topic Re: How do I get the late remark removed? in Student Loans

How do I get the late remark removed?

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 15:22:07 GMT

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.

Re: How do I get the late remark removed?

Skye12329 — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 21:57:59 GMT

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?

Re: How do I get the late remark removed?

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Jul 2015 03:55:09 GMT

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!

Re: How do I get the late remark removed?

InvincibleSummer3 — Fri, 03 Jul 2015 04:06:37 GMT

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

Re: How do I get the late remark removed?

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Jul 2015 04:42:07 GMT

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!

Re: How do I get the late remark removed?

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Jul 2015 14:43:35 GMT

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

Re: How do I get the late remark removed?

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Jul 2015 14:50:37 GMT

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?

Re: How do I get the late remark removed?

InvincibleSummer3 — Fri, 03 Jul 2015 15:10:14 GMT

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?

Re: How do I get the late remark removed?

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Jul 2015 16:16:28 GMT

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!!

Re: How do I get the late remark removed?

Anonymous — Sat, 04 Jul 2015 03:23:43 GMT

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.

Re: How do I get the late remark removed?

Broke_Triathlete — Sun, 05 Jul 2015 12:27:34 GMT

@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.

Re: How do I get the late remark removed?

Anonymous — Sun, 05 Jul 2015 16:36:32 GMT

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!

Re: How do I get the late remark removed?

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 16:41:23 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

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.

Bummer, I wish I had seen this two years ago!

Long story short, I had a batch of student loans that were transferred from Direct Loan Servicing to FedLoan Servicing in July 2013. Due to administrative snafus, I didn't realize they had been transferred and kept making payments to DLS until December 2013, when I finally found out the loans had been transferred, racking up an absolutely awesome 6 months of late payments reported by FLS. Yeah, it sucked at the time and I've been able to make no progress at getting the 6 months of missing payments rectified. Anyways, that's beside the point of this post.

I put them in forbearance in January 2014, then consolidated them in March 2014. Payment history has been 100% fine since then.

I called FLS just now after reading this post to see if they could retroactively extend the January-March 2014 forbearance to cover July 2013-March 2014. I was told that since the original loans had been closed and paid off a year and a half ago in the process of consolidation, that it would mess up the system if the forbearance was retroactively updated. Dang it!

That clump of 10 student loans all reporting 6 months of late payments is by far the biggest derogatory item on my reports. I'd hoped I could do a backdoor forbearance and dispute/delete.

Sigh. Guess I need to start a GW campaign or just suck it up and wait till 2020 for the lates to age off...

Re: How do I get the late remark removed?

Anonymous — Sun, 18 Oct 2015 07:36:51 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

.....Sigh. Guess I need to start a GW campaign or just suck it up and wait till 2020 for the lates to age off...

Not sure if this is ok to recommend, but over in this thread: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Student-Loans/ACS-Education-CORP-Letter-of-Goodwill-contact/td-p/2784635 , I read a recommendation or two to just dispute and it looks like it worked their. I just tried to dispute 4 differeint accounts through Equifax and Experian for my grad school loans which have negatives: Fedloan, ACS, Nelnet, and American Student Assistance, and none of those came off. Trying to do Goodwill letters to various people for a few months and then will try again with the disputes.

Re: How do I get the late remark removed?

txbusted — Thu, 22 Oct 2015 14:54:47 GMT

@InvincibleSummer3 wrote:
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.

I was in default and rehabbed my loans. ALL of the lates leading up to it are still reported. Only the default itself has to be removed. I am only 10 months post rehab and I have to tell you it's an uphill battle at times.

I agree you should try the GW letter. Sometimes the only thing that will make your score increase is time and good behavior on what you have already. Since my rehab I have gotten approved for 5 CC-2 of them are non-starter cards. The road may be bumby but in the end it will be worth it.

Re: How do I get the late remark removed?

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 23:51:14 GMT

Good luck, but I haven't had much luck in this area. I have loans throgh PHEAA, which I left separate, as well as loans now consolidated through Great Lakes. Very long story short-I went all the way to the Ombudsman for Student Aid. The lady gathered all sorts of information from me, worked contacting the various services from over the years since they change hands so often. It took probably 3-4 months for me to finally find out that "they said they were all reporting accurately" and that basically nothing was going to be removed. Wish you the best of luck, though.

Re: How do I get the late remark removed?

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Jun 2016 22:43:40 GMT

I just emailed both the ceo of navient as well as the ceo of Great Lakes as I have both. Hopefully if I hear anything back I will update and inform the outcome. Wrote a pretty strong goodwill letter to both