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.
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261 thoughts onNelnet class action claims data breach exposed personal information of more than 2.5M individuals
They are charging me and interest rate higher than my principal… and I was not notified of this… I wasn’t notified of the congressional law change.. I wasn’t notified of any of this. And my account balance goes up every single day! WTH is this even legal?
Yes it was
Forgot to add 2 hard inquires and applications to stores were made on my Transunion credit report on 6/26/22 following the breach that were not me.
I wasn’t notified about a breach at all, but makes sense how I get so many repetitive spam calls and voicemail for student loan forgiveness. I really wish I was notified in someway by them instead of finding out when I googled NelNet
I have experienced identity theft in 2021 and again in 2022 following large payments to Nelnet for student loans when my social was used to open multiple lines of credits/account/applications. I made a payment to Nelnet on 7/14/23 and the money was taken out of my account on 7/17/23 around 12 pm. I received a text message at that time from an 724-326-3852 number. I googled the number and the web immediately said it was scammers from Pennsylvania. An unknown physical address and phone based in Pennsylvania was on my credit report from all three bureaus in 2021. All fraud activity that shows up follows my large loan payments to Nelnet. Someone in Nelnet is using the social security numbers of the students’ information or selling this information to scammers. Scammers continue to call and leave me texts based in Pennsylvania, Florida and all over the country. I have NEVER been notified of any breaches or hacks by Nelnet, but called them this week letting them know I will be suing.
I received a letter from Nelnet stating my information was one that was accessed. And I live in Oregon! This would be why I’m getting tons of emails and phone calls. My bank account was recently hacked too. I’m not happy. I want to know if I’m included in this lawsuit or do I need to get an attorney?
I wasn’t notified by Nelnet about this at all. That would explain all the spam calls I get around the clock about student loan forgiveness programs. Speaking of Nelnet who I have been with under the PAYE forgiveness program, can’t show me my payment history for the last 8 years, my balance is twice the amount then when I entered with them. What was a ten year forgiveness program is now 20, which I wasn’t informed of this change neither. But where are my 8 years of payments?
I’ve had a nelnet loan for years and I never received any notice that my information was breached
I think it’s incredibly messed up that they not only failed to notify us immediately about the data breach, but they also, in a way, have managed to gaslight many of us with that bs (1 year, btw) Experian membership. That letter basically said, “we messed up and now it’s your problem to make sure you don’t get scammed again”.
I’ve been trying to find more news about this and I would like to join the lawsuit. If anyone knows how to, can you please let me know?
I would like to be included. I’ve been getting super realistic emails and mail talking about my student loans and I’m so glad I was scared to open them or click the links because I’m pretty sure they were fake but now I get so much mail for that and even have people calling me now asking to buy my home and I have never put my home up for sale.