topic Re: Great Lakes Retroactive Forbearance - Still No Update from Credit Bureaus after Two Months in Student Loans

Great Lakes Retroactive Forbearance - Still No Update from Credit Bureaus after Two Months

Anonymous — Thu, 04 Apr 2019 16:34:57 GMT

On 02/01/2019, Great Lakes granted my request for a retroactive forbearance for my delinquencies. It's now April and the lates are still showing on my credit reports. I thought my patience will be rewarded but, at this point, it doesn't seem like my credit files will be updated. Should I start disputing with all three credit bureaus? Any advice will be greatly appreciated. For reference, here's a portion of the e-mail I received from Great Lakes:

"Based on the forbearance that was retroactively applied to your account(s), we are able to make an adjustment to the delinquencies reported 04/2013 - 12/2013, which are covered by the dates of your back-dated forbearance. We have instructed the following credit bureaus to remove this information from your payment history: Experian, Equifax, TransUnion and Innovis. Hopefully the bureaus will promptly display these changes to your credit files. Each individual agency determines when the adjusted data will display on your credit files."

Re: Great Lakes Retroactive Forbearance - Still No Update from Credit Bureaus after Two Months

Anonymous — Thu, 04 Apr 2019 16:50:44 GMT

There servicers are sort of slow but I would recommend checking the last reported date on your credit report for the loans.
I've actually never heard of them agreeing to remove the lates; most people get the letter stating that the can't. It's a technicality because you can get them removed by sending the letter to the CB in a dispute. In your case, I would do the same to move the process along. If the CB won't change it, then go back to the servicer (I'm sure you know by now how difficult it is to deal with them.) At worst, you could go to the Ombudsman, then the CFPB but I doubt you'll have to get that far.
Congrats on the retroactive forbearance!

Re: Great Lakes Retroactive Forbearance - Still No Update from Credit Bureaus after Two Months

Anonymous — Thu, 04 Apr 2019 17:09:15 GMT

When I got them to fo s Retroactive Forbearance it only updated on one bureau. I called them and they had me dispute it with the other bureaus. It worked. Within 2 weeks all of the lates were gone.
Great Lakes is great at going back. I went back about 4 years or so because had called and requested and it never happened at the time.

Re: Great Lakes Retroactive Forbearance - Still No Update from Credit Bureaus after Two Months

Anonymous — Thu, 04 Apr 2019 17:12:08 GMT

Let us know how it turns out

Re: Great Lakes Retroactive Forbearance - Still No Update from Credit Bureaus after Two Months

Anonymous — Thu, 04 Apr 2019 20:18:04 GMT

Thanks! I was very surprised when Great Lakes granted my first and only request for a retroactive forbearance. Per Credit Karma, the last reported date for my student loan account is 02/28/2019. I'll check again next week to see if any update was made in March. Hopefully, I don't have to dispute anything.

@Anonymous wrote:
There servicers are sort of slow but I would recommend checking the last reported date on your credit report for the loans.
I've actually never heard of them agreeing to remove the lates; most people get the letter stating that the can't. It's a technicality because you can get them removed by sending the letter to the CB in a dispute. In your case, I would do the same to move the process along. If the CB won't change it, then go back to the servicer (I'm sure you know by now how difficult it is to deal with them.) At worst, you could go to the Ombudsman, then the CFPB but I doubt you'll have to get that far.
Congrats on the retroactive forbearance!

Re: Great Lakes Retroactive Forbearance - Still No Update from Credit Bureaus after Two Months

Anonymous — Thu, 04 Apr 2019 20:31:18 GMT

Well done! When Great Lakes granted your retroactive forbearance request, did they send you an e-mail or mail you a letter? Also, do you remember how long it took for that one credit bureau to update your payment history?

@Anonymous wrote:
When I got them to fo s Retroactive Forbearance it only updated on one bureau. I called them and they had me dispute it with the other bureaus. It worked. Within 2 weeks all of the lates were gone.
Great Lakes is great at going back. I went back about 4 years or so because had called and requested and it never happened at the time.

Re: Great Lakes Retroactive Forbearance - Still No Update from Credit Bureaus after Two Months

Anonymous — Thu, 04 Apr 2019 21:11:05 GMT

Email. About 2 weeks

Re: Great Lakes Retroactive Forbearance - Still No Update from Credit Bureaus after Two Months

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Apr 2019 19:58:08 GMT

Experian and Equifax are still showing the student loan lates as of 03/31/2019. I just submitted a dispute to both credit bureaus in the hopes of having this resolved in a month. Unfortunately, TransUnion is still showing information from 02/28/2019 so I just have to wait a little longer to see if it's any different.

Re: Great Lakes Retroactive Forbearance - Still No Update from Credit Bureaus after Two Months

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Apr 2019 21:26:13 GMT

Good luck with the disputes. Should be easy with the forbearance letter.
Also, check your account to make sure it reflects as it should during those periods. People have been having some issues with this sometimes. Better to catch it early.

Re: Great Lakes Retroactive Forbearance - Still No Update from Credit Bureaus after Two Months

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Apr 2019 22:43:26 GMT

Thanks! I just emailed Great Lakes to ask for a copy of my entire payment history (they're only showing information online from the last 12 months). Hopefully, I'll get it some time this week. Thanks for the tip!

@Anonymous wrote:
Good luck with the disputes. Should be easy with the forbearance letter.
Also, check your account to make sure it reflects as it should during those periods. People have been having some issues with this sometimes. Better to catch it early.

Re: Great Lakes Retroactive Forbearance - Still No Update from Credit Bureaus after Two Months

Anonymous — Sat, 20 Apr 2019 01:05:26 GMT

I just got an update from Experian: they removed all lates and my FICO 8 jumped from 718 to 790! No dispute results yet from Equifax and I have to wait until Monday to see if I need to submit a dispute to TransUnion (their info was still showing 02/28/2019 as the last update, per Credit Karma). I should've done this years ago!

