Okay, I'd never really noticed this before (yes, I know I should have looked harder before, but I just saw WAY too many student loan TLs and just sort of stopped looking closely!!), but my SLs are reporting strangely on TU and EQ and I’m not sure if it’s just the way it’s done or if it’s wrong on those two. I have 9 SLs reporting on each from the USDOE, which is fine – they all add up to the same amount on all three, about $51,000, which is about what I borrowed (or at least I’m assuming they do on EQ – it shows all zeros since it was paid). Then, on TU and EQ there is an extra TL, for “Direct Loans” as opposed to the others which are from “USDOE”. The amount shown on TU (again, EQ is zeroed out on everything that has been paid) is just over $66,000. It shows that it was opened at the same time as my first DOE TL (which was when I started school) and has a COMPLETELY different account payment history. EQ says that the Direct Loans line was 90 days past due as of 3/2000 and TU says that the Direct Loans line is due to fall off as of 12/2007. For the USDOE lines, it says that they were 120 days past due as of Sept of 2002 and TU says that those lines are all due to fall off as of 8/2009. Huh?? I’m pretty sure that I filed for a deferment in late 2000/early 2001 (sorry for the vagueness – all part of the reason for the default!!), which would explain why the DOE lines don’t show 120 days until 2002, but then why wouldn’t that also show on the Direct Loans line, too (it’s got WAY more lates)?

So, my question is – where did this Direct Loans line come from on those two reports (EX only shows the 9 USDOE lines) and why is its history and date of default/time due to fall off (i.e., time since it went negative) SO different? If you combine that with the USDOE lines, the total is over double what I borrowed and even almost 50% more than what I owed when the CA called me initially. Since it’s due to fall off 2 years earlier, I’d like that to be the one that stays, obviously, but I’m just completely lost about what it even is in the first place.

FYI, the only loans I took out were USDOE Direct Loans.

Thanks for any help anyone has and I apologize for the rambling!!!

zig - is there some kind of "Weirdest Student Loan Question Ever" contest tonight?... LOL

Boy, now you've posted a puzzler. I'm going to have to puzz and puzz and puzzle some more to try to figure it out.

One question - were all of your DOE loans the same type? That is - all subsidized, unsubsidized, whatever? The reason I ask is that I have 2 extra SL tradelines on my EX report that aren't on any other (coz I disputed those suckers off). And they match up with my unsubsidized loans. I think what happened is that after I defaulted and pulled the ole head-in-the-sand maneuver, the loans got passed around, then ended up back where they started. Not sure if that makes sense, but honestly, when you start out with 25-35 neg tradlines, you do get lost after a while... LOL

Well let's see who might have a solution to this brain-teaser.

FYI, the Direct Loan line shows that it was opened in 1995 (when I started school), then the first USDOE lines show they were opened in 1995, then progress over the next 2 years as I continued in school. I thought at first that maybe Direct Loans "returned" the loans to the USDOE when it defaulted, but then that didn't explain the different histories and that the Direct Loan line is MORE than the USDOE lines (never heard of anyone getting 20% of their loan forgiven when it defaults!) and, anyway, if that was the case, then the amount when up almost 100% in the next 1 1/2 years when the CA contacted me, which, while I know there are a lot of fees and interest, I think that might be a little extreme!

Thanks!!

self-serving *bump*

My "Direct Loan" status was the total of my 3 DOE education loans. It listed as 0 the amount though. The DOE lady rep I spoke to told me it was just like my account manager number much like my credit union uses my social security number as the master number to access my savings acct number and checking acct number. It's timeline was wayy different than my other 3 until after my upteenth dispute they are now relatively close.