One step closer to SL discharge...

[DragonFlyer]

I got the SL discharge paperwork over to DH's doc...and it's finally ready for me to pick up and submit to the DOE. DH is fully disabled and unable to work or use his past education (or get a new eduction) due to his brain injury. He's considered 100% disabled and unemployable.

 

Anyway...right now his SL's are in discharge status. I was told by the DOE that once he submits his paperwork they will "clear" any reporting activity while he is on his 3-year contingency discharge period. If that is the case, his credit and FICO should significantly improve.

 

I am crossing my fingers this goes quickly. Has anyone dealt with this to know how long it will take to process?

[dst1]

I got the SL discharge paperwork over to DH's doc...and it's finally ready for me to pick up and submit to the DOE. DH is fully disabled and unable to work or use his past education (or get a new eduction) due to his brain injury. He's considered 100% disabled and unemployable.

 

Anyway...right now his SL's are in discharge status. I was told by the DOE that once he submits his paperwork they will "clear" any reporting activity while he is on his 3-year contingency discharge period. If that is the case, his credit and FICO should significantly improve.

 

I am crossing my fingers this goes quickly. Has anyone dealt with this to know how long it will take to process?

 

 

Yes, I have dealt with this situation many times before. Be prepared. The DOE is very very strict when it comes to medical discharges of SL debt. There is a lot of fraud. If it's truly TBI and if the doctor did his paperwork correctly (two very big IFs) then it should not take long (several months). But it is quite common for the DOE to send the paperwork back with a denial.

 

Did the doctor you select have specific experience filling out SL disability papers? If not, brace yourself. They almost always do it wrong the first time around. There is a lot of what I would call "incantatory words" that doctors have to mutter to get it by and unless they are experienced with the paperwork it's easy to say the wrong thing. Trust me, his paperwork will not just be seen and filed by some clerk, it will go to a review panel of doctors. And they have no qualms calling BS on an application. Understand that just because some else has declared your DH to be 100% disabled does not mean the DOE has too.

 

The good news (such as it is, TBI is never good news) is that it is TBI and they tend to look more kindly on disability that is a result of physical injury than disability claims based upon "softer" stuff like depression or CFS. So I wouldn't worry too much about getting the actual discharge, but you may have to refile the paperwork more than once.

 

I wish you luck.

Edited January 27, 2009 by dst1

[DragonFlyer]

Hmmm...incantatory words? Explain this?

 

Thank you SO much for responding and letting me know about your experience with SL discharges. I noticed the instructions said that the doctor cannot to put any abbreviations. Having worked in medical records for a number of years, I knew the doctor would put "TBI" instead of "traumatic brain injury post gunshot wound to head". So, I took the liberty of putting his well-documented diagnosis myself to be sure he didn't use abbreviations. He has multiple injuries but I stuck with the two main disabilities: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and then the TBI (above).

 

While I know that DH's disability rating with the military and the VA have no bearing on his SL discharge status, I did choose to have his current VA primary care provider sign off on it. Would that matter if it came from a doc in the VA system or should I get ready for an immediate denial based on who did it?

 

Anyway...thanks!!!

[dst1]

So long as the doctor has a bona fide medical degree it really makes no difference where he works. What the doctors at DOE are going to be looking for are two key things. (1) a through and complete description of the nature of the disability and (2) how that condition impacts on the person's ability to engage in productive work. Inexperienced doctors often make two mistakes. The first mistake is that they don't throughly describe the nature of the injury. "TBI" doesn't cut it. People with TBI can work, quite successfully I might add. They need to explain the entire nature of the injury, what part of the brain, the extent of the damage, etc. The second major mistake they can make is to fail to explain how those injuries actually prevent the person from engaging in productive work. It's very very important that the doctor draw a direct and obvious line between the injury and their conclusion that he can't work and support it with the facts.

 

Remember, the people evaluating the paperwork have never seen your DH and know nothing about his condition except what they read. And given the amount of fraud in this area, they read it with skepticism. The doctor can't write the report like an essay; he needs to view it from the perspective that he has to *prove* it to DOE.

 

 

Let me give you two examples:

 

This is bad example: Patient was in car wreck and suffered severe brain damage. I diagnosed TBI. 100% disabled.

 

This is good example:

 

Patient was in car wreck and suffered extensive damage to the cerebral cortex, approximately 75% of which was destroyed. Patient is now paralyzed from the neck down, requires professional nursing care 24 hours a day.

 

I have exaggerated for effect, but I hope you see the point. The the first case, there is simply not enough information to make a determination. In the second case, there is.

[DragonFlyer]

Well, I got the "your student loans are in review status" letter today from the FSA and they said to call DRG (Default Resolution Group) if we had any questions. I called to verify what would occur on DH's credit report while they have the loans under review. Remember, I was VERY careful before sending this by calling multiple times to make sure his reports would report favorably while on the conditional discharge. They said that the reports would be "cleared" once they got the paperwork and to just go ahead and send it in...there was nothing that they could do until they get the forms.

 

Cleared? Not so. Today I was told that his reports will continue to report as "DEFAULTED" for the entire conditional discharge process, which is supposed to last for up to three years.

 

I lost my composure. All I got was excuses about how they have no control over what another department says, and that the previous rep gave me incorrect info. They just process the forms, process payments and "that's the way it is, ma'am...would you like to pay this 23K in full to take it out of default?" Smart marigolds. I asked who oversees their department and she said "Congress". I took her name and said "I guess that's who I will talk to then."

 

That means we are locked in with this default, barring paying the entire balance in full, for the next three years. It will literally take an act of Congress to change this problem. So be it. It won't be the first time my DH and I have been on a Congressional floor.