Re: Great Lakes Retroactive Forbearance - Still No Update from Credit Bureaus after Two Months

Anonymous — Sat, 20 Apr 2019 02:59:15 GMT

That's great!!!
Maybe, but you worked hard for it so the more you'll enjoy it. 🙂

Re: Great Lakes Retroactive Forbearance - Still No Update from Credit Bureaus after Two Months

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Apr 2019 20:42:26 GMT

I checked Credit Karma on Monday and both TransUnion (updated 03/31/2019) and Equifax (updated 04/20/2019) removed all the student loan lates. Luckily, I waited for CK to update before submitting a dispute to TransUnion; however, there was no change to my FICO 8 as of 04/19/2019 (via BofA). As for Equifax, they're still working on my dispute as of Tuesday, despite the update on CK. I've also been trying to check the dispute status online but it's always unavailable. The suspense is killing me!

Re: Great Lakes Retroactive Forbearance - Still No Update from Credit Bureaus after Two Months

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Apr 2019 18:00:33 GMT

I called Equifax this morning and was told that my dispute was completed on 04/20. Since the online portal has been inaccessible, they'll send the results to me via regular mail.

Is it normal for TransUnion to remove my student loan lates despite the fact that I submitted the dispute to Experian and Equifax only?

Re: Great Lakes Retroactive Forbearance - Still No Update from Credit Bureaus after Two Months

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Apr 2019 20:48:36 GMT

Fingers crossed!

About TU, I have no idea. I've always wondered that if the servicers refuse to remove the lates themselves, and you get them removed via a CB dispute, why don't they come back the next time the servicer updates the report? It's pretty cool that you didn't have to do anything extra though. 😎

Re: Great Lakes Retroactive Forbearance - Still No Update from Credit Bureaus after Two Months

Anonymous — Sat, 11 May 2019 05:49:17 GMT

It's just pure luck, I suppose.

I still haven't received any mail from Equifax (and their online dispute portal has been useless) so I've decided to sign up for the Experian CreditWorks Premium to get access to my credit reports and FICO 8's from all three credit bureaus. All student loan lates have been removed across the board and FICO 8's have increased to 790's (EX 718 -> 790; TU 725 -> 798; EF 712 -> 799).

I'm glad that I reached out to this community for advice. I hope that other members will find this thread useful. Thank you, @Sabii and @XtraCredit, for all your help!

Re: Great Lakes Retroactive Forbearance - Still No Update from Credit Bureaus after Two Months

Anonymous — Mon, 13 May 2019 16:55:31 GMT

That's fantastic!! A rare story, but a heartwarming one. I'm glad your efforts paid off.
Congrats to joining the others in the 800+ club soon! I'll be pointing people to this thread. What you provided here was extremely helpful.

Re: Great Lakes Retroactive Forbearance - Still No Update from Credit Bureaus after Two Months

Anonymous — Tue, 21 May 2019 16:25:36 GMT

Great to hear you had success with the Retroactive Forbearance! I hadn’t thought about it until seeing this. I really want to try this myself.

I have a long history of payments but this past year I collected some late payments. What steps did you take to contact them? Did you just use the messaging feature on their contact page once to as for the Forbearance and it worked? Did you mention anything in particular that you think help get it granted? I would greatly appreciate hearing how you went about it with success. Thanks for sharing your story!

Regards,

Clint

Re: Great Lakes Retroactive Forbearance - Still No Update from Credit Bureaus after Two Months

Anonymous — Thu, 23 May 2019 15:18:15 GMT

For me, I had applied for Forbearance awhile ago and it had never been applied, so it showed up as Lates instead. I didn't ask for the Retroactive Forbearance until much later after I had caught up and showed that I was making an effort.
I don't think they grant Retroactive Forbearance lightly.
If you've caught up for a long while then you could always give them a call or send a message. If the Lates were recent or are still happening often and sporadically then I would either wait until my history showed stability and ask them for a goodwill gesture OR maybe just apply for Forbearance now to help youbget caught up.
There are income sensitive repayment plans as well.
I believe Retroactive Forbearance is a one-time thing so I wouldn't waste it.

Re: Great Lakes Retroactive Forbearance - Still No Update from Credit Bureaus after Two Months

Anonymous — Thu, 23 May 2019 17:11:42 GMT

ClintB: You are either entitled to a retroactive forbearance or are not, the exception being a general forbearance (which is left up to the discretion of the servicer.) The list of types of forbearances is available on the student loans website. Once you choose which one you would like to apply, you will also need the supporting documentation.
Each servicer is different in how far back they will allow it to be applied. I would call them and simply ask how far back they apply a retroactive forbearance. No other questions for this call. They tend to be most responsive to asking general questions rather than providing actual help, so I would save that for a different call. It's often best to speak with an account specialist too. You could even contact them with a fax or letter; this will provide you with a written copy of their policy you may need later.
I would not wait. Showing good payments is likely irrelevant; waiting may end up meaning you are ineligible for the retroactive forbearance due to the deadline your servicer set. Sometimes the first answer you get is not the final/ right answer, so be persistent.
When you are finished and it is granted, you may have to update the CRA yourself as servicers often refuse. Just submit a copy of the granted retroactive forbearance with a dispute and the lates should be removed.
Federal Student Loans fall under the HEA (Higher Education Act) which supercedes the rights granted to you by the FCRA. While a credit card company may be able to grant you a goodwill, servicers are required to report your account accurately. They cannot forgive late payments. You're still welcome to ask, they are just not allowed to grant it to you by law.
https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/deferment-forbearance
If you have any more questions feel free to ask. Good luck