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Good evening and happy holidays to all - My federal student loan went into default and I started getting garnished in Feb. 2014. The loans report as 4-6 separate line items on my credit that are bad debts. Since I am essentially paying the loan monthly, shouldn't the collector (DOF sold the account) be reporting the payments to the collection agency? Right now, it's still listed as simply bad debt. Thanks for any help or guidance you can provide.

I am so happy I found this board. Background - I am 27 years old, I live in the USA (midwest), and I have suffered from severe depression for most of my life which hit particularly hard in my early 20s. During my 20s I screwed my credit up royally. Suffering from depression and anxiety, I just never paid bills (credit cards, loans, etc) and have let my debt rack up to the point where I have creditors calling my cell phone and my parent's house daily and I receive mail that I just throw away because I already know it's a debt collection letter. I have about $40K in student loans and I never graduated. I am 4 classes away from finishing college but I stopped attending in 2011 because I couldn't afford it and without a college degree, I have not been able to find a job that pays more than $40K a year. I have been unemployed on and off due to my depression but I thankfully found a stable salaried Executive Assistant job in October that pays $38K with benefits so I can start getting help with my mental illness. Anyway, I didn't pay my federal student loans and now they have been in default since 2012. I have about $7K in credit card bills that have gone into collections, about $1K in medical debt that is also in collections, and a few other blemishes on my credit score. Last time I checked my credit score it was below 500 and I'm sure it's even lower now. I am thinking of filing for bankruptcy because I am drowning and I don't know where to start. I barely make enough money to survive on my own let alone pay down this massive debt but I need to try. I want to finish college and get my degree - first and foremost but I owe my school about $2500 before I can even re-enroll and then I probably don't qualify for student loans because I'm in default. I am trying to move out of my parents home but I can't get qualified for an apartment because of my credit score and poor financial history. I don't have any assets and I can't get any type of loan because of my credit. My car is probably one month away from breaking down and I desperately need to get another car (used of course) but can't qualify for anything but shady super high interest auto loans. Over the summer I tried to commit suicide because of my debt issues but was unsuccessful. The stress in my life is so enormous I just don't know how or where to start to even fix this. Any tips are much appreciated. I am currently reading through all the newbie threads but I also wanted to make this thread. I have never told anyone but my parents about my debt issues and it feels oddly cathartic to finally type out all of my problems. My friends and extended family all think I graduated (I did the ceremony because I only had 4 classes left and my college adviser assumed I would finish over the summer) and have a great job and live this great life but I am just living a life. I am 27 and will be 28 in August 2015 and I just want to end my 20's and enter my 30's without this terrible burden.

Hello all, This is my very first post on any forum anywhere! I just turned 30 on Monday and this is what I'm doing now, lurking and posting on credit forums. LOL! I have terrible credit. My EX reports 5 baddies and 0 positives. My FICO is in the high 520's. I am still yet to pull other CRA reports. I am very excited about embarking on this journey to fix my credit. I have a defaulted SL. Last year I had my tax return intercepted and now its time to face the music. I have a few questions before I arrange payment. The owed amount is around $2500 I don't have an exact amount yet because different places are reporting different numbers. I'm looking to build some positive TL on my report, what is my best course of action? 1)Pay debt in full? Will that count as rehab or settled? Since it is with an CA will that effect what the Dept of Treas is reporting? 2) Rehab the loan, and pay in full before the loan is sold? (To minimize fees) 3) Rehab the loan and take my lumps (18.9% APR, 16% CF) then service the debt to increase positive reporting while using my extra money to build credit through other means? I make <20K a year so there is not much to go around as of now. I am in no rush to buy a house or car but definitely would love to do so in a year or 2 (or 3). Any responses would be appreciated. Peace, T

Hi all, I'm 24 years old with student loan debt. I've got $20,000 worth of loans consolidated and another $17,000 of private loans from Sallie Mae that have gone into default as of July 31st. The debt collector has offered me a settlement of $9,600 but at the moment I cannot pay this. I have finally landed my first professional job where I'll be making $48,000 annually. However, I cannot pay the $9,600 at the moment and by the time I can save up that amount working it will be too late. My credit score is so bad from missing all of my payments that obtaining a line of credit to pay off the defaulted loan is next to impossible. I am trying to gather all of my options and have considered filling chapter 13 bankruptcy. If anyone could give me some advice on the situation I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you, Kyle

