Today I wake up to a 56 pt. drop on my EQ fico score, so I pull a report from Credit Secure. Nothing wrong, no lates, nothing. I read the remarks from my consolidated student loan, and it reads:

"ARRANGEMENT MADE WITH CREDIT GRANTOR TO MAKE PARTIAL PAYMENTS STUDENT LOAN".

Wtf? I've never made partial payments on my student loan. I did change my plan from to "Grad Choice 4" or something like that last year, which lowers my payment at first then gradually raises it instead of a set amount. I called Sallie Mae today and the csr said it was because I'm making a lower payment last year, and the credit bureaus check their records, and to dispute with them. I'm like that's insane why would I lower my payment to take the hit on my credit report? If that's the case, I'll change it back.

So, is sallie mae in the right in reporting it like that? I don't see how that could possibly be since grads might pay less when they first graduate then more as they gain experience in their field.

I just came to this board for the exact same reason! All payments made on time, but my score dropped because I'm paying based on my salary now. Any advice from the experts would be greatly appreciated!

I'll be sending Sallie Mae a nicely worded letter CMRRR first thing tomorrow. If they're going to penalize me then they can just change it back to the way it was.

Another poster got the same thing. Have you made any changes to your repayment schedule recently? That's the only thing I can think of.

http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=335722

I got THE SAME thing. 103 points down! I had 713 EQ (my lowest score by far of the 3) now at 610!

Sallie Mae is pulling a fast one. There will be hell to pay... assuming that I can get through to someone who's not in India. I'm calling again...

I just contacted the Customer Advocate Unit.

The person there stated that they just had some new rules go into effect that allow them to report differently.

Looking at my loans, I have 'Grad Choice 2' on my federal loans, which is a few dollars less or something. Since my parents did the original loans I never even chose to do this. In fact, I've been making larger payments than the amount due anyway. Person says she'll get back to me in a week.

I will be fighting this. I don't have a problem with switching to the regular payment plan, but this doesn't seem right. I'm imagine not all of you have the same luxury...

yeah, I've had 'Grad Choice 4" since October. Had I known they were going to do this I would have left it alone.

I had a 50 point drop today as well as my husband. I called Sallie Mae and spoke with a CSR who put me on with his supervisor. She apologized before I even explained the problem and said they are trying to resolve it ASAP. She told me she had many people calling and the problem with reporting should be resolved soon.

What the hell kind of new rule could allow the entire balance on a current account to be reported as past due.

I think the consensus here is that this is an error. I called just when this problem started hitting and the rep hadn't heard about it. I believe people that have called since then have gotten more of an acknowledgement that it is an error. myfico told me it was an error and they are working with SM on it.

My plan is is to give them a week to sort things out and get my call-backs. If there's no update by then, I will start calling again and do whatever is necessary.

I just spoke to Molly in the Consumer Advocate Group. As was mentioned in another thread, this was supposedly an "unintended consequence" (if you believe that, I have some beachfront property in AZ to sell you). She didn't even know if it was going to be fixed, nevermind when. She did tell me that EQ was consulted before they started the new reporting. I find it hard to believe EQ didn't know this would turn out badly.

This sucks. I've been working SO hard to get my credit report together! The ironic thing is that even when I was practically starving, I have never missed a solitary loan payment in almost 5 years. In fact, because I consolidated in 2003 and the interest rates were so low AND I've had auto-debit AND made all my payments on time, my interest rate is now only 1.75%. Which would be awesome, except for the fact that now my score is tanked.

According to Equifax, I have over 76K deliquent. The 76 is right. The deliquent is b.s. and my interest rate proves it, I wouldn't have it if I was. I went on to Sallie Mae, and if I were to go to standard, my payments would double. First of all, with my interest rate *WHY* would I do that? Secondly, there is no way for me to do that-- pay over $600/month? and I'm currently supporting someone else through school (w/sallie mae loans btw... in fact I just called them today about co-signing something for him... how dare they not be overwhelmed! how dare they even be able to answer my call!).

The irony is that unlike many people who have posted here I never changed my repayment terms. They are the same ones as I chose when I consolidated. And I consolidated before I'd made or had due even a single payment. So, no people it's not just the Grad payment plans... I chose something called max2 (over 30 years, I think) almost 5 years ago (because my balance was so huge, I was *very* poor, AND the interest rates were so low that why pay more faster when I can get better interest putting that money in a regular savings account?) Looks like *anything* not standard re-payment is on the block.

What I don't understand is how they can do this?

Can you imagine Amex offering it's customers a choice for 60 days to pay full balance instead of 30 days (which some amex cards do) and then you signing up for it, and then them noting that you had negotiated to pay partially, thereby resulting in a 30 day late?

Can you imagine your car loan people offering you to skip a payment during the holidays (which my BF's did recently) and then taking advantage of it, and then them reporting that you negotiated partial payment or were late?

Why in the world is Sallie Mae somehow now reporting like they are a credit card rather than a loan? Loan terms are loan terms, are they not? It's not like we're not *paying* to pay slower.... paying slower means more interest. How can something be deliquent if I have a payment booklet that says differently? How have any of us arranged to make partial payments when those payments are *actively advertised* as options. I mean, it's not like Sallie Mae is some credit counseling service! It's not like some negotiation happened. By their definition of 'arranged' ALL loans should be marked, not just everything but standard.

Can you imagine the uproar if all of those "interest only for the first x years" mortgage loans suddenly got reported as 'arrangements' and tanked scores?

The sad thing is that reason I logged on and got a new report was because I'm dealing with getting a tax lien withdrawn. It's actually been withdrawn, and I busted my butt to do it. Now I just have to get the CRA's to report it that way. The letters and County recorder copies are going out tomorrow. I thought this was going to be the huge mountain I was going to have to climb (since I know withdrawals are few and far between), and I thought I'd climbed it.

Now, I find out that if this reporting spreads to all the CRA's at best I'll come out only a bit better than even. And only after the month I'm sure it will take them to update. And then, only if they do.

What I can say is I'm SOOOOOO glad I know about credit boards, and although I'm sorry for us all, I'm glad to not be tackling this one alone! There is power in numbers!

It looks like this has been fixed. If you do a search on Google for "sallie mae error" and look at the bankrate article, it explains it.

That statement might be technically accurate, but it is definitely misleading. A good chunk of those borrowers, like my son, are still in school and are not required to make payments.