Backdate Forbearance

[Anonymous]

I sent a GW letter to ECSI to see if they would removed a 120-day late payment from when our loan first came due.  Due to us moving at the same time as the loan came due, the bills were sent to the old address and we fell behind on the payments, although we were paying 7 other student loans on time, and have since paid the ECSI loan on time every month since and paid the late balance immediately once we realized what happened.  They said due to "several federal regulations" they cannot remove the lates.  However, they offered this:

"We can assist you if you can submit a forbearance request to us to cover the time in question when you went delinquent so  we can review the request  and if approved the forbearance/economic hardship is able to be backdated and remove the delinquent credit."

Does this mean they would delete the 120-day late payment from my CR if I am approved for backdated forbearance?  The gentleman I am coresponding with is very nice, and they have contacted my school as well to try to work with me on this.  It was a truly honest mistake that we were late, although we were in very hard economic times when the loan came due and it is the largest payment we had due.  My dad had just filed BK and I was making less than $150 a week at a PT job.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I sent a GW letter to ECSI to see if they would removed a 120-day late payment from when our loan first came due.  Due to us moving at the same time as the loan came due, the bills were sent to the old address and we fell behind on the payments, although we were paying 7 other student loans on time, and have since paid the ECSI loan on time every month since and paid the late balance immediately once we realized what happened.  They said due to "several federal regulations" they cannot remove the lates.  However, they offered this:

"We can assist you if you can submit a forbearance request to us to cover the time in question when you went delinquent so  we can review the request  and if approved the forbearance/economic hardship is able to be backdated and remove the delinquent credit."

Does this mean they would delete the 120-day late payment from my CR if I am approved for backdated forbearance?  The gentleman I am coresponding with is very nice, and they have contacted my school as well to try to work with me on this.  It was a truly honest mistake that we were late, although we were in very hard economic times when the loan came due and it is the largest payment we had due.  My dad had just filed BK and I was making less than $150 a week at a PT job.

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short answer, yes.

if they do this consider yourself very fortunate.  i have tried the exact same tact with sallie mae and they flatly refuse to backdate any forbearance.

the law that requires the school to report accurately is here.. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/20/usc_sec_20_00001080---a000-.html

20 USC § 1080a(a). Reports to consumer reporting agencies and institutions of higher education

.....Subject to the requirements of subsection (c) of this section, such agreements shall require the Secretary or the guaranty agency, eligible lender, or subsequent holder, as appropriate, to disclose to such consumer reporting agencies, with respect to any loan under this part that has not been repaid by the borrower—

[taz3261]

Congrats...thats awesome...you got a forebearance back dated...MDfive21 sallie mae is impossible to work with.

[Anonymous]

Be careful with that solution and get something in writing because they will not always remove an item once it is reported "if it was true at the time". I speak from experience here, much like yourself I moved when my student loan payment began its repayment, I was reported in Jul 2007 as 120 days past due, but at the time they did a post dated forebearance which brought me current, however after years of fighting I have not been able to get them to remove the 120 days past due despite my best efforts. I have made every payment since then on time with no exceptions. At this point I've just given up, but get that solution in writing because it way not actually solve your problem. 

[Anonymous]

The answer is yes they should remove it - but ONLY if you really have something in writing that it would remove the delinquent credit. A common misconception is that assistance, meant to keep you from remaining past due, will also "fix" your credit. That is not true. If you were already delinquent when the assistance was applied for then that is an accurate record of how you are handling the account. It wouldn't be removed just because you have now corrected the delinquency. But if you have something in writing that specifically says they will also fix the negative credit then they should honor that. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Thank you all for the replies, and a quick update; the forbearance was approved today and I spoke with the ECSI rep again and he assured me that they would be notifying all three CBs to have the lates removed. We shall see!

[Tazman81]

Nice work buckley..  let us know when it comes off.  I would be interested to know what the change in your score is as well. 

[Anonymous]

UPDATE:

The lates are now totally off of my Credit Reports as if they never happened. My score increased from 658 EQ to 673.  Not a huge jump but enough to move me from "Not Good" to "Good" and my Payment History is now "Very Good."  My Util is at 45% (well it is actually at 31% but my credit card hasn't posted yet) and once I get Util down to 1% I hope to have my scores up above 700!

[MBOhio2]

That's awesome - my husband has a backdated forbearance (specifically covers all late payments) but they refuse to remove the 30-day lates, saying that whole the payments are no longer due, they were technically late at that time. Ugh... I hate SL lenders!!