I just checked PG and my equifax score went down a few points.

I discharged my ch13 in Dec. and yesterday pg reported that my federal sallie mae student loan was included in ch 13. Now, today it says this:

SALLIE MAE-FFELP
Account Number: 2XXXX
Acct Type: Installment
Acct Status: Closed
Monthly Payment: $64
Date Open: Feb, 2002
Balance: $0
Terms: N/A
High Balance: $6,010
Limit: N/A
Past Due: $0
Remarks: N/A
Payment Status: Bad debt& placed for collection& skip

Yesterday under Payment Status it said Making regular payments under W.E.P.

of course I am not making regular payments and have not been since before my Ch. 13 began over 2 yrs ago.

Now I am wondering if they are going to start calling me to collect? Also, I want to buy a house in a year and a half and I wonder if I should go ahead and try to rehabilitate the loan? I have read on this board that the bad info goes away in 12 months? I CAN afford to make payments now. SHOULD I call them BEFORE they call me? If yes, then what do I say to make sure I get this removed from my report in 12 months without getting tricked? And, if I agree to pay them a monthly sum does it matter if it's a small or large amount? Also are there fees and how much are they? Will they be higher if I make lower payments. I could conceivable pay $500 a month ($500 x 12 = $6000 which is the total it says I owe) but I wonder if it will help to lower costs in some way?

I don't want to make a mistake and pay them only to have my credit further messed up.

I never even finished the class I was taking but I suppose that doesn't matter now, as it's been a few years.

Please someone with knowledge about this, HELP!

Also since I have not paid the loans in a couple years does this mean they are deifnatly eligible for rehab? Or can I just begin making payments again? I never hear from them, and haven't moved. After reading on this board I am convinced they will try to collect from me eventually, and that if I wait longer the interest will keep piling up.

bumping up....I really need advice on this!

cattthy,

It is the weekend and it gets a little slow around here and with it being a holiday weekend it may be a little slower.

Have a little patience and some one that can help you will.

Sorry I dont have a clue just dont want you to get frustrated.

Have a great weekend.

bump again

Catthy

It probably wouldn't hurt to contact Sallie Mae and speak with them. Usually while you are in BK, your loans are automatically placed into forbearance but I would suggest checking on that. If they have been in forbearance for the past 2 yrs, then it is highly unlikely that they could have gone into default. You may also want to check the Ombudsman's Office, their website is: http://www.fsahelp.ed.gov/ombudsman/resour...whatis_faq.html

There is alot of information available there including information about student loans and bankruptcy. Even if they are not able to help you directly and your loans are in default, they can at least steer you in the right direction and act as an advocat on your behalf.


fla-tan

catthy

If the loans are in default, they are accrueing interest at 18.5%, so you are correct to try to get this resolved as quickly as possible.


fla-tan

thanks! I already tried to call sallie but of course they are closed on Saturdays so I will try again first thing Tuesday after the holiday.

And they said the balance is 0 and "You don't owe anything...they've been charged off." I asked if they are federal or private and the lady replied private! I asked for a letter confirming this and she is sending me one. She also gave me another number to call for that division but I didn't call because I want to wait to get the letter first. I had included this private student loan debt in my bk 13 but they didn't respond so it never got paid. So I am assuming I don't owe them anything and they can't charge the debt off on my credit report. Just like any other debt that I included in my ch13 that was NOT responded to by the creditors. Isn't this right? ? :?:

bump

catthy

Private student loans are not treated any different by the courts than any other installment debt. They are not covered by the Higher Education Act and are not protected from discharge in a bankruptcy.


fla-tan

You haven't paid your student loans in years, but now you bump your own post daily. Get your priorities straight. :shock:

Show the patience you have in paying back your loan to this forum.

wow, mj, that was pretty harsh.

I think you should WRITE to Sallie Mae and offer to rehabilitate. If you just pay them off, the collection notation will stay. If you rehab, it will go. You don't want to see that when you're gonna buy a house.

