@Anonymous wrote:If the loans aren't in default you probably have no need to go into a rehab program. If they're in standard repayment and you have some lates on your credit report, your best approach is probably a goodwill letter to FedLoan. I've tried this a few times and each time got a canned response and the request was turned down. FedLoan is very hard to work with.
You can try a backdoor approach and request through FedLoan that the loan be put into a "backdated" or "retroactive" forbearance for the periods during which your loan was reported to the credit bureaus. For example, if you have a 60-day late for March 2015 and a 90-day late for April 2015, request that the loan be put into a "backdated" forbearance period for the timeframe of February through April (3 months). If approved, FedLoan may remove the lates from your reports since your loan was technically in forbearance during that period, meaning no payment was due. If forbearance is approved for the periods when you were reported to the credit bureaus, and FedLoan doesn't remove the lates themselves, you can easily dispute the reports through the credit bureaus and say the loans were in forbearance, so there is no way you could have been late.
Two things to note about forbearance: Interest will accrue for the forbearance period and will be added to your loan balance, but if only for a couple months it may be a better option to add a little bit of extra interest to your loan than have those lates on your report. Also, get any forbearance approvals IN WRITING. If approved over the phone, ask that they email or mail you confirmation. You would need this confirmation in writing to send to credit bureaus if FedLoan does not remove the lates, and you go the dispute route. Lots of people have had HUGE success with this getting even 120-day lates removed.
From my experience FedLoan will approve up to 3 months of forbearance over the phone and anything further (up to 12 months) needs to be requested via a form on their website. You can email or fax the form. But your results may vary, see what they say!
Also FedLoan is PHEAA, who manages federal loans owned by the government. I do know PHEAA has a federal loan rehab program if you ever do go into default. If that's needed you can check out https://www.pheaa.org/about/press-releases/2013/apr-2.shtml for information.
Also consolidating probably won't remove any of the lates. Once they're there, they stay unless you can get the lender to remove them or if you dispute them as being inaccurate.
Good luck!!
Does anyone know if this will work with Sallie Mae/Navient? I have 2 lates from 2012 I'd love to see if this would work for.
Personal:
I requested a retroactive forbearance on my Navient (Sallie Mae) account just last week and it was granted over the phone within 10 minutes. They did ask me a few questions to make sure my gross income wasn't over a speficic threshhold at the time but they were very easy to work with.
They seemed kind of weirded out that I was requesting a forbearance for a period so far back (>1 year ago), but I just told them that I wanted to have the account reflect a good standing in the event I were to use Navient in the future as a borrower or co-signer, and they were OK with that. But feel free to say whatever works for your situation 
I've heard horror stories about dealing with FedLoan but Navient seems much more willing to work with borrowers.
I just requested the retroactive forbearance and didn't mention anything about removing the late yet. I just wanted to make sure the forbearance was granted and that I had a confirmation in writing, and to wait a month and see if they update my report themselves and remove the late. If not, at least I got the forbearance and I can then dispute the late(s) with the CRAs.
Good luck!
