Sallie Mae changing dates

[GalinMcMahon97058]

As I understand it, companies like SM can report for either 7 or 10 years after the account was first opened.  Is that correct?

I had received loans (not from SM, never even received anything saying that I owed them a dime but I digress) in the late '90s and again from about '02-'04.  I completely dropped the ball on making payments for years until about 2 years ago when I started a rehab program which I'm still in after they sold it to SAF.

In my credit report as of today I am still being dinged on SM loans opened as far back as 1995!  I did a dispute with Equifax recently and now one of my 1995 loans is showing reported as of 2013.  This does not seem legitimate for several reasons.  Does the 7-10 years not start until the rehab start?  I have pointed out to the bureaus (incorrectly?) that it is illegal to report past 7-10 years but they just keep replying back that this is what is being reported.

Another thing that I find weird that kind of shows they may not be keeping good records is that in my 2 year payment histories, 1 month it'll show as 'ok' and the next month it'll show 90+ days late.

I have made all efforts to get on track and have contacted all 3 bureaus repeatedly but nothing is getting fixed.  Can anyone offer any suggestions?

[Rikku]

First of all, let me clear up your misconception about credit reporting periods. An account in good standing will remain on your credit report for ten years after the date that it is paid off and closed. An account in bad standing will remain on your credit report for seven years past the Date of First Delinquency, which is the date on which you fell behind on payments and never caught up again. The date that the account was originally opened has nothing to due with the time that it will remain on your credit report. I hope that this information helps you to understand your situation better. Look at it this way - if accounts opened more than 7-10 years ago were no longer reported on your CR, most people's mortgages would be off their CR 20+ years before they paid them off, which doesn't make sense.

Now, on to your question! First off, you mentioned that you have been in a rehab program for your student loans for the past two years. The loan rehabilitation program takes nine months, not two years. Are you rehabbing multiple loans one at a time? Please clarify this.

Secondly, you mentioned that you're being dinged in late payments from 1995 and that you don't believe that the account should be on your credit report anymore. Is the account still open, or have you paid it off or consolidated it? If it is paid off and closed, what date was it closed? If the account is still open, it is correctly listed on your report, though you should not be dinged for late payments made more than seven years ago.

On your question about them reporting 'Ok' one month and '90 days late' the next, have you been paying as agreed every month or not? If you have been paying at least the minimum, you'll be able to dispute the inaccurate lates - just get your records together that prove that you paid on time. If you have not been paying as agreed during this time, then the lenders are reporting accurately that you are 90 days late. I see what you mean (where are the 30 and 60 day lates prior to the 90?), but lenders do not NEED to report every month. If you routinely pay late (or did in the past) it works to your advantage that they didn't report you late every month.

[Galin]

Rikku:  Thank you for responding.  Had login troubles but I'm back!

I may have been confused about the rehab.  I did a rehab for about 9 months then my loan was picked up by SAF about 2 years ago.  

The loans from 1995/1996 were reported as recently as '09 as closed and derogatory.  I think I paid on them before I went back to school in '02 and graduated in '04.  Repayment should have started at the end of '04 but again, I never received any payment info and wasn't in a position to pay anyway if I had.  I've read that the 7 years starts from the last time you made a payment and the in-school deferral may have counted as being in repayment but the 7 years is long passed even if that is the case.

For the 30, 60, 90 day issue...no, I hadn't paid a penny between graduation in '04 and the start of rehab about 2 1/2 ish years ago.  I guess that's probably not the biggie.

So maybe SM considers rehab as being caught up so they started my next 7 years of bad credit on the day that I started paying my bills through the rehab?  I didn't actually pay to SM so maybe not??  Yikes!

[Rikku]

1995/1996: You took out one or more SLs. Are these federal loans?

Sometