Student Loans from 1997--need advice

[rockyman]

I have a couple of defaulted student loans from the 1990s...left school in 1997 and never made a payment...I am in a position now to pay off the loans, but I'm wondering when these will (or if they will) fall off my credit report (7 year rule). I don't want to dig a 7 year hole by paying them while they are still on the report...but I'm not really interested in rehab unless I have no other choice. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[LynnInMN]

I have a couple of defaulted student loans from the 1990s...left school in 1997 and never made a payment...I am in a position now to pay off the loans, but I'm wondering when these will (or if they will) fall off my credit report (7 year rule).

 

It depends. When did the loans actually become due and when did you default? When you borrowed them has no effect on the 7 year calculation.

 

 

I don't want to dig a 7 year hole by paying them while they are still on the report...but I'm not really interested in rehab unless I have no other choice. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

You can actually dig a deeper hole by not paying them. If these are FFELP loans, you could find your loans subrogated by the feds and have an additional 7 year reporting cycle added. So we need more information...lender, guarantor, default date...

[rockyman]

Thanks for the help! I graduated in December 1997, so the loans should have gone into repayment in 1998, I think...They started out with Kentucky Higher Education, then eventually got transferred back to US Dept of Ed. Here is one of the loans on my Experian report...where else would I find the info about the loans (our house was destroyed during Katrina and all of our records were lost):

 

U S DEPT OF ED/FISL/SF

Address:

PO BOX 4222

IOWA CITY, IA 52244

No phone number available

Account Number:

...

Status: Collection account. $11,354 past due as of Apr 2006.

Date Opened:

09/1996

Type:

Installment

Reported Since:

04/2001

Terms:

36 Months

Date of Status:

04/2001

Monthly Payment:

$0

Last Reported:

04/2006

Responsibility:

Individual

Credit Limit/Original Amount:

$8,500

High Balance:

NA

Recent Balance:

$11,354 as of 04/2006

Recent Payment:

$0

Account History:

Collection as of Oct 2005 to Apr 2006, Mar 2003 to Aug 2005,

Feb 2002 to Jan 2003, Aug 2001 to Oct 2001, Apr 2001 to Jun

2001

 

 

Thanks!