Member

Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

Wait, employers can't reach you!

Log in or Sign up

Useful Searches

Find Trucking Jobs

Stevens Transport and thier loan: the truth!!! Be very careful

California Redneck Bobtail Member

Wait, employers can't reach you!

lilillill Sarcasm... it's not just for breakfast

California Redneck Bobtail Member

TLeaHeart Road Train Member

clbell66 Light Load Member

clbell66 Light Load Member

Rug_Trucker Road Train Member

BarnDog Light Load Member

Broken Spoke Medium Load Member

truckerx1 Light Load Member

Wait, employers can't reach you!