Forbearance Question--Please Help!

[MzDandylion0527]

Good Morning,

Quick question for you experts out in cyberland. I apologize if someone has already answered this, but I could not locate it on the forums. I had four late ACS loans showing up on my credit report pulled August 10th 2011 (two 31+ days, two 61+ days). I have filed a forbearance and it was approved as of June 14,2011. My question is, if the forbearance was applied as of June 14th, wouldnt that mean the lates that were previously reported shouldn't exist? Shouldn't they be removed because the forbearance is technically retroactive? I'm assuming my credit report took a big hit from the lates already. Currently, I am about 46-50 points from where I would like to be. Should I assume that now that the accounts show as current that I would get these points since the hit was already taken in the point drop? Any advice would be appreciated.

[Tazman81]

As much as I wish I knew the answer to this, unfortunately I cannot say with 100% certainty.  There have been some people that have been able to get the lates removed from their credit report with the forebearance being retro-active.  But then I have read from others that a company only retroacts the forbearance so that you do not have to come up with the payments for the months that you should have been paying.  They still consider you to have been late as you did have a payment due at that time.

Was the forebearance something that the SL company should have had on file the whole time and it was their error, or were they they just "being helpful" so that you wouldn't have to come up with months of missed payments?  Do you know?

[MzDandylion0527]

The forbearance was all me. It was my own fault for allowing it to become late in the first place. So, technically I did miss those payments. I suppose I just dont understand why make it retroactive if it would still pull your score down by making it report as late. If its retroactive then it means it wasnt due therefore it cant be late. Why not just make it effective from the date I applied for the forbearance (in August)? I suppose what you said about the money not being due makes the most sense. I just feel like if its retroactive, its retroactive...including the hit I took on my credit report.

Should I try to contact someone at ACS to get the late marks possibly removed? Is this even something that is allowed?

[Tazman81]

Sure thing.  You can always contact them to plead your case, but just be prepared to make more than 1 contact with them.  Normally the front line representatives are not the ones that would be able to make that change to your account, but you can call and ask who you should contact or if they can direct you to the correct department.  The only thing they can do is say no.  And if that happens, then you are not in any worse of a place than you are already, so you can only go up right. 

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[MzDandylion0527]

Good News (I think)

I pulled my FICO TU and EQ scores today and all student loan accounts are reporting as current with no lates!

[Tazman81]

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@MzDandylion0527 wrote:

Good News (I think)

I pulled my FICO TU and EQ scores today and all student loan accounts are reporting as current with no lates!

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Congrats.  You will just have to keep an eye on it especially if you are going to make a large purchase sometime in the future.  This way you will not be caught off guard if they are mysteriously back up there.  So, just plan any large purchases with enough notice that you can check your credit report, and then go from there.  Keep up the good work and those scores will continue to go up.