How do I get the late remark removed?

[Anonymous]

My credit was a 561 and the only thing that was on there was these late payments for these student loans that I havent taken serious or begun to pay. So I then get set up on a payment arrangemt with FEDLOAN to pay off my debt. I have been making my monthly payments on time now. Is there any way to get the late marks removed its killing my credit score. And since I dont have much credit to begin with I cant get approved for anything. Not to mention my attempts at trying to get credit cards have lowered my score even more. I was considering paying someone to "fix" my credit score. But I wanted to see if there was anything I could do for myself. Does considating the loans help, I believe there are 4 total? Please help if can, any advise is greatly appreciated. 

[Skye12329]

You can try attempting to ask your loan provider to remove the lates but if they are valid it will be tough.

I'm not sure how rehab works but that might another option?

[Anonymous]

I can't speak for this lender directly, but I was able to remove lates on a student loan by completing a "rehab agreement" with the lender. Basically, you make on time payments for 9 months (if they're nice they'll backdate to when you brought the account current), and once the agreement is complete they'll remove the lates. Worth calling them to ask!

[InvincibleSummer3]

Rehabbing a loan requires that the loan be in default status. Is that the case here?

[Anonymous]

Well I'll tell you from personal experience that FedLoan is very tough to work with. They are very strict with reporting and every time I've submitted a request to them for assistance with my loan, it's been a challenge.

You can try some of these options that may help:

1. Write a goodwill letter to FedLoan asking that they understand your circumstances (mention any difficulties you had in life that prevented you from being able to make payments) and see if they can make an adjustment to your credit reporting out of "goodwill".. You can mention that while you were not making payments, your inability was caused by outside circumstances (i.e. death in the family, financial trouble, loss of a job, military deployment) and are now back on your feet.

2. Like butanz said, see if they will setup a repayment plan agreement to get your account back to good standing. You could offer to make 'X' amounts of on-time payments as a guarantee, and in exchange they can remove the late(s) from your reports. No clue if this will work but definitely worth a shot. If they can see you are serious about repaying the loan they may be able to work with you.

Again, FedLoan is tough and I've read some pretty difficult stories here. I'm trying to get FedLoan to remove a couple of lates so if I have any luck I'll let you know!

[Anonymous]

I have three that i can't get them to remove. Waiting on time to heal that wound

[Anonymous]

The loans aren't in default status anymore, right now it's reflecting "repayment" status. Not sure if I would qualify for the rehab program? & is that a program through fed loan if do I would love to look into it. From the research I've done consolidating the loan doesn't remove the late remarks, Is this true?

[InvincibleSummer3]

That is true, but rehabbing doesn't necessarily remove all the lates either. Rehab removes default status but the lates that led up to the default can remain.

Trying to GW them might be your best bet, and reevaluating your overall credit portfolio. What else is on there? When you say the only thing there is some lates, do you mean there's no "good" credit lines reporting?

[Anonymous]

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!!

[Anonymous]

A loan does not have to be in default for a rehab. Again, this is based on personal experience. My loan never left repayment status and the lender was willing to arrange a rehab. YMMV.