krzywon

http://ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/101111LSIACSSystemandWebSitesImplUpdate7.html Payments around the time of the transition have been delayed, but auto payment information should have been transferred. Once the payment is pulled, it will be credited to your account as of the day your payment was due.

If those closed accounts are accurately reporting and have no late payments, they are helping your average age of credit and can only make your credit rating better. Disputing positive accounts will bring you nothing but pain.

Looking at the payment history you posted, they are applying the extra payments toward the principal. They are also applying them to future payments. Continue to make your monthly payments and you will not only pay the loans off earlier, you will also shift the next payment due. This will be helpful if you ever need to defer/forbear the loans in the future. Private student loans don't offer much in the way of hardship options, so not owing a payment is the next best thing. Edited to Add: Student loans are typically simple interest loans that accrue interest daily and compound monthly. You made a payment on 11/08/2010 and then another payment on 12/20/2010. That is 43 days of accrued interest, at $1.80 per day. The 11/08/2010 payment was after 26 days, at $1.86 per day. The numbers add up like they're supposed to.

Things to consider when moving student loan debt to credit cards: (1) Balance transfer fees - these are typically 4% right now with no cap. If you can find a no-fee or low fee BT offer, this might make sense. (2) Student loan interest is tax deductible. Calculate the after-tax interest by multiplying your highest marginal tax rate and your current rate and then subtracting that from the SL interest rate. Is this number higher than the BT fee you'll pay? Formula: (1 - Tax Rate(%)/100)*SL Interest Rate Example: Your highest tax rate is 25% with your current student loans your after-tax rate is (1 - 0.25)*6.8 = 5.1, (1-.25)*6.5 = 4.875 (3) Are you sure you can pay off the BT in the amount of time given? Any late or missed payments can lose the BT offer rate. Are you willing to take that risk? (4) Will you be able to make the minimum payments for the SLs as well as the BT offer after doing this? Your SL payments won't change even when you make lump-sum payments. Things to consider when moving student loan debt to a HELOC: (1) Your "unsecured" SL debt becomes secured to you house. If you stop paying on SLs, they will come after you and likely sue you, raid bank accounts and garnish wages. If you default on a HELOC, they can foreclose, leaving you homeless. (2) HELOC rates are often variable but are low right now. (3) HELOC can only tap into 80% of your equity and appraisals are usually more stringent. Right now, you would only have 7k to tap.

Any person can give a gift to any other person of up to $13,000 in each calendar year, with no tax implications. Any amount over this and the gift giver reduces their lifetime estate tax threshold. What this means for you: If each of your parents gives you $13,000 this year and then wait until next year to give you the last $4000, there is absolutely no tax consequences on their part. More Info on Gift and Estate Taxes

Federal Student loans do report to the credit bureaus. If you pay them on time, every time, they will help your credit.

The FICO scores listed in my signature were from a mortgage application earlier this year. That's one of the few ways to get your Experian score.

If I were you I would take some of that money sitting in your savings and pay off the 10.99% APR card immediately. Keep the rest of your cash in the account. Then, take that $2000-$2500/month you have extra and put it toward the 0% offers that expire the soonest, paying the minimum toward the other cards. That would leave you about $7000 in your checking and you wouldn't be losing almost 8% on it (10.99-3.25). Doing this, would actually allow you to pay no interest on any of the accounts from her on out. In this payment schedule, I'm assuming a minimum monthly payment of 3% on the cards and $2200/month to pay towards your cards total. Your accounts you listed rearranged in order of pay off: $10,000 at 10.99% - Pay off immediately with savings $350 0% until February 2011 - Pay $350 in November $6,100 0% until April 2011 - Pay $1600 in Nov, $ 1950 in Dec - Jan, $600 in Feb $450 0% until July 2011 - Pay $15 in Nov - Jan, $405 in Feb $1,600 0% until September 2011 - Pay $50 in Nov - Jan, $1000 in Feb, $450 in Mar $6,700 0% until November 2011 - Pay $200 in Nov - Feb, $1750 in Mar, $2200 in Apr, Pay off in May That's 7 months and $10,000 out of your checking account. Another 5 months of saving that $2200 each month will bring your savings back to what it is now. That puts you out of debt, with no interest paid, and your savings right where it was before in one years time.

Private student loans have slightly different rules from federal student loans. There is no option to rehab them, so this loan can never be made whole until it is PIF. Your only option right now is to make a payment plan arrangement with Sallie Mae. Please note, just because you are making payments does not mean those payments will be reported as on-time. The second you defaulted on the loan, the entire balance came due immediately, making your minimum payment the entire balance. Private loan holders can and will sue and win nearly 100% of their cases. Once that happens, expect your wages to be garnished and bank accounts to be seized. Private student loan holders like to sue and are likely to win the suit. Even while making payments, they may go after you. Your only saving grace right now is the small balance of your loans. To make this look good on your CRs, you will have to pay it off and then wait 7 years. You have no other options at this point.

7 states have laws allowing an annual free credit report through each of the three major bureaus. States List

Direct Loans only deal with federal student loans. Private loans do not offer rehab, but federal loans do, so your friend is in luck. For rehab, you will need to deal directly with the agency holding the debt and everything will have to be done over the phone. To find out who holds your loan, you can log on to http://www.nslds.ed.gov/nslds_SA/ or call 1-800-4-FED-AID. Typical monthly rehab payments are 1% of the balance and no down payment is required, but some agencies will twist arms for cash up front. There is no SOL for collecting student loans, so they will never go away. Wages can be garnished for federal student loans without a judgment. Garnished wages cannot count toward rehab payments and a separate payment must be made, in addition to the garnishment, to satisfy the loan rehab.

When the house was paid for, through the sale, you were no longer delinquent. DOFD only applies to accounts that went into default. Defaulted tradelines can only stay for 7 years from DOFD. The late payments will begin to fall off, one by one, when they reach 7 years of age. Once they are all gone, you will have a positive 7+ year old account that can remain on your credit report for ten years (or more in some cases) from the date the account was closed. What this means - hope the lates fall off like they should and the tradeline sticks around. Neither of which are a certainty.

Just like with collection agencies, get off the phone and start writing. Talking to the property management company is not the same as talking to the HOA Board of Directors. If there isn't a dated letter in the hands of the HOA, they don't know about it. Attend the board meetings and bring the issue up. After each meeting you attend, write another letter to the Board outlining the issue. If they continue to ignore you after a couple of months, lawyer up and sue them.

Only one app this year so far and was approved. SECU MD Mortgage - $305k That's where my scores came from, too. Apps I'm thinking of in the next 6 months: (1) Any card with a 12-18 month 0% Promo rate for some large home improvements coming up - Have the cash, but using other people's money is better (2) Lowes/Home Depot card

Here's my timeline: April 13th - e-filed original 1040 to IRS - owed a little money, so no refund to wait for April 15th - closed on house April 25th (or so) - filed amended return for tax credit June 28th - received credit + interest (~$50) in the mail