A collections agency contacted me about a forgotten student loan then went into default. I have also asked them for information on the account. I acknowledge the debt, but I have questions about dealing with the collections agency: 1) Is it possible to negotiate a lump sum payment for less than the full amount? If so, how can I go about doing this? What % of the amount owed should I be willing to settle immediately? 2) I don't have the entire amount available, but I am interested in avoiding having to make monthly payments with additional interest if possible. However, if I have to, how do people usually negotiate monthly payments with a CA? I don't have property, nor wages that they would be able to garnish. I'm not particularly concerned about the current bad credit, since it will be off before I will be interested in any additional financing. 3) Under these circumstances, would any sort of rehabilitation program be worth it for me? Any information on how to handle this situation would be helpful!

My Student Loans are in Default now for almost 6.5 years, my last payment was in 2008 and they went into default and now The original loans which were from Nelnet/Wells Fargo sold to ECMC who has hired some collection agency they keeps calling me, I have no income, no job nothing and cant pay anything but theyre saying that they will sign me up for the William D Ford program and I wont have any payments, it goes off my tax returns and if i dont file tax returns all I have to do is sign a paper that says im not working every 12 months and will never have a payment, sounds too good to be true and these guys sound like a bunch of liars, not only that but they sent me out a package and it hasnt even goten here yet and theyve called everyday since monday and todays friday (still not here) 1. Does any of this sound right? 2. Are these loans Federal or Private? 3. And do they fall under SOL's? Thanks for your Help, Im really trying to figure this thing out, but these people are almost off my credit report and i dont want them restarting their 7 years again, im very worried about that, and not only that but ECMC has reaged the account and they started 7 years from when they got the account and not when i first defaulted so ECMC is trying to stay on my credit report 9 months longer than the original loans from nelnet, so they cant be that honest? Any help is greater appreciated!

Does anyone know if defaulting on a contract to build a new house affects your credit rating? We had signed a purchase agreement on a new house but the workmanship on the house has been really bad and it failed an independent pre-drywall home inspection, the builder is refusing to fix issues, so we are thinking of walking away and defaulting on our contract to buy the house. But I was worried this would impact our credit.

Hello all! This is my first post I have South Carolina Student Loans that were in default. My state income tax refund this year paid them off entirely. What can I do to have some of the negative information reporting on my credit updated to show this was paid in full? I'm worried it will not update because it was paid through tax garnishment. Does anyone have information or experience in this regard?

Hi, Im still in school and my student loans- Which Originated with Wells fargo and has been transferred serveral times- Are currently listed with PAST DUE 90 days!! HOW CAN THIS BE? I need assistance on how to effectiviely dispute these past due items because they're having a negative effect on my scores. HELP

I think I got the title wrong but I don't know how to edit it, it should read: First day of default being reported as first day of delinquency I have 3 loans with Department of Education, originally they were Direct Loans in 2007, now they are called Direct Stafford Subsidized. I have consolidated them last year, they show "paid collection" as of now. Also, these 3 loans share the same first day of delinquency since I never paid for them once they got out of forbearance initially (other than through tax offset). Now, the problem with the first day of delinquency. I am waiting for these loans to fall off this year and I found an error that will prolong them further than they must stay on. When I go to the nslds.ed.gov to view my loans, even the past paid ones, I can see detailed info of each loan. The details say REPAYMENT started on 7/2007 and then DEFAULTED 5/2008. However, on all credit reports it says that first day of delinquency is 5/2008. Correct me if I am wrong, but first day of delinquency is not equal to first day of default, right? Especially that non-educational institutions have 120 days before it becomes a default, I think. But here it is 270 days difference that pushed my hopes and dreams of having a clean report by another 9 months. Unbearable! I have already waited for a while... I can see that the first day of default was calculated correctly (see image below): Per Higher Education Act of 1965 Sec. 435(i) it says that the loan becomes in default after 270 days since non-payment, that is ~9 months. So, if the due date is on or about 07/2007 and the first day of delinquency would be 30 days late (I am reaching here), about on 08/2007, I'd say. Then add 9 months and you get about 05/2008. Sure, it is possible I fudge the numbers, let me know if I am, just my line of reasoning. If I am incorrect, please let me know. This is a screen show for one of the 3 loans, others are the same date wise, just $$$ differs. Point is, something is up and it might be affecting you too, do check! Instead of these negatives falling off this year, because of incorrect reporting it is being pushed up another 9 months for no good reason. I called Dept. of Edu. today, people I spoke to have said that they have no idea who is reporting it internally, evidently Direct Loans were distributed to many different sub-departments within the Dept. of Edu (once Direct Loans ceased to exist). However, the people I spoke to did see that the first day of delinquency is set at 5/2008 in the system, they don't care why or who set it. They are unwilling to change, say they cannot do that even if they wanted. All they could advise me was to stop tying their phone lines and start disputing this info with the credit agencies. So, I did with all 3 credit agencies, sent them all a fax with a letter, included my math (hope it is solid), and printouts from the website that show dates I am falling back to as my proof. Well, what are your thoughts on the subject?

