Hi, all. I'm a long time lurker first time poster. I have quite a few stafford loans guaranteed by the government, and they are all defaulted (and reported seperately on my credit report, tanking it obviously). This has been the situation for quite some time... most of these loans defaulted in late 1998, meaning theyre gettiung ready to expire on my credit report. It is a matter I intend to take care of . Im doing pretty well financially now for the first time in a long time, and i want to try to rehabilitate my crappy credit.

So i get a call from 800-829-7204 which i googled afterwards and which seems to be attached to a pretty shady collection agency called Regional Adjustment Bureau (do a google search on the number for more info but exactly the kind of thing you see from shady collection agencies)

Contrary to what people say about the number on the internet, the guy i talked to was reasonably curteous. He told me i could consolidate my defaulted loans and resume payments on them and they would show positive on my credit report. He asked to send me a form i could fill out to consolidate and i agreed. I realized post factum that he never mentioned specifically who he was calling on behalf of.

a few days later, i get a cover letter + two pages (3 and 4 out of 9) of a promissary note(this one). The cover letter says i can contact them at loan_consolidation@mail.eds.com, that their website is loanconsolidation.ed.gov that their number is 800-557-7392 and that their address is:

US dept of education
consolidation dept
box 242800
lousville ky, 40224

So im trying to figure out if these people are legit, and if they can really do what theyre saying they can do (because afaik you cant cosolidate defaulted loans).


Im also wondering if this sort of thing is a good idea strictly from a credit prespective. Right now i have like 4 positive credit lines on my credit reports, 2 negatives and like 20 negative student loans that expire in november and december. WIll i benefit more from just letting the clock run out on these loans or, if consolidation is a possibility wil that benefit me more (or would they have an approximately equal effect)

I recognize that i have to take care of these loans eventually, but im literally at the first time in my life where im starting to get myself together financially and i cant afford to take a hit just to stand on principle

Student loan collectors as a general rule area different breed of collectors. DOE collectors in particular are expected to maintain a certain level of courtesy and intelligence. The DOE contracts are extremely lucrative to the agencies that win them and they are graded on production, collection and complaints....or lack of them.

For DOE accounts, rehab has 2 benefits....tradeline deletion AND collection cost waiver. So in your case, you would end up saving some $$ by rehabbing.

Consolidation...defaulted student loans have always been eligible for consolidation. I was consolidating them in the early 90's when I was a student loan collector. Plus it is right on the Direct Loan Consolidation web page....always has been.

RAB as far as I know has been a DOE collection vendor...this is also on the DOE website.

I agree that rehabbing is probably a better approach so that you can get a lot of your collection costs waived. Once rehab is complete, you can consolidate and reduce the number of loans and make fewer monthly payments.