Lump Sum Loan Reporting?

[Anonymous]

Hello all, first post on the forum! I have been lurking here the past year gaining valuable knowledge that has helped me in my credit score journey. I have worked at two credit unions within the past year so I am fairly familiar with the inner workings of the consumer lending products but now I have stumbled across an issue that I have not been able to find an answer for, so hoping y'all know. 

CBR Account reporting: I currently have Federal Student Loans that are being serviced by Great Lakes. In total the principal balance is $11,250. However, it gets more complicated, I have a total of three loan accounts that are included in that sum ($5,500, $2,000, $3,750). The issue that is concerning to me is that they are currently reporting on my CBR as only one account, with the lump sum total. From my experience I have seen members having a separate account for each separate loan balance. I would like to see them separated if possible so that when I do graduate, I can pay off the individual loan accounts to affect my DTI ratio rather than simply lowering the balance on a larger lump sum account. I have already submitted a dispute with Transunion, and Great Lakes responded with "borrower disagrees" and Transunion closed the case, should I re-dispute and send in documentation by snail mail? I should mention that because I am still in school these loans are in deferment if that makes a difference. Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated. 

Deferment question: On my CBR it lists that the student loan account will be in deferment until 05/2019. This is based on the assumption by my university that I will be taking 4 years to complete my degree. I will actually be graduating in 05/2017. I have contacted the university financial aid office, and they said regardless I would not have to pay until 05/2019. I would like to start paying these off upon graduation, but also would like them to report a positive payment history rather then just paid off, as would be the case if I played them off while they were in deferment. Would Great Lakes or my University change this status? Neither one seems to know what they are doing.

Any help is appreciated.

[iheartwings]

With regard to reporting, TL; DR: You need to request that your loans be separated into individual loans instead of a loan group. The CB can't separate the accounts because they are just dealing with the information that they are provided by the loan company.

Loan servicers will often times group loans together into one reported big loan, particularly if they are of the same type. Also, they

may "pool" loans together to minimize the number of payments you have to make (incidentally, it also makes it more difficult to pay an individual loan down when they are in groups like this - often requiring special instructions to be sent for additional payments to be added. 

For example. I had 3 loans reporting on my CR from Navient (my current loan servicer), but in reality I had 5 loans with Navient (3 consolidation loans, 1 subsidized direct loan and a PLUS loan for my graduate education). The 3 consolidation loans were reported as one big loan, while the other 2 loans were reported separately. 

Now, when it came to payment, Navient actually pooled all 5 loans together, resulting in 1 payment per month. To pay off my smaller separately reported loans. I would pay additional each month, and then, I would have to submit a special request to have additional payments be applied to a specific loan. I've paid off 3 of the smallest loans (including one in the super large consolidated group). I have one student loan reporting on my CR (which are the remaining two consolidation loans, both of which have the same interest rate), and I just pay additional each month without having to specify the specific loan. 

I cannot answer your deferment question, though I would look at your loan promissory notes which will state when your repayment term begins. I thought you usually have a 6 month grace period after you separate from your educational institution (either by graduating or withdrawing), but I've been out of school for a while, so I don't know if that's changed. I certainly wouldn't depend on the deferment dates listed on my CR, and I wouldn't exacly trust the Financial Aid office either. The promissory note stipulates when you are to start repayment. If it is not clear, then I would go to your servicer to make sure (and document your calls).

[Anonymous]

Update: I sent an email to Great Lakes requesting that they split the account for CBR purposes. They initially responded not possible, but they did escalate to supervisor. Keeping my fingers crossed.