marijun

My student loan debt is peanuts compared to others' around here...but it's still destroying my credit. I'm finally in a position to start rehabilitation or consolidation, but things are so messed up I'm hesitant to do it without getting a lawyer or credit counselor involved. I'm wondering if anyone here has had similar experiences and could offer advice. I graduated in 2000, and all my loans defaulted in 2002 - I moved around a lot at the time, and I guess their letters just couldn't keep up with me. In 2002, I started making payments on one of my Sallie Mae loans. I had the loan nearly halfway paid off, then I moved again and didn't find a job immediately and had to miss a payment. I called them to tell them this, and they basically said well that's too bad, you'll have to start repaying the loan all over again. WHAT? Yes, the $1500 I'd given them over the course of a few months had magically disappeared. I didn't keep my check stubs, and I'd already closed the bank account I paid them with. I now know that I could have gotten my records from the bank, but I didn't know that at the time. That bank has since been purchased by Chase and they conveniently have no record of me (though they emptied my bank account with no notice because I owed my old bank a little money, funny!). I have no proof I ever paid Sallie Mae a dime, and Chase only sees me as someone who had debt with Bank One. I even kept one of my Bank One checkbooks, so I have my old account number and everything...no dice, according to Chase, I had debt with Bank One, but no account! On top of that, Sallie Mae tells the credit reporting agencies that every year or so, I make a payment - when I don't. I imagine they're just doing that to continue adding lates to my reports. I disputed this with the credit reporting agencies, and they found the records to be accurate. UGH! I can't win! I've got a good, stable job now and I'm just looking to get out of debt and repair my credit. They've been garnishing my tax returns for 2 years now, and I got a letter last year that they were going to start garnishing my wages. I lost my job a couple months before I got that letter, and they haven't noticed I have a new job yet - but I imagine they will indeed take notice as soon as I file my taxes. There's the background, now I have some questions! 1 - What Sallie Mae did was incredibly illegal, but I have no proof and probably can't do a damn thing about it. I will not opt for rehabilitation on that loan if I have to deal with Sallie Mae again since they are lying, thieving bastards. However, I'm not sure if the loan can be consolidated. I have two Direct Stafford Subsidized loans, one Stafford Subsidized, and one private loan that I can't find any information about. I don't know what the darn difference is, or which one is with Sallie Mae (it's definitely not the private loan, though). Does it matter? The ed.gov web site says I have to make 3 on-time, full payments before I can consolidate. Does that mean I have to rehabilitate first (do the whole 9 on-time, full payments thing) and THEN 3 more before I can consolidate? 2 - Also, my taxes have been garnished for two years, but I'm having a hell of a time finding out where that money actually went. Each year, I received a letter saying it was offset for student loans and it gave me a phone number, but the phone number was all but useless. I kept getting transferred all over the place until it hung up on me. Cute! I tried several times with the same result. I'm hesitant to do anything at all until I see some documentation for where that money went as well, seeing as Sallie Mae seems to have trouble remembering when they took my money Is there a better way for finding that information without calling that darn useless number on my offset statements? 3 - Is there a way to find information about private student loans? I've honestly lost track of mine, and they seem to have given up on finding me. It fell off my credit report ages ago. 4 - I'm considering saying "to hell with it all!" and just take care of it in lump sum settlements when I get an inheritance (not that I want my gran to kick the bucket any time soon!). I know this sounds terrible, but debt collectors seem to be more reasonable about dropping interest and/or collection fees if you can settle the debt in one payment. I know that won't fix my tax/wage garnishment concerns, but has anyone managed to save a significant amount of money in a settlement? What about AFTER you've been making payments for a while, then offering a settlement? Just curious. 5 - I don't feel qualified to negotiate with these creditors since they are so consistently dishonest, have their own interests, and have years of experience on me. What I'd really like to do is just hire someone experienced to help me with all this (I have some other debt problems too, but probably not enough to justify a bankruptcy). I'd just like to pay my debts without getting screwed. I want the settlements and payment arrangements to be fair, on paper, properly reported, on record, and not full of surprises. I'd like to be able to hand over a copy of my credit report, student loan details, and tax offset documentation and let someone else do the talking, negotiating, and number crunching. If I were good at that kinda stuff, I wouldn't be in this situation! Do such credit counseling services exist? If so, does anyone have any recommendations? Any bad ones to stay away from? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! My credit score has never been above 600, and the interest rate on my last car loan was 16.6% LOL! This has to stop.

