Student Loans

[nursegal]

I had a student loan that was issued by my university in 1997.  It is showing up on my credit report as being opened in June 1998 (not true) and charged off.  It is only on TU report.  I disputed it saying it was too old to be on my report.  I was assuming that since it wasnt a fed loan, it should fall off like any other installment loan.  Is this correct? My last payment was in 1998.  Please advise. 

[tgirlnh]

A student loan is a student loan whether federal or otherwise, was it a Perkins loan? Those are in fact federal. No matter whether a student loan is federal or private it is still protected and you have to pay. A private loan lender can't garnish your wages though, but can and will try to collect, including taking you to court.

[nursegal]

It was not a Perkins loan or any federal based loan.  It was just a loan made by the school.  What is the statue of limitations on this, are you saying that the 7 year reporting period does not apply?>

[sidewinder]

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nursegal wrote:

It was not a Perkins loan or any federal based loan.  It was just a loan made by the school.  What is the statue of limitations on this, are you saying that the 7 year reporting period does not apply?>

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If you signed a promissary note, then it would fall under that category or written for SOL.

I don't think student loans have SOL, but loans made by the university could be different. I am not sure.

The university my spouse attended did small short-term loans to cover cost of books, supplies, etc until financial aid was awarded, it wasn't actually considered a "student loan". It was never reported, but was paid off in 30 days as stated.

Where did you pull your reports? Does it show DOFD or estimated date of removal?

As far as I know, student loans remain for 7-7.5 years past DOFD like anything else, but I could be wrong on that.

Who is reporting the loan, the university or a CA?

Message Edited by sidewinder on 06-25-2008 04:40 PM

[nursegal]

The University is reporting it.  But it is reporting it as OPENED in 1998, which is after i graduated.  Im thinking possibly they did that to keep it on my report.  I paid over 10 grand a year there in tuition....and graduated from there. You would think they would just let it go...but i guess not!  It is only showing on TU, and it doesnt have a time when it states it will come off.  I went ahead and disputed it with stating it was out of timeframe to be reported. 

[LynnInMN]

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nursegal wrote:

The University is reporting it.  But it is reporting it as OPENED in 1998, which is after i graduated.  Im thinking possibly they did that to keep it on my report.  I paid over 10 grand a year there in tuition....and graduated from there. You would think they would just let it go...but i guess not!  It is only showing on TU, and it doesnt have a time when it states it will come off.  I went ahead and disputed it with stating it was out of timeframe to be reported. 

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If you did not pay the loan, more than likely the 1998 date is when you defaulted on it.

Instituational loans, whether be from a public or private not for profit school, have no SOL.  If it was a public school you attended, then it becomes a state debt, subject to taxoff set and possible wage garnishment.

[nursegal]

It was a private school.  So, if there is no SOL, does that mean it also stays on my credit report forever??

[LynnInMN]

No, it should drop off.  Did you ever make payments on it?  That can affect the drop off date too.  

Also keep in mind that your transcripts will be frozen with an unpaid instituational loan.

[nursegal]

That is another odd thing.  I got my transcripts with no problem this year.  I actually would go ahead and pay it if i thought it would matter...but if it is going to fall off, i dont want to bother with it.  Apparently its already done the damage to my score the last couple of years anyway.  I have federal loans that i am repaying on time, and no lates on any of my accounts in the last 2 years. 

[Wonderin]

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nursegal wrote:

That is another odd thing.  I got my transcripts with no problem this year.  I actually would go ahead and pay it if i thought it would matter...but if it is going to fall off, i dont want to bother with it.  Apparently its already done the damage to my score the last couple of years anyway.  I have federal loans that i am repaying on time, and no lates on any of my accounts in the last 2 years. 

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It DOES matter. We're no angels (you'll see that if you've read any of my posts here in SLs), we've had lates out the wahzoo on our SL consolidation loan, but it's still our debt! In our case and I'm sure yours, you did get an education out of it and chances are, are using that education!!

Also, if IANM, we, the taxpayers get whomped to offset defaulted student loans (the money for NEW loans, collection efforts, lawsuits, etc, has to come from SOMEWHERE).

Rant aside, if you don't pay this, private school loan or not, they WILL come after you. And when they do, that $10K can easily turn into $30K, payable NOW. The creditboards forum is FILLED with stories along that vein, often with ugly circumstances.

ALL student loans are exempt from SoLs. And even if a SL falls off your CRs, they are not gone and I can assure you, they are not forgotten by the government, school, state, etc.

And AFAIK, SLs can disappear off your CRs NOW and pop back up later when the guarantor claims them and begins reporting them.