Good Luck.

mj

The purpose of this forum is to help and to educate, not to be judgemental. There are other forums on other boards where judgemental types are welcome. This is not one of them.


fla-tan

I'm confused here...

I was under the perception that a private student loan would never be picked up or sent to Sallie Mae to collect because it's not backed by the fed'l gov't?

But Sallie Mae does grant student loans. They can collect on them, just not backed by the gov't. It's just like when they loan money for a house. They can forclose and get a deficiency on the house if you fail to pay the mortgage. Banks are in the business to make money, and they will definately make money on loans when you default.

Why would she pay something she isn't legally liable for????? If it was discharged in BK, she has no personal liability and attempting to collect is a violation of the BK Code.

Sassy

Sallie Mae services all major types of Student Loans. They service Stafford Loans, Perkins Loans and Private Student Loans.


fla-tan

:roll:
:puke:
Let me get this straight! Instead of bailing out on my creditors, I did the right thing: I filed chapter 13, paid ALL my debts, plus attorneys and court fees, back at 100% (in HALF the time allotted by the courts with ALL the money from my second job and ALL my extra COMMISSION and BONUSES at my full time job, I might add). I TRIED to do the RIGHT thing by including SALLIE MAE in the bankrupcy and LISTING THEM AS ONE OF MY CREDITORS. They, in turn, FAILED to respond, which they LEGALLY had the obligation to do (as a private loan) in order to be paid back. IF it is the case, that private student loans can be included in bankrupcy like any other loan then what YOU, my dear ignoranus, have just implied is that anyone who files a chapter 13 at 100%, and includes private creditors who don't respond in their bankrupcy, must pay the creditors at a later date?

Or are you saying that there shouldn't BE chapter 13 bankrupcy at all, and that when a person falls on hard times, due to medical or legal bills for example, they should just have no options other than to go live on the street?

Heeeelllllllo? Anybody home in that little brain of yours, mjhaston? :?:

And BTW, you have WAAAYY too much time on your hands to be making negative, untrue comments about MY questions. GET A LIFE, SWEETHEART!

:bike:

bump...wouldn't want anyone who needs to see it to miss this post!

"Section 523(a)(8) of the US Bankruptcy Code, at 11 U.S.C., excepts from discharge debts "for an educational benefit overpayment or loan made, insured or guaranteed by a governmental unit, or made under any program funded in whole or in part by a governmental unit or nonprofit institution, or for an obligation to repay funds received as an educational benefit, scholarship or stipend, unless excepting such debt from discharge under this paragraph will impose an undue hardship on the debtor and the debtor's dependents".

For the purpose of this paragraph, the definition of of a qualifying education loan includes loans made solely to pay the higher education expenses of an eligible student, where the student is either the debtor, the spouse of the debtor, or the dependent of the debtor. In addition, the loans must be for study at a school that is eligible to participate in Title IV programs and where the student is enrolled at least half time. Loans that don't meet this definition, such as credit card debt, are still dischargeable even if they were used to pay for higher education expenses.

Thus FFELP and FDSLP loans, and education loans funded by private NONPROFIT organizations, are automatically nondischargeable in a bankruptcy proceeding."

Dear Ms. Siler:

Thank you for contacting the Office of the Ombudsman. You had
questions
about an educational loan financed by Sallie Mae.

fla-tan,

I emailed ombudsman about my situation and got this reply:

Regrettably, we have no authority to intervene in a private loan
matter.
Thus, we are unable to help you with this situation.

For further information about this loan, please call Sallie Mae
Corporate
Borrower Services at (888) 545-4199 and talk with a representative.

