Student loan reporting and deletion

This is my first posting and my question is muti-faceted and very complicated.

I'm looking for any helpful info on student loans that were orig. charged-off and then refinanced and the deleted and then reinserted by Equifax.

Background.

1. NY State Higer Ed. loan went to I5 collection and was sold to Sallie Mae as 5 seperate loans.

2. Sallie Mae loans went to I9 bad debt and were sold to U.S. Dept of Ed.

3. U.S. Dept of Ed. loans went 1+90 days late I5 collection with $0 balance.

4. I entered into a repayment plan w. U.S. Dept of Ed. and received a new consolidation loan which has been in good standing for 2 yrs.

5. Fowler & Fowler(Millenium Credit out of FL.) was able to get the U.S. Dept of Ed I5's deleted from Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian.

6. Now Equifax has reinserted them w. date of last activity 02/96.

Questions:

1. Do I have any recourse at this point?

2. Can the CRAs report this for more than 7 yrs?

Lastly, I have had excellent results from Fowler & Fowler with getting all my other paid charge-offs removed and my FICO score stands at 651. My credit union has been my saving grace for getting auto loans and credit cards. I also successfully fought off a collection attempt by a company called Arrow Financial Services who had bought a very old collection account and tried to change the DOLA and report it to the CRAs.

-mannix

5. Fowler & Fowler(Millenium Credit out of FL.) was able to get the U.S. Dept of Ed I5's deleted from Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian.

But they don't have answers to your questions?

If Equifax reinserted the same account they previously deleted, they were supposed to certify the data and notify you. Did they?

And then there's http://www.bayhouse.com/credit-forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=584 -- maybe we can get 12bfree to post the e-mail address ...

- I stopped communicating w. Fowler & Fowler last fall after everything was deleted and I made my last payment.

- Equifax did neither, so I guess my first course of action should be to gather up all the pertinent documentation and write them a letter.

- I also noticed that the DOLA reported by Equifax changed from 6/96 to 2/96. Although this would force them to verify and maybe delete, they may change the date back to 6/96 and I would have to wait another 4 mths for it to fall off.

- Speaking about falling-off, I read in the FCRA that student loans that went to collection can be reported for more than 7 yrs!

Yes, there is special legislation for student loans and their reporting.

Not knowing how Fowler & Fowler got the account deleted, there's not much I can say about it.

But you can definitely go after Equifax.

I believe the method they used, which is probably also used by other companies is to repeatedly send investigation requests at specific time intervals and therefore make it very difficult for the CRA to verify the information within the 30 day time limit.

At which time they have to delete the entry if they cannot verify it within the time allowed by the FCRA of 1996.

Fowler & Fowler were always on top of the dates that letters were send and received to and from the CRA's.

Apparently Fowler and Fowler's SPAM disputes didn't work so good. And they can't be THAT on top of it or you wouldn't need to post here.

If they're so great, why don't THEY have a board for people to post and share credit info? I looked at their site, you got to pay about $500 for spam disputes, and when you have a problem later, you can't even send them an e-mail.

Sure makes me feel like the village idiot.

I really don't like to see praise at MY forum for an outfit like Fowler and Fowler that does nothing but SPAM disputes.

Anyway, just do as people posted here and get it fixed permanently.

Mannix, are your loans serviced by Direct Loans out of New York? If so, you may be in luck. I have found them to be exceedingly helpful. Once my loans were rehabbed, Direct Loans sent me a letter and all of the CRAs a letter telling them to delete the negative and converted it to a positive tradeline. Experian and TU did this right away, but I fought with EQ over it for a while. Finally I called Direct Loans and they told me to send them a letter and request that they delete the negative info as my loans had been rehabbed. They sent EQ a letter (and I suppose a UDF) and also sent me a letter stating that they had done so. I turned around and faxed that letter to EQ and it was changed to positive within 5 days or so. Of course they then had to mess that up by putting that the loan was deferred which is is not and has not been, but a quick letter to them got that corrected as well.

Anyway...if Direct Loans services your loans, I would definately give them a yell. Very nice people.

L

Christine - I apologize for undeservedly giving credit where credit isn't do and for making you feel stupid. It wasn't my intention - just my ignorance.

I'm a newbie and I hope that you can excuse my ignorance. In the future I will refrain from giving them any further unintended plugs.

