Fight or just let Sallie Mae drop from my CR's?

[AZHeather]

I had 3 Sallie Mae loans that I fell behind on several years ago.  According to the 3 CR's I pulled, this is how they all look:

Date Opened:  8/2004

Date Closed:  3/2008

Last Payment:  11/2005

Maximum Delinquency occurred in 5/2007

Date Updated:  3/2008

They all say I was 90 days in April of 2007 and from that point until February of 2008 it shows 120 days.

I consolidated all 3 loans with another company at the end of last year, so these accounts are closed and the pay status on all is "current or paid/paying as agreed," but in the remarks section it says transferred to another office.

I do not think that the accounts are accurately reflected in my reports, but I have heard that trying to get things straightened out with Sallie Mae is a bear!  Based on the information above, can anyone tell me when these should drop off of my report?  That will help me to decide to wage the war or not.

Thank you!

[IOBA]

AZHeather - I may not be understand  what you are saying correctly.   What I read is you had Sallie Mae loans and fell behind (in 2007).    Then in 2008, you consolidated the loans through another lender.    If this is correct, then SM is correct to report you as being late.

You consolidated the loans, so it would be accurate for SM to say transferred to another lender.

Your new lender should be reporting monthly.   I think you said they were...no lates?   Then that would be correct.

I have heard that SM is a bear to work with.   But it also sounds like they are reporting correctly.   

What do you think they are reporting incorrectly?

Do you want to make a fuss about something that is 4-5 yrs old?  The lates should fall off in 7 yrs.

[AZHeather]

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@IOBA wrote:

AZHeather - I may not be understand  what you are saying correctly.   What I read is you had Sallie Mae loans and fell behind (in 2007).    Then in 2008, you consolidated the loans through another lender.    If this is correct, then SM is correct to report you as being late.

You consolidated the loans, so it would be accurate for SM to say transferred to another lender.

Your new lender should be reporting monthly.   I think you said they were...no lates?   Then that would be correct.

I have heard that SM is a bear to work with.   But it also sounds like they are reporting correctly.   

What do you think they are reporting incorrectly?

Do you want to make a fuss about something that is 4-5 yrs old?  The lates should fall off in 7 yrs.

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Sorry, I was not very clear.

My payments started in February 2007.  I missed the fact that they started after a deferral (completely my fault for not keeping them current with a new address & my own bad record keeping), so the lates that show from the first part of 2007 are legitimate and I do not dispute those.  However, in  October of 2007 I started making on time payments (on all 3 accounts) with Sallie Mae.  My accounts were never sent to collections, oddly enough.  From October 2007 until the fall of last year I made all my minimal payments to Sallie Mae on time.  

In the fall of 2011 I consolidated all 3 accounts to 1 with another company.  That is reporting fine on all 3 CR.  

What I would dispute are the lates to Sallie Mae from October 2007 until 3/2008 when it says my account was closed.  I also do not understand why it says my account was closed in 3/2008 when I continued to make payments to Sallie Mae (not some other company or CA) until fall of last year.  There is nothing else on my 3 CR's that would lead me to believe that there was another company involved in all of this.

Also, it says my last payment was in 2005.  That does not even make sense.  I was not paying my loans then because I was still taking classes.  My actual payments did not start until Feb. 2007.

I hope this helps explain my situation better.  Thanks for your time.

[IOBA]

AZHeather - Ok, you were late in 2007 and SM reported that.  Did you ever pay the late fees and the additional interest that would have acrued from the late payments?   If you did not bring your current by paying  those late fees and interest, and just made the minimum payments, then technically, you were late every month since that first missed/late payment.

It sounds like SM didn't report you late, other than 2007/2008.

For SM's recording keeping, they may have closed out the account after 6 months of no payments.   SM would have updated your CR to reflect a closed status.  SM would have coded your account (internally) not to update anymore.

If you started to make payments before they sent it off to collections, great!  You lucked out.  While they didn't report it as negative, you saved yourself from the comment being added of "Defaulted" or "Paid by insurance".

It sounds like you were lucky and caught the account in time to prevent further credit damage.   Being that the last negative on the reporti is from 2008, I would leave it alone.  It will fall of in about 3 years (7 years from when it happened.)

Edited to add - PS - if it says last payment was 2005, then yeah, that is probably a mistake.  If it were me, I would probably leave it alone and let if fall off.  I would rather have that reporting as is, rather than risk SM screwing things up and reporting lates from 2007 to 2011.  THAT would do far more damage that what you currently have!    But everyone is different.  If it really bugs you, then take time to write  a simple letter stating the facts, include back up information, and send it in.

[AZHeather]

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@IOBA wrote:

AZHeather - Ok, you were late in 2007 and SM reported that.  Did you ever pay the late fees and the additional interest that would have acrued from the late payments?   If you did not bring your current by paying  those late fees and interest, and just made the minimum payments, then technically, you were late every month since that first missed/late payment.

It sounds like SM didn't report you late, other than 2007/2008.

For SM's recording keeping, they may have closed out the account after 6 months of no payments.   SM would have updated your CR to reflect a closed status.  SM would have coded your account (internally) not to update anymore.

If you started to make payments before they sent it off to collections, great!  You lucked out.  While they didn't report it as negative, you saved yourself from the comment being added of "Defaulted" or "Paid by insurance".

It sounds like you were lucky and caught the account in time to prevent further credit damage.   Being that the last negative on the reporti is from 2008, I would leave it alone.  It will fall of in about 3 years (7 years from when it happened.)

Edited to add - PS - if it says last payment was 2005, then yeah, that is probably a mistake.  If it were me, I would probably leave it alone and let if fall off.  I would rather have that reporting as is, rather than risk SM screwing things up and reporting lates from 2007 to 2011.  THAT would do far more damage that what you currently have!    But everyone is different.  If it really bugs you, then take time to write  a simple letter stating the facts, include back up information, and send it in.

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That makes sense.  I think I will leave it be and just let them fall off.  I doesn't seem as if anything I do woud really make any positive difference, and I would prefer not to make things any worse.

Thank you so much for your advice!

[IOBA]

Your welcome.