Sincerely,

Thad Bartkowiak
Ombudsman Specialist

Interesting.... :idea:

catthy

That would be correct. When I originally suggested that you contact the ombudsman's office, I was not aware that the loans were not federally guaranteed. The ombudsman's office only deals with federally guaranteed student loans.


fla-tan

He deals in bk law and has for over 30 years. I did not want him to know it was me as this could cause family issues so I said it was a friend at work. Here is his response:

I'll try to explain this in general terms to you for your information, as I am prohibited by law from giving legal advice to someone if they are represented in the matter by another lawyer. Therefore you friend in BR needs to contact the lawyer who handled the case for her if she wants a legal opinion on the matter as I can not advise her. However I will explain it to YOU in general terms as a hypothetical situation. (This is lawyer talk I'm trained to say so I can help you to understand the matter without breaking any rules or laws). You should tell your friend to consult with her BR attorney for legal advice in the matter.

Anyway, in the hypothetical situation you described, I would say that you are correct that the loan doesn't have to be repaid. It gets very complicated, but it's something I've seen many times. The "someone else at my work" statement that "ALL sallie mae student loans are exempt from bankruptcy laws" is not correct because nothing is ever that simple in the bankruptcy code. There are just to many "qualifying" rules and definitions, as well as exceptions to such laws, to be able to say that. That is why only qualified lawyers should give legal advice as non lawyer "legal advisers" usually give advise based on something they read or heard in another situation and they wrongfully assume that it applies to all situations. I know you are way to smart to do this (after all you got at half your brain DNA from me and that alone should be enough to make you a boni fide genius!).
My best "guess" in the situation you described is that your friend won't have to pay the loan back but in order to express a legal opinion on it I would have to look at all of the paperwork involved including the original loan documents and the BR file. Your friends BR Attorney should have and probably did do this when he prepared her original petition. I say this because you indicated that the loan was "written off" which I take to mean no one is trying to collect it any more. I suspect what happened is that the lender failed to file a proper "proof of claim" form within the time allowed and probably assumed an exception to the exemption rule kicked in and the debt was therefore included. This assumption is not usually a correct one, but I see I see it happen all the time. Of course, since it resulted in their "writing off" the debt, your friend got lucky. In other words, the lender probably could have filed to lift the BR stay and proceeded with action against the borrower to collect the loan but someone didn't do their job right resulting in a lucky break for your friend. If anyone representing the lender contacts your friend trying to collect the loan they should be referred to the Debtors BR lawyer and he should deal with it. Otherwise, no news is good news.

I emailed him a couple other questions about it staying on the credit report past 7 years and when he emails back I will post it. Who knows, maybe someone else having the same problem will see this and be helped by this info.

Some of us, me included, have been in the same boat as this person and you know who's fault/responsibility it was .... OURS. I was mainly asking that she calm down. I mean it's simple net-equitte that you don't bump your own post, especially many times. Years have past on the load, but all of the sudden a single hour can't pass without a response?

Good luck. I hope it all works out for you.

Maybe it was YOUR fault. But every situation is different. I had my pay illegaly withheld from me from my former company who were CROOKS and then was sued by them after I left. I had done nothing wrong, yet they were trying to make an example of me and the other four people who left by bringing a frivolous lawsuit against us all. I had NO credit card debt because I'd been living off Raemon noodles and buying clothes from Goodwill for the past several months. I was behind on my mortgage and car payment (an old Nissan model, by the way) several months because they didn't pay me what they had promised, and kept saying they would give me the money, stringing things along. I got a second job working at night while I looked for another full time job, while keeping the old job until the day I found a new one. Now how is all that my fault? They lost the lawsuit, after I paid my expensive attorneys fees. I finally got SOME of the money they owed me back, after I'd already declared ch13.

Why is it any of your business if I "calm down" as you so eloquently put it? Why should I be calm when someone is trying to illegally say I owe SIX THOUSAND DOLLARS?? :roll:

And what if I do bump my post a couple of times? So I am assertive in trying to find answers. That's more than I can say for many people we've all known, I'm sure, who don't even try. Maybe instead of insulting me you should be insulting the people who don't even bother to try doing the right thing, who rely on handouts from their friends and family or the government.

I'll pay back every penny I legally owe, and I am 100 percent sure this is the right thing to do. I won't pay back money I don't legally owe.