Defaulted student loans/FHA mortgage

[Anonymous]

Good morning. I'm trying to find the right person to help me with this IRL but I know there's a font of wisdom here I could plumb. So I have old (ancient) student loans in the $30k area. They are so old they are long off my credit report. My scores right now have never been better - High 600s to mid 700s. I've never purchased a home so I would definitely qualify for FHA IF I rehab the old loans. I know I have to pay them off. My fear is that once I rehab they will tank my credit score and there goes qualifying for any mortgage. Applying for a conventional mortgage is likely not going to work as saving 10-20% down payment in the part of the country I'm shopping is a remote scenario for me. 

I just received a call that went to voicemail from Windham Collections. I'm assuming they are now servicing this account as I have no other current delinquincies. 

I welcome your advice and guidance. Thanks in advance. 

[Anonymous]

Rehab can be a good option. If these are government loans, to qualify for FHA, they WILL need to be in good standing - meaning they need to be out of default.  My best advice would be to get in touch with the original lender on your loans or visit the student loan website to lookup what you owe & to whom. Start there first. . . . . When you find out who is servicing your student loans, request that you would like to rehabilitate them & do your research on if you are able to .....

Rehab takes 9 months. It CAN take up to 10. Your loans will fall off of the CAIVRS (sp?) system once a lender purchases the remaining balance. I promise it will be worth it & the old tradelines should not show back up on your report. They will however, open up a new tradeline that will showcase your positive status for you to make payments on. .... I just completed rehab & it is one of the best things I've done for my credit. It can for you too. 

[Anonymous]

May I ask were your loans still reporting when you began rehab? I ask based on your scores in your signature. I'm trying to find out what resurrecting them will do to my score. Thanks

[Anonymous]

Good Question. I am under the perception that they were not reporting. The last activity I had on them was in 2013. They are still on my reports & I have 15 tradelines all from the same loan.

Also, these were opened in 2011. I dropped out in 2012. Didnt start rehab until last year in August of 2015. .... I do have an update. I finished rehab April 1st 2016. Loan picked up 15 days later by Great Lakes. As of yesterday, Great Lakes reported the new rehabbed tradeline & I got a pretty nice score boost ranging from 11-53 points across the bureaus but that also includes aging factors as well.