Hi! I've made a right mess of my credit with defaulted student loans, and I am trying to repair my credit as quickly as possible. My loans are 8-9 years old, but have bounced from shady CA to CA over the years and the CAs keep fudging the dates so they stay on my CR. Sallie Mae is the worst...every couple years, they report that I made a payment (when I didn't!) so they can restart the 7 year timer over again. I also paid them about $1500 at one point, and after my first missed payment, they told me I had to start repaying the loan all over again. I didn't keep my check stubs to prove I payed them, so...grr! Of course, they can't find the records either. I also have a loan through a private company who has tacked on so much interest and fees, my current balance is nearly twice the original loan amount. The CA in charge of that account is NCO Financial and I'm pretty sure there's a special place in hell reserved for them, lol! They call my family, my neighbors, my landlord, my boss...and once they harassed me so rudely over the phone, I refuse to answer their calls anymore. Anyways, according to the nslds.ed.gov web site, this is my loan situation: Loan 1: Type of Loan: DIRECT STAFFORD SUBSIDIZED (Defaulted) Loan Amount: $3,500 Loan Date: 04/04/2000 Disbursed Amount: $3,500 Canceled Amount: $0 Outstanding Principal: $3,500 Outstanding Interest: $431 Date Entered Repayment: 06/22/2001 Loan Period Begin Date: 03/15/2000 Loan Period End Date: 12/21/2000 Loan 2: Type of Loan: DIRECT STAFFORD SUBSIDIZED (Defaulted) Loan Amount: $2,625 Loan Date: 09/22/1999 Disbursed Amount: $2,625 Canceled Amount: $0 Outstanding Principal: $2,625 Outstanding Interest: $320 Date Entered Repayment: 06/22/2001 Loan Period Begin Date: 07/06/1999 Loan Period End Date: 03/15/2000 Loan 3: Type of Loan: STAFFORD SUBSIDIZED (Canceled) Loan Amount: $3,500 Loan Date: 02/16/1999 Disbursed Amount: $0 Canceled Amount: $3,500 Outstanding Principal: $0 Outstanding Interest: $0 Date Entered Repayment: 06/21/2001 Loan Period Begin Date: 04/05/1999 Loan Period End Date: 12/18/1999 Loan 4: Type of Loan: STAFFORD SUBSIDIZED (Defaulted) Loan Amount: $2,625 Loan Date: 07/07/1998 Disbursed Amount: $2,625 Canceled Amount: $0 Outstanding Principal: $3,106 Outstanding Interest: $530 Date Entered Repayment: 06/22/2001 Loan Period Begin Date: 07/08/1998 Loan Period End Date: 03/27/1999 Total DIRECT STAFFORD SUBSIDIZED: $6,125 Principal, $751 Interest Total STAFFORD SUBSIDIZED: $3,106 Principal, $530 Interest Total All Loans: $9,231 Principal, $1,281 Interest I assume these amounts are not what I currently owe, due to collection fees or whatever? My tax refund ($1,250) was taken this year, and I'm not sure where it went. I called the number on the notice I received from the IRS, and they said the loan it was applied to is held by Financial Asset Management. The problem is, my CR lists my loans and FAM is not a holder of any of my loans. What the heck? My CR says my loans are held by Sallie Mae and USA Funds. I want to consolidate or rehabilitate, but I don't know which option would be best for me, and I can't even figure out who the heck has my loans, how much I actually owe, or where my tax refund went! I don't know who to deal with...the Guaranty Agency, Lender, or Servicer? Who do I believe...my CR, or NSLDS? Are there debt counselors who specialize in student loans? I also believe Sallie Mae can't legally "forget" I payed them $1500, and that a CA can't legally double the amount of a loan. Should I just talk to a lawyer? I'm so confused and have so many questions. Most of the information I've found online consists of "legalese" and I may as well be reading an alien language. Any straight-forward insight would be greatly appreciated!

just an update... i ordered a new chexsystems report this week and got it in the mail today. there is no longer a hit from JPM on my report, and no negative reports whatsoever. however, the inquiries section is interesting. i applied for and was approved for an account with WaMu on 6/13/2008, National City on 6/17/2008, and First Mid-Illinois on 7/12/2008. i applied for and was denied by First State Bank on 7/18/2008, and my hit from JPM appeared on my chexsystems report that i ordered that same day. and for unknown reasons (i hadn't applied for anything else), National City inquired again on 7/22, and twice on 7/24. so perhaps National City, WaMu, and First Mid only look for more recent reports. speculation! and if anyone's wondering why i would apply for so many accounts in such a short period of time...i was attracted to WaMu's free checking, but they have no local branches, so i couldn't do much with that account. i signed a lease for a new apartment in july, in a town that has no National City branches, so i applied at First State and was denied, so i defaulted to First Mid. ha!

will do. i hate that they won't do anything over the phone or online...very inconvenient!

i applied for an account at another local bank a few weeks after i got the NC and FMI accounts, and was denied due to my Chex report. That is when i called Chex and got my report. I was previously denied for an account at NC - my boyfriend and I went in to a local NC branch to have me added to his existing account - denied because of Chex. That is what makes me wonder if the online signup let me bypass a Chex check - my hit from JPM is certainly still on my Chex report, though it is about time for it to go away.

i signed up for checking accounts at National City and First Mid-Illinois Bank online. these are two banks that will run a Chexsystems report on you if you show up in person to get an account. however, both banks gave me an account and all i had to do was show up at a local branch and sign some papers and pick up my checks. is it possible these banks didn't care that i had a chexsystems strike against me, or that they just don't run chexsystems reports for online signups?

hi! i'm having an issue with chexsystems. about 5 years ago, i accidentally let my bank one account go in the negatives. unemployed at the time, i couldn't remedy the situation. JPM has since purchased bank one, and my chexsystems report has a hit on me from JPM. i called JPM to try to settle the issue, but they have no record of my bank one account - or anything linked to my name, social security number, or bank one account number. there is nothing about this on my credit report either. both JPM and chexsystems staff were rather unhelpful. how the heck do i remedy this?