Civil Division
Financial Litigation Unit
The Financial Litigation Unit (FLU) is charged with the responsibility of acting as the federal government's debt collector. The FLU is responsible for collecting civil and criminal debts owed the United States. The overwhelming majority of the FLU's civil collection work involves filing suit to obtain judgments on defaulted government loans such as student loans, farm loans or mortgages guaranteed by a federal agency, and then collecting those judgments. The FLU also collects judgments and settlements owed to the United States as a result of successful Affirmative Civil Enforcement cases. Criminal debts arise when defendants are sentenced by the court. These debts may be in the form of restitution to victims of crime, fines imposed by the court to penalize criminals, special assessments on each criminal conviction count, costs of prosecution and other costs, and forfeitures of appearance bonds.
Many defaulted student loans are not referred to the U.S. Department of Justice for judgment and enforced collection. Loans may be held by a guaranty agency or the U.S. Department of Education for many years before they are forwarded to U.S. Attorney' s Offices. The FLU pursues collection of defaulted student loans only after they are referred to the office by the U.S. Department of Education. If you have a defaulted student loan and have questions concerning that loan, you should contact the U.S. Department of Education at 1-800-621-3115 or check out their web page.
The FLU uses the remedies provided by the Federal Debt Collection Procedures Act to secure payment of these debts. These remedies include the garnishment of wages, seizure of property, and fraudulent transaction actions. In addition, the FLU conducts judgment debtor examinations and may offset funds owed to a debtor by the federal government, such as the debtor's federal income tax refund. Criminal debtors who are incarcerated may pay their debts by participating in the Bureau of Prisons' Inmate Financial Responsibility Program.