Hello everyone,

I have student loans from two different lenders showing previous past dues and I was wondering it was possible to have them deleted or atleast updated to show a positive payment history because they are listed under the "adverse accounts" on my credit report meaning my credit score is being affected by this. Here is my situation.

Student Loan Corp: Loan is showing as refinanced, $0 balance, but reporting 3(60 days late) and 3(90 day late) with a maximum deliquency of 120 days.

Citibank:Student loan not in repayment, balance, reporting 2(30 day late), 2(60 day late) and 4(90 day late). Can I possibly disp CRA on this and hope they delete since the account is no longer opened.

Any comments or helpful advise would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Please do a search in this forum about disputing lates. Then you should make a decision from there.

If, after that, you have questions, please let us know.

I do apologize, I did view prevoious posts and pretty much found out what I needed to know at this point. Thanks!

No problem; there are many different ways this can play out. I feel you and anyone else should go into it with their eyes wide open. best of luck to you!

The advice from TxQuiltGirl is solid. This forum contains a rich history of people's experiences with doing exactly what you propose.

(Cliff note version) In general, the removal of student loan lates that are accurate is a challenging (perhaps impossible) endeavor. Goodwill is certainly a prerogative of many lenders in the financial services industry; however, loans issued and/or funded by the US Department of Education (this includes Sallie Mae loans) are regulated by legislation. This legislation protects borrowers from interest-rate jacking and unfair and discriminatory lending practices. It also mandates fair and accurate credit reporting of loans, precluding the amendment of accurate reporting that may have been done in the past. Clearly, this doesn't seem "fair" for people who have made bona-fide mistakes with student loans and are seeking to purchase real estate etc, but the principle to provide the public with loans for their education in an equitable way.

That being said, this notion is nuanced, as are most things in life. I may have a very similar experience as you, so I wanted to add a data point to this forum.

I have two student loans, graduate and undergraduate. One is a *private* loan known as CitiAssist (from STUDENT LOAN CORP as yours does) that is federally guaranteed but NOT a DOE loan. Thus, and for everyone's information, this loan has an interest rate cap of 16 (!!) percent. Needless to say, I regret ever taking this loan, and hope to repay it rapidly.

The other loan is a *federal* Direct Loan issued by the US Department of Education.

Due to irresponsibility and nothing else, I lost track of my repayment after grad school, resulting in a late payment history. Vowing to never do this again, I brought them up to date (as part of this, the lenders applied forebearances for the delinquent period) and enrolled in direct debit.

After some time, I was interested in removing the late notations on my credit reporting, one reason my presence on this forum exists today. I'd love to have maximum leverage when financing my first home!

I spoke with both lenders via telephone. By speaking with a telephone rep at Citibank regarding the CitiAssist loan, I was able to receive agreement that Citibank would update my reports to remove the reporting - they followed up with a letter acknowleding this. A few days later, the negative history was changed to "OK/Unknown" on all three major credit reports and has been a lasting and permanent change for almost one year.

I spoke with a woman at the Greenville, TX call center of NCS Pearson (the contractor who is, indeed, the "Direct Loan Servicing Center") who informed me that it was not possible for the US DOE to amend previously correct reporting on my Direct Loan. Next, I wrote a letter to the Credit Reporting folks at the DLSC who responded in writing with the same information.

Since that time, my credit reports have updated. For several months, my report from Experian, which previously had a lenghty history on my Direct Loan, has a completely positive history on this loan. My Equifax and Transunion reports have late notations for my Direct Loan (they are exactly the same). The Student Loan Corporation (Citibank) has a completely positive history for me. It appears both lenders update information with the credit reporting agencies monthly, except when I changed my payment due date with Direct Loans, when a month was skipped. This was consequently the month when Experian's reporting of my Direct Loan changed. I have never contacted the credit reporting agencies regarding my student loans.

Summary: the US DOE lenders have a legislated obligation to report accurately. Frustrating but true!

Sorry for my long post. This forum is an invaluable resource for understanding one's student loans. There are many here who have far more knowledge and experience than me. Just one data point.

Best of luck!!!