DH had an old student loan from when he was away at college in 1993. He never paid for it and we were never contacted about it (nor were there any letters to his mom's address - which hasn't changed since he went to college). We were never in to checking our credit or anything when we first got our mortgage, or even when we refinanced out house in 2002. I believe I found this board shortly after that.
Anyway - a condition of our refinance was that we had to pay off that loan, so we paid them what was showing on the credit report. It turns out that there were some late fees associated with this or something as well. I'm not sure what kind of loan this was, but I know that it belongs to the school. It is no longer on his credit report.
My delemma is that he is planning on going back to school in the fall - and using financial aid. Will he be able to get financial aid with this out there? They won't release his transcripts b/c of it - but it is only 3 credits - so I'm not too worried about that. I don't really think we should pay it, especially since noone has ever tried to contact us about it, and we paid them what was shown on the credit reports.
I'd appreciate any feedback.

Your mortgage company should have known better than to pay off an amount on the CR...there is always interest and fees accruing on these types of accounts.

Did he use his moms address in college or a seperate school address?? (You said he was "away" at college.) Did he use a dorm adress?? Mail would have been sent to the address on record for the 1st year or so. If he didnt change the address with the school, they dont necessarily go looking for him. Either way he will need to pay it off.

Also school loans can got to tax seizure. If this is a Perkins loan he will be denied finacial aid.

I'm pretty sure that he never used his school address. When we requested his transcripts - they sent the letter to his mom's address - even though we listed our address on the form. We never got anything at our address. What if she hadn't lived there any more?

They haven't tried to do anything since at least we've been married which was in 2000. He wasn't the best with things before I met him, so I don't know if he had gotten anything before then though.

I just would have though that they would have sent something after we paid off what we did - I believe that a receipt of payment would have even been good.

Also - since they won't communicate with us at our address I don't know how to get much information. His mom is known for losing mail for months at a time!

When a payment is sent in, it going to an accounting department. Due to the volumn coming in, they dont check addresses, just account numbers. Payment is applied to the account. Receipts are a thing of the past since your cancelled check is considered your receipt.

Can you find out what type of loan it is?? Calling the school directly is probably the easiest way.