Whyspers - Thank you very much for the great information!!! It appears that my my new "rehabbed" loan is in fact a William D. Ford Direct Loan that is serviced out of Utica, NY.

I received a letter from the Dept. of Ed. that stated the my loan(s) owed to them had been paid in full with the proceeds of a consolidation loan. (Dated 5/25/01)

I never received a letter from Direct Loans like the one that you stated in your post: "Direct Loans sent me a letter and all of the CRAs a letter telling them to delete the negative and converted it to a positive tradeline. "

And my credit report reads as follows:

New Loan:

US Dept of Edu AFSA
Student Loan
Pays as agreed

Old Loans:

US Dept of Ed
SLM (Sallie Mae Acct #)
Paid charge-off
Refinanced

I haven't check TU or Experian yet, but I will be doing so in the near future.

Question & Observation:

Since my new loan is actually through Direct Loans and not the Dept of Ed. I guess my old Dept of Ed loans should be deleted as you say and a new loan with Direct Loans(not Dept of Ed) should be posted. So, I'll contact the people at Direct Loans and see if they can help me out with this mess.

I hope that in the future I can be as productive and helpful a member of this forum as the 2 of you have been to me.

Thanks again for your understanding and patience with the unitiated!

-mannix

Its worth a try. My loans were just listed as through the US Dept. of Ed and not Sallie Mae, so I don't know if Direct Loans can delete the other, but seems to me that they could since they now service the loan.

At any rate, I called them at 800-848-0979 and they gave me a fax number where I faxed my letter to them.

The response I received follows:

My name
My address
My City, State, Zip

Re: Removing Negative Credit Information from Your Account

Dear whyspers:

We have received your request to remove negative credit information from your Direct Loan account, and have notified our credit bureaus to do so. We have also updated the information on your account to reflect those changes.

We are glad to be of service in this matter. Please let us know if you should have any other questions or comments about your account. Simply give us a call at one of the numbers listed at the William D. Ford Direct Loan Servicing Center Borrower Services Department on the reverse side.

Sincerely,

Borrower Services Representative.


I then turned around and faxed this to EQ, who as I said, deleted it in five or six days.

I hope they can help you!

L

I just want to add that changing to "paid as agreed" with NO lates is much better than deleting the entire account.

Whyspers - Thanks again and I'll post the results of my inquiry when I give them a call tomorrow.

Christine - I agree w. you and currently my "rehabbed" consolidation loan has been in good standing now for 2 yrs. If I can get those 5 Dept of Ed loans that are listed as paid charge-off deleted that should significantly improve my credit score from 651. My goal right now is just to get to 700!

-M

I called both Direct Loan and Dept of Ed and it seems there is nothing either of them can do for me.

My orig. loans went from NYSHED to Sallie Mae and then to the Dep. of Ed so Direct Loans couldn't do anything.

Dept. of Ed said they spoke to Equifax and reported the loans as paid collection. Which is how Equifax is reporting them.

So, I guess my options are:

1. Contact Equifax and complain that they did not notify me that they were reinserting the loans. Or go

2. Go back to spam deletion tactics

3. Or wait until Equifax decides that they've punished me enough and decides to let them just fall off.

Question: What benefit do the CRA's get from keeping my credit score low by reporting information that is 6 yrs old and not very relevant to my current financial standing or creditworthiness.

I have paid all my debts, established over $10k in new credit lines, have a solid - well paying career, and I have done everything in my power to keep my credit in good standing.

Thank God for my credit union, they're the only people who haven't treated me like I'm a criminal!

I'm sorry they weren't able to help you. Another thing I have heard and that has worked for me, when you get within five or six months of the date it is supposed to age off, dispute it as obsolete. Sometimes they don't bother to investigate something that is getting ready to age off naturally anyway. TU, I think, usually deletes anywhere from 3 to 6 months before the actual date they age off.

L

1. Contact Equifax and complain that they did not notify me that they were reinserting the loans.

You can complain or you can settle their violation for deletion.

BTW, a 6 year old student loan late is not a big deal. If you're having credit problems, THAT isn't it.

- What do you mean by "settle their violation for deletion." Are you implying that since that did not follow the rules of the FCRA that they would have to delete it again?

As far as my credit score goes - this is from my FICO score report at Equifax:

- First Reason Code: 39 Your first reason code is 39, “Serious delinquency”. This is the single most important factor affecting your score.

