I got very sick and missed a few payments - score dropped over 100 points =(

[bruiseviolet]

I am so upset I could cry.  In 2009 I had a 30 day late on my student loans.  Then I started cleaning up my credit etc and never had a late payment after.  Fast forward to now.....   we had a few medical collections left to clean up-  new car loan reporting with solid payments for almost a year now-  money saved for a down payment- so we were thinking we were going to be good on a mortgage within the next year....    

But the end of October, while I was pregnant, I became very ill with a severe kidney infection and was hospitalized for over a week.  =(  I wasn't even fully recovered a month later, when I had a c-section.  I was home 3 days and became very ill again with a uterin infection and was admitted back to the hospital for another week.  I literally spent almost 3 weeks in the hospital in the span of a month.  

Needless to say, during that time- I completely missed my student loan payments.  It's has only been in the past week that I have been feeling better and recovered enough to "function" at almost full capacity.  You can imagine the horror when I realized the 4 months of missed payments (oct-nov-dec-jan) dropped my score by over 100 points.  I went from a few points away to qualifying for the mortgage-  to 490.  =(

I made my payments this past week- but now obviously have the recent dings on there.  Are we screwed for another 2 years while these "age" before we could get approved for a mortgage?  (they are the only negative thing showing anymore- the other things showing have been paid off and my car loan which shows no late payments).  

Can I do anything or did I just shoot myself in the foot?  I knew I should have set up automatic payments.  GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRr so frustrating- I've been working my butt off for over 2 years now to build and clean up our credit-  and then I get sick and BAM literally overnight- my scores are way worse than they were before I started all of this.  I feel like it's all been such a waste.  

[bahbahd]

If they reported you 90 days or more late, then unfortunately these will not reduce in negative affect after two years. Only 30 & 60 fade away quickly.

This is a good case for a GW adjustment. You made one payment just now. Did that payment catch you up, leaving past due amount $0? If not, you are still behind on your payment unfortunately and you want to pay the past due asap. You have not mentioned who is servicing your student loans yet but some people have better luck GWing X vs Y servicer.

I would see if your SL servicer has a student/consumer advocate department. They might call it something else depending on the company. Just call up customer service and ask them if they could put you in touch with that department. Get a mailing address and phone number for them. If they ask why, politely tell the CSR that you would feel more comfortable explaining your situation to a supervisor as it rather "personal" to you.

I would try ask for a GW to Customer Service and their over the phone first. If this goes nowhere, then I would start sending GW letters to their advocate division and their executives. I have a feeling you will have to share your whole experience. If you almost died or lost the baby, I would go so far to tell them. If you did have the money to pay and just were not able to due to your medical issues leaving you debilitated, explain to them that it was not a lack of funds. I would also set up auto pay and explain to them that you have done so just to avoid this from ever happening again.