 

He is qualified and entitled to this discharge but we have to continue suffering financially for something he shouldn't be punished for in the first place.

 

And dst1, thanks for your help. I hope the wording goes through okay. I am not sure how they expect a full description of his injuries and how it affects him if the space allows for two sentences ... at best. LOL

[DragonFlyer]

Heh.

 

I gave it a month before calling back. I was told to call back in a few weeks to see he had been put on the conditional discharge.

 

Well....Tina "helped" me this time. She was a mess.

 

Backing up, it was *I* who discovered this loan discharge program. I accidentally fell over the information on the 'net. So I called the Default Resolution Group to ask why I was not told about it after all my previous attempts with Arrow Financial, Sallie Mae, and Direct Loan Servicing over the last four years of EXPLAINING over and over our situation. I told them "why is it in default and why didn't anyone give me the application in the first place?"

 

So I call them today with a simple two-part question: Has the loan been conditionally discharged, and if so...how is it going to report to the credit bureaus?

 

She started with: "It is still in review. You need to call back in 90 to 120 days."

 

Funny, the last person said just a couple of weeks and we should know. So I ask, "And how will it report during that 3-4 month waiting period to be approved or denied?"

 

She said "in default, but collections will not continue". So I ask about why the letter didn't give an accurate timeline and why I got (once again) conflicting information from their previous rep.

 

First, she kept interrupting me. Before I could even finish a single sentence, she kept cutting me off. I finally had to say "Can I please just finish my sentence before you talk over me?" She got snotty and it went downhill from there.

 

She said, "You say you've called multiple times but I don't show that. Our system leaves an entry each time you call on the account. I only see that you called twice in December and once on March 13th. When you called on December 19th we told you about the program. That's the first we heard about your husband's disability."

 

So I say, "Um...duh...today IS March 13th. Yes, I know all about how calls leave "footprints" on an account. That's what frustrates me. I have called you multiple times. In fact, on my last call I spoke to Liz Seneca on February 17th at 5:11pm. Can you explain to me why you don't have that footprint on file?"

 

She says, "Oh, yes...I see now. I do see you called and spoke to us on February 17th. But we were the ones to tell you about the program because you never told us about his disability."

 

I say, "See, now...that frustrates me even more. How are you supposed to effectively assist me if you claim to be right and are actually proven wrong?"

 

For kicks and giggles, I logged into the Federal Student Aid site and it shows he HAS had his balance cleared to ZERO. She didn't even bother to disclose that info.

 

So I guess my next step is to dispute the balance with the CRA's. They still show his past due balance of $23K. Argh!

[DragonFlyer]

Update:

 

http://torreylisa.blogspot.com/2009/03/dep...n-violates.html

 

The DOE is openly admitting to reporting inaccurate information. They say the only way they will "fix" it is to send me a letter confirming that this is not a collection account, despite how it is reported to the CRA's.

 

This is going to be fun.

[Saria]

How frustrating. Sorry to hear you're having such a difficult time getting this taken care of. You may have mentioned this in one of your other posts, but have you ever tried contacting the ombudsman?

[DragonFlyer]

No, I have not. Doing it as we speak!

 

http://www.ombudsman.ed.gov/about/contactus.html

 

Thanks for your help!

[Saria]

No problem. They can be a fantastic resource, and I hope they're able to help.

[DragonFlyer]

I talked to the Ombudsman in DC today.

 

She was very apologetic when I told her some of the highlights of our ordeal. She said "There's no reason for the DRG to be so rude. I cannot apologize enough for how you have been treated."

 

She said she couldn't change what has already happened, but could certainly get this application processed faster. She said that there is a "new" person in charge of the processing the applications and oversees the whole process. She gave me this person's name, address and fax and said to submit the VA disability rating paperwork directly via CMRRR and fax. Once it gets in her hands....it should be taken care of and finalized. She said not to wait for the letter requesting the documents...just send them.

 

I plan to get everything together tomorrow and send it out. I will let you know what happens.

[DragonFlyer]

 

Can you guess what I am announcing?

 

It's official as of April 15. In all, less than TWO WEEKS total time to process the application correctly after months of back-and-forth...and after YEARS of trying to find resolution.

 

The CAIVRS system will be cleared within 24 hours because they forced it through the system today.

 

The update to the CRA's should be within the month. Or less.

[DragonFlyer]

Saria, I owe you a dinner.

 

Heck, I owe the entire CB family a big dinner. I hope you don't mind my cooking. I hear it's edible most days.

 

Seriously, I am so thankful for the help and support here. You have NO idea how stressful it has been with DH's disability AND the financial aftermath that goes with it.

 

My NACA attorney was FLOORED.

 

I just took the liberty of putting the letter in a really nice frame. It looks so pretty!

Edited April 27, 2009 by DragonFlyer

[Saria]

 

I'm so glad to hear that everything worked out! Stories like yours are what these forums are all about

[DragonFlyer]

For snits and giggles, I logged into the nslds.ed.gov website today to check the status. Last month they showed the big EXCLAMATION POINT with "DEFAULT" next to the loan number (ie, 1, 2, 3...etc.) for each loan that had defaulted.

 

This time I heard angels singing in the background when I saw this:

 

Edited May 1, 2009 by DragonFlyer

[DragonFlyer]

WOO HOOO! I just saw the first movement on DH's reports. EQ doesn't show two of the three SL's any more (deleted entirely!) and we got a.....drum roll please.....

 

45 point score increase!!!!

 

He broke 600 for the first time in years. I know that still isn't good, but we'll take whatever we can get at this point! LOL