I've been reading through these forums, with some hope that I can turn my life around. I'm in my mid 40's, got my master's degree later in life and have what I believe is a daunting amount of loans, none private. The amount is $95k or so and that is with paying out of pocket for my first two years of undergrad. I have a severe learning disability that prevented me from being accepted for a master's program at public institutions so I was forced to go with the one private one that did accept me. I graduated, but have struggled to make a liveable wage, until now. Lucky me, I now make the most I ever have, at $45k, which would be absolutely liveable if I didn't have student loans that I hadn't addressed because I was making as little as $16k and only as much as $30k for several years. I am no slacker but see my debt as incredibly overwhelming but want to change my credit score around. I see people on here stating that the rehab amount would be 1% of the loan, but for my loan, that would amount to nearly $1k a month, leaving little for anything else. I drive a crap car that regularly needs repair and I can't get a car loan because of my student loans, so I keep paying for expensive repairs on a small Chevy (in case anyone thought I was living large,lol). I don't really have a choice but to rehab, but wonder if anyone has experience where the rehab amount is more reasonable? At the end of the month, and this is with my currently low rent which will rise when i'm forced to move out of a temporary living situation, I have little left for anything. I don't go to movies, no vacations and don't buy much of anything. My clothes are from thrift stores and the only new clothing I buy is underwear. Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

So I have finally started taking the steps to repair my credit from my younger years of irresponsibility. One nagging problem on my credit report is a old Private Student loan that I had that has been in default for almost 1 1/2 yrs now. They have not garnished any wages or taken legal action as of yet, or even requisitioned my tax return last year. When I spoke with them early Jan 2012 they were completely uncooperative and refused to accept any terms except the ones they were setting forth. The original loan was through AES and is now with a CA whom I spoke with. They basically told me that if I didn't comply to their terms they would get their money anyways since it's a federally backed loan, and they could garnish wages and/or hold my tax returns. Original loan was for 13000, and now is somewhere in the range of 22000 after all their fees. They literally told me; they would put me down down as a refusal to pay since I couldn't afford their terms. One last piece of information, I am still in school, although this loan originated almost 4 yrs ago, I am in my final year of classes. Aren't I entitled to still be in forbearance? Are Private student loans allowed to be rehabilitated? What options do I have to get this loan back in good standing? Any help would be greatly appreciated, Thanks in advance!

Need help on my wife's student loans. I have read most of the posts here that I could and I'm still unsure of the proper way to get the student loans under control. We are aiming to clean her credit and this is the last item left. She started on rehad with the collection agency last year but stop 4 months after financially we could not make the payments any more. We should have called and asked for income based payment for lower payment, if we had know at the time I've read to its better to rehad first and then consolidate your loan once out of rehad. But I heard that you only get one shot to do a rehad? If so then what is the next alternative to do. Also how do you tell who owns your loan now. I've went to the nslda.ed.gov website and all that is listed it: Direct Consolidated Subsidized $3,639 Direct Consolidated Unsubsidized $6,176 DEBT MANAGEMENT AND COLLECTIONS SYSTEM U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION PO. BOX 5609 GREENVILLE TX 75403 But on credit report it has listed as permanently assigned to the government Collection acct $3,967 Collection acct $6,773 PO Box 4222 Iowa City, IA 52244 Any help that anyone could provide would be greatly appriecated