- Second Reason Code: 8 Your second reason code is 8, “Too many inquiries last 12 months”. This is the second most important factor affecting your score.

*Which should start being less of a factor because I haven't applied for any credit for a good 6 mths or so!

- Third Reason Code: 14 Your third reason code is 14, “Length of time accounts have been established”.

*My auto loan, school loan, and revolving credit lines are about 2 yrs old.

Fourth Reason Code: 18 Your fourth reason code is 18, “Number of accounts with delinquency”

* Equifax is listing paid charge-off on 5 seperate loans. For which I had unsuccessfully attempted to get rolled up into 1 listing.

-M

If so, it is federal law that all past derogatory information be deleted from your credit reports. Let me know if you did indeed "rehab" the loans and I will post the links to the laws.

bullforever -

This may be a terminology thing. After my student loans went into default, I entered into a repayment plan w. the US Dep. of Ed. After 12 consecutive payments they sent me a letter stating that the original 5 loans were paid off with the proceeds from a "new consolidation" loan through Direct Loans.

I'd be very interested to see if these laws you are talking about are applicable to my situation.

-Mannix

http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/DCS/consolidation/rehab.html

and here is a cut and paste from an old e-mail I sent to someone else...but I think the link and the explainations are close enough to what you are looking for to apply:
Debbie, check this link directly from the Government:
http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/DCS/repay/consolidation/index.html
and this link is even better, a little ways down through the page, there is a contact name and address for the person who administers and enforces the Student Loan Rehabilitation act which is a part of the Higher Education Act. The language is unambiguous in that YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO THIS AND CAN NOT BE TURNED DOWN. As a matter of fact, if you have already been paying for 12 months, your loan is ALREADY rehabbed and ALL REFERENCES to it MUST BE DELETED from you credit reports. Period, end of Story. It also says that NO WRITTEN CONTRACT IS REQUIRED. The only requirement is that YOU HAVE MADE 12 ON TIME PAYMENTS.
http://www.carreonandassociates.com/stuloanrehabact.htm

How long have you been paying on the Student Loan with the collection agent? If it has been 12 months, tell Sallie Mae as much, read the whole statute of the loan rehabilitation act and them tell them that you want the loan repurchased and guaranteed as per your rights under the LAW. Tell them and the collection agent that all negative entries on your credit report are REQUIRED to be deleted BY LAW under the Loan Rehabilitation act portion of the higher education act and if they fail to do so immediately, you will bring suit against them for violating the FCRA, the HEA and the LRA, and for violating your Constitutional rights.

Go get 'em! I told you I have a few tricks up my sleeve, if I wasn't so darn busy, I would have gotten you this sooner, but as you can see, I was correct in saying that you have a LEGAL RIGHT to what you are asking for!!!!

Thanks! It's too bad that you have to default before you can get those lates deleted.

Well, I'm completely confused and frustrated by the informatio I just received from the Dept. of Ed in Atlanta. I hope this posting will provide some useful info for somebody else, so that they don't have to go through what I did.

Anyway, here goes:

I appearantly only made 7 consecutive payments and then got a consolidation loan through Direct Loans which paid off my defaulted Stafford Loans. Unfortunately, Because I did not make 12 consecutive payments on my original defaulted loands my loans were never officially "rehabbed".

Because I never had any real knowledge as to what was happening I ended up screwing myself. Mind you, I was sent the offer to consolidate ny loans from the Dept. of Education. I did not seek out consolidation. However, they neglected to mention that if I chose to consolidate and get a new loan I wouldn't in fact be rehabbing my old loans.

So, there you have it. I'm frustrated and stuck, at the mercy of the Credit Reporting Agencies!

Why don't you send this to the ombudsman?

Go back through those links I posted. The LAW is very clear in stating that NO WRITTEN CONTRACT is required to rehab loans. So what if you consolidated them...that is your right under the same rehab law which says that after 6 on time payments, you are eligible to consolidate and to get new loans....have you made all of your payments on time since the consolidation? If so, how long has it been? More than 5 months? 5+ your previous 7 is 12. The consolidated loans are still the same pot of money and just because you pooled it all together does not mean you have failed to make your payments as agreed...and making 12 payments on time and as agreed is all the LAW requires...Send this whole mess to the Ombudsman...if that does not work, file suit...you seem to have a reasonable case here that should eventually turn out for the best for you.

Thanks!