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I'll make this short and sweet, but if you need more infomation, please ask.
I'm a veteran, who worked in sales for ten years after separating(honorably) from the U.S. Navy and after the '08 financial crisis, I decided to go back to school, however, because I waited ten years to attend college, my G.I. Bill(Post 9/11 G.I. Bill) would "only" pay 80% of my tuition.
So, while in college, i spent every semester arguing with my school's finance office that I have the G.I. Bill and FAFSA covers the remaining 20%, so they would waive they amount due, after doing whatever they do internally!
Anyway, after graduation and had just over a year to start repaying my student loans(20% of my tuition), however, I was told that I owe $43K, which is now $7K with fees and all. Because I graduated my school's finance office would only tell me to contact FAFSA and basically threw their hands up in the air.
Then, when I contacted the Veteran's Administration's Dept of Education office, they would play stupid and transfer me numerous times in one call, refusing to give me a "DIRECT" contact number, instead of having to be transfered five times each and everytime I call for student loans, so I made a mistake and just said, "The heck with it! I'm not going to pay $47K in student loans at a state school, of which my G.I. Bill paid 80%! Again, I attended an extremely popular "STATE" school in N. Florida, not Yale or Harvard!
There's absolutely no way, the remaining 20% equals anywhere close to $47K.
After the '08 crisis, I used cash for everything and even though I had zero debt, I also had zero credit and when those student loans hit my credit, I was in the mid-400's.
I stated all that to ask this:
I know I owe student loans, but the corrct amount should be in the mid-teens, not $47K, if I contest the "AMOUNT OWED," will all three credit bureaus, the Dept of Education and Navient be forced to delete and remove those baddies on my credit reports, including Late Payments?
Or would they simply corrct the "Amount Owed," and basically change the Late Payments from an amount due of $XXXXX.XX to an amount due of $XXXXX.XX?
If you read this far, I thank you and I greatly need your advice and I thank you all in advance.
They're just going to correct the amounts. You should have been paying what you owed while waiting for them to fix it. Maybe try rehabbing them to remove the negatives. I don't even know if you can for fafsa
My issue is, I felt that if I paid one red cent, that would in essence, legally or not, tell them that i agreed with the amount owed and lose any legal argument due to paying.
Also, I stressed that each and everytime call, they transfer me numerous times, giving me the impression that I'm talking to a collection agency and I actually spoke to a lady who tried to convince me to consolate my loans, pay $5 for nine months and then start with income-based payments, but soon after that I read numerous reports of fraudulent agencies out there.
If when i call, if i can speak to someone within the Dept of Education, i would feel at peace that I'm working with someone who has my best interest in mind and not trying to get a credit card number or banking info out of me.
Disputing the information means that the CRAs are going to make sure that what they are reporting is correct according to the reporting agency. You would have to fix the issue with the lender itself, not the CRA.
Make sure you've got all of your documentation (with the school, the VA, and the lender) in order and when you contact the lenders that you keep notes and documentation of that as well, to help bolster your case.
As for the student loans - if they are defaulted, yes, you can rehab them so that they are brought current and the default is removed. They might (might) remove the lates as well, though that is not required.