Nelnet data breach class action lawsuit overview:
- Who: Michael Varlotta filed a class action lawsuit against Nelnet Servicing LLC.
- Why: Varlotta claims Nelnet failed to safeguard the personally identifiable information of its student loan borrowers during a recent data breach.
- Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in Nebraska federal court.
Student loan services company Nelnet failed to properly secure and safeguard the personally identifiable information of more than 2.5 million borrowers during a recent data breach of its servers, a new class action lawsuit alleges.
Plaintiff Michael Varlotta claims Nelnet bears responsibility for a data breach of its servers which exposed borrowers unencrypted and unredacted names, phone numbers, email addresses, and Social Security numbers.
“Plaintiff’s and Class Members’ unencrypted, unredacted PII was compromised due to Nelnet’s negligent and/or careless acts and omissions, and due to the utter failure to protect Class Members’ sensitive data,” states the Nelnet class action.
Varlotta argues Nelnet, in addition to allegedly failing to safeguard the data, also “failed to provide timely, accurate and adequate notice” to student loan borrowers who were affected by the Nelnet data breach.
“Current and former borrowers’ knowledge about what PII Nelnet lost … was unreasonably delayed by Nelnet’s unreasonable notification delay after it first learned of the data breach,” states the Nelnet class action.
Varlotta wants to represent a nationwide class of student loan borrowers whose personally identifiable information was compromised in the Nelnet data breach announced by the company in August 2022.
Nelnet accused of failing to explain why it took more than a month to notify borrowers about the data breach
Nelnet notified state attorney generals on or around Aug. 26 that unauthorized individuals had gained access to its systems and acquired and accessed files on its network, according to the Nelnet class action.
Varlotta claims Nelnet chose not to notify student loan borrowers, however, on July 21, “instead choosing to address the incident in-house by implementing other alleged safeguards to some aspects of its computer security.”
Nelnet subsequently “failed to explain” why it took over a month for it to notify student loan borrowers to alert them that their personally identifiable information had been exposed in the data breach, the Nelnet class action alleges.
Varlotta claims Nelnet is guilty of negligence, unjust enrichment, invasion of privacy, and breach of implied contract.
Plaintiff is demanding a jury trial and requesting declaratory and injunctive relief along with an award of actual, nominal, consequential, and punitive damages for himself and all class members.
Last month, President Joe Biden announced that he would be forgiving up to $20,000 for student loan borrowers across the country and extending the repayment moratorium through the end of the year.
Was your personally identifiable information exposed in the Nelnet data breach? Let us know in the comments!
The plaintiff is represented by J.L. Spray and Jacob C. Garbison of Mattson Ricketts Law Firm, and Brandon M. Wise of Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane Conway & Wise, LLP.
The Nelnet data breach class action lawsuit is Varlotta v. Nelnet Servicing LLC, Case No. 4:22-cv-03188, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska.
Don’t Miss Out!
Check out our list of Class Action Lawsuits and Class Action Settlements you may qualify to join!
Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:
- KeyBank class action alleges company’s negligence contributed to data breach
- LastPass data breach leads to theft of source code, proprietary technical information
- DoorDash data breach exposes customers’ personal, financial information
- Top mobile carriers including Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile share data privacy practices
261 thoughts onNelnet class action claims data breach exposed personal information of more than 2.5M individuals
My student loans were serviced and consolidated by Nelnet then transferred to Mohela discrepancy with amounts differ… I wasn’t notified by notice of data breach
My loan was serviced by NelNet and I received a letter saying my data was breached.
I have nelnet and would like to be added to the class action lawsuit
I have a big chunk of my student loans with Nelnet was never notified please add me to this law suit as well.
I had a loan serviced by nelnet
Its a long one….
I have Loans with Nelnet was never notified of any breach of sensitive info. I would like to see if I need to be included in class action lawsuit.
Ironically, today I called Nelnet to inquire where 2 payments from 2019 had been applied (wanted more more detail than just…(“To interest”)
I was informed that $5300 payment applied to interest was NOT Capitalize Interest…
Since the call I located 2-3 emails dating back to 2014-2016 stating my Interest has now been Capitalize !!!
When I called today- I spend a total of 1 hr & 45 mins on phone. I asked initally for a break down as to which loans amount Nelnet applied the 2019 payment to.
TO MY knowledge my acct has never been past due, have had a number of consecutive approved admin forbearance, financial hardships all were granted never leaving a laps.
So how are they able to Capitalize loan interest into the principal bal ???
I was told in 14-17 days I would get en email with explanation/documentaion of where they applied the 5300 and which loans the lump sum was applied…Rep stated she did not have that info at first when I told her I like to have account reviewed as I believe an error occurred / would like to Recoup the funds I was told I must pay to avoid further Capitalizing Interest on my acct.
I’m ..filing a complaint with studentaid.gov against NelNel.
Contact me if this appears like something your firm may
handel.
Nelnet lied about student loan refund overpayment
My student loans serviced by Nelnet and my information was compromised by Nelnets breach.
Please add me as a class member.
I would like to be added to the list of this lawsuit I’m with Nelnet and I have been breached
How can I find out if my prior submission was accepted?