Good day! My son attended the Art Institute in Philadelphia which he took out a loan for with the help of my mother; she cosigned for him. During his time in school (which he took longer to graduate than anticipated) we never received any notices regarding repayment and interest; not sure why, but because I am a student with loans and don't receive notices it didn't seem odd. Right before it was time for him to complete his internship we began to get notices that he was going into default for nonpayment. Again, I am a student and have been for the past 10 years (working on my PhD) and have never been asked to repay loans as long as I was in school. We had no clue he was supposed to be paying on these loans. Needless to say there were late fees and so forth added to the loan. Moving forward we learn that he had approximately $40,000 loans to cover an education that was supposed to cost about $15-20,000; and on top of that, to date the principle balance is approximately $40,000. My son never did graduate because of the current loans which made it difficult to even want to borrow anymore; nothing but internship left and he was unable to proceed. When speaking to Sallie Mae they stated that my mother forwarded her electronic signature for the loans; she would not have approved the amounts exceeding the cost of the program....and only signed for three to both our reollection. Also, we found out that the school charged my son for two programs....one that he changed after realizing he was in the wrong field. Since school he's help odd jobs but have not been able to really begin his career; my mother with her own responsibilities and student loans did all she could to help him make the payments he has made thus far; and my having financial difficultties also participated in trying to keep the loan from going into default we have gotten very little help from Sallie Mae. They have harrassed my mother to no end, and they are extremely rude. The payments continue to get higher, and the late fees continue to pile on, and regardless of how cooperative we are we cannot get a break. The enitre family has gotten involved, they have everyone's information and harrass us all; calls from sun up to sun set and beyond, and with all the harrassment no one is willing to help. So, to my main question....my mother is now retired and my son just finished up a temporary position and looking for work again. Today a payment is due and we do not have it; my mother was told that if this payment was not made the loan will go into default and Sallie Mae will be after her hom, her income tax, and her retirement income. My mother shares a home with my father who's name is also on the mortgage so she is very worried; in fact borderline depressed. We cannot keep up with this loan at the monthly rates they are asking...it is going to default. Please, someone tell me what happens when this loan defaults? What should we expect to happen and in approximately what time frame? I cannot tell my mother not to worry and it will be okay when I hear Sallie Mae make such threats. What if anything can I or she do to protect her home and income, especially considering that her husband shares in ownership? Thank you in advance for your help! Smiles32070

Hello Everyone My direct loans went into default in april of 2012. In January of 2010 i enrolled in grad school and my enrollment was the following: Spring 10 3/4 Fall 10 half time Spring 11 half time Fall 11 didn't attend due to injury Spring 12 part time Fall 12 full time I thought I qualified for in school deferment, in addition I am a teacher in a shortage area as designated by the U.S. dept of Ed, which qualifies me for education related deferment ( for the fall 11-spring 12 when I didnt meet the half time requirement). Based on this information will direct loans reverse my default status? Alsoooo, i have been teaching for 6 consecutive years in a low income school teaching a ciritical need subject which qualifies me for teacher loan forigivness but I cant apply for that since my loan is in default! Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hello all, I am attempting to tackle my defaulted student loans this Monday and I was looking to get some advice before starting. I had a loan through Direct Loans and it was deferred. After deferment I did not make payments and it went to default. They sold it to a company in NY called Conserve who have been attempting to contact me. I am currently unemployed but I recently got a freelance job which pays me $200 a month. I want to enter rehabilitation. My loans are ~15k but with interest and fees I owe ~21k. I know that rehab is typically 1% of what you owe but I cannot afford that. I feel like I've read that rehab payments can be as though as $50 and I'd like to get that. It wouldn't put a dent in my loans but it would allow me to start the rehab clock while I secure full time employment. Is there any way to reduce the 4,200 in fees? What kind of guarantees do I need to get beginning rehab? I know I should document all interactions, does that include recording phone calls? How fast can I get it started? I'd like to make my first payment in April if possible. After I complete my 9 payments what happens to my loan? Does it transfer from Conserve back to Direct Loans? Or to someone else? What do I need to do to make a smooth transition and get the default removed from my credit ASAP after that final payment? Anyone who has completed rehab: what should I know that I didn't ask about? I'm very nervous about this since I assume that Conserve is not operating in my best interests. Thank you for any help you can provide.