Last year I contacted the Department of Education regarding my defaulted student loans (4 to be exact). They said that the account had just been sent to a collection agency (First Premier) and to contact them. Gave them a call and inquired about the rehab process. They said that I qualified for the rehab and that I would need to make 9 on time payments. This was in November of 2011.
Fast forward to August 2012. First Premier calls me and says they have some paperwork to send over to me in order to complete the rehab process, along with making my last payment. Make my payment, fill out the forms (don't remember exactly what it was... uh oh), and they say everything is good. Now I just wait for a new lender to pick me up.
September 2012. Call First Premier to check status of rehab. They said that the account has been sent back to Department of Education and that they can not access any information. Contact Dept. of Ed. and inquire about rehabbed loan and am told that it has been sent to Direct Loans and that the old negatives will be removed within 45 days.
October 2012. Call Department of Education to inquire about baddies falling off from completion of rehab and am told... wait for it........ that I never rehabbed. My loans are still delinquent. Instead, I consolidated?!? Explained what I had done, asked for help, they referred me to Direct Loans. I'm getting mad at this point. I call Direct Loans and explain everything to them. They say the same thing.. according to their records I have simply consolidated, not rehabbed. If that's the case, where did my 10 payments go? They refer me to the Department of Education Ombudsman Office.
So I give them a call, explain my situation, and they will have an "ombudsman specialist" contact me within the next 7-10 days to try and help me out. I feel like I got taken advantage of by First Premier. Like they told me I would be rehabbing and then swooped in a consolidation at the last minute. I'll keep everyone updated on how things are going.
Starting Score: EX: 560 on 11/1/11
In my rage I types First Premier. In reality it is Premiere Credit. When I get home tonight I will go through my paperwork to see what I signed and find my original contract stating I was rehabbing.
Haven't heard anything yet. And of course I can't find any of my paperwork. My wife and I just had our first child 1 month ago so our house is a little unorganized and I haven't had much time to search, so I'm hoping!
I'm waiting to hear back from the ombudsman specialist. What someone I spoke with said is that what may have happened is the consolidation paperwork came through before the rehab paperwork came through. I'm hoping that is the case and they get things figured out.
Thanks!
On myeddebt (which I just found out about within this past week... I must be out of the loop on this stuff) does show my payments, so the money did get applied.
At this point I'm convinced that I signed paperwork to consolidate, but it was my understanding that I was just completing the necessary steps for rehab. Premiere Credit told me "We'll be sending you some paperwork that you need to sign and send back in order to move forward with the rehab." I know nothing about rehabbing so I just assumed filling out the form was truthfully the next step.
I'm just hoping it turns out in my favor - successful rehab. Otherwise what was the point of me doing a "rehab" for 10 months if I was just going to consolidate and lose out on the perks of rehabbing?