Have been battling what appears on my credit report to be a duplicate listing for a student loan from 1999 (date of last activity was 2001)....
Have been dealing with DOE and they settled (Nov 2005) on a reduced amount for my defaulted loan through a National Payment Center, which I think is a collection agency. Anyway, I called them and asked about the double listing and they said the other listing is with Direct Loans who I originally had gone through and then I guess when it defaulted it went back to DOE? DOE said they will report it as paid but won't remove any derogatory info but that I should call Direct Loans because they should clear the debt. I called Direct Loans and they said that it will not clear it from my credit report and I am getting them to send me a letter of their intent. It actually is showing that I have a loan with each of them for close to the same amount. Is this correct and if not what is the best way to attack this one and how much is it really hurting my report?

Listed like this on Experian:

US Dept of ED/FISL/ATL, Iowa City
date opened Aug 1999
reported since Nov 2005
Date of status Aug 2003
Last reported Nov 2005
Credit limit or orig. amount $5025
Recent balance NA
(has status as petition for chapter 13 which is incorrect)

US Dept of Education, Utica NY
Date opened Aug 1999
reported since Sep 1999
Date of status Oct 2005
last reported Nov 2005
credit limit or orig amount $5161
Recent balance $0 as of Nov 2005
(status 180 days late, claim filed with governemtn/collection account)

It is reporting correctly. You defaulted on the SL, so it was turned over for collection. There is a TL for the original loan and another for the guarantor loan.

It will drop off your report at seven years past the DOLA.

Thanks, I guess I can be done with that for now. Would the DOLA be the date I paid or the date they started counting me late?

For the original loan, it will be the date that the lender turned it over to the guarantor and the claim was paid. For the guarantor's TL, it would be the last time anything happened - in this case, when they paid the claim.

You should look into rehab.

Rehab is for an outstanding balance isn't it? I paid it. So I guess if it is reporting twice, it should show up paid twice

Just an FYI - National Payment Center is DOE's internal collections office.