This happened to me on two my reports almost a year ago. EX is the only CRA who's still reporting them, correctly I might add (Account legally paid in full for less than the full balance.) I really want to dispute with EX but I'm scared to death that them investigating with the DOE will cause the SLs to reappear on TU/EQ.

If you dispute, CB contacts DE and DE will verify. They may verify with Equifax, Trans Union, and Innovis as well. Sometimes it's best to let sleeping dogs lie.

Ya know, I was going to include that idiom in my post , along with 'Don't awaken a sleeping giant'. What I'm really puzzled about is: if it's reporting correctly on EX, why were they dropped off of the other two. All of the agencies must've gotten the same information from the DOE.

Update:

Approximately two years after I settled (March 06), my defaulted loan is now gone from EX. Don't know why, but Yippiekayea Mr. Falcon. And right before I start apartment hunting too If only this judgment would disappear, I'd have a flawless credit report.

Thank you Cynic, if you're still around.

That's great! Congrats! Thanks for the update!

Do you know why it dropped off? I'd really like to know. Did the DOE take back the loan from the guarantor seven years ago?

It wasn't a Perkins loan, was it?

I settled some of my loans, too, with the DOE last year. They were Stafford loans. Because the loans had already been in default and with the DOE for more than seven years, they were no longer reporting and continued to not report after I settled them. But I also paid off in full a long-defaulted Perkins to the school--that one suddenly started reporting again on EX as a paid but derogatory line when I paid it in full, including collection costs. I am waiting for more information about what old student loan info CRAs can and can't report, and for how long, before I try to have it removed. I too want to avoid having a derogatory show up on the other two CRAs.

Thanks again for the update!

I have no clue why it dropped off, and the loan was spread over three separate TLs (with with a different acct #) so I doubt they were accidentally removed. All I know was contacted by Pioneer Credit Recovery and set the whole thing up as a settlement. Shortly after the settlement agreement and learning about rehab, I called PCR to see if I could cancel the settlement and go into the rehab program. Was told that this wasn't possible; the settlement was already complete . But alas, two years later they're all gone. So unless you're planning to make a big purchase requiring a loan any time soon, I'd wait a while before disputing.

Also, after googling Pioneer Credit Recovery I noticed they're affiliated with SallieMae, so that may have been the loan I got. Can't remember for sure as it was 10 years ago that I got the loan and the settlement papers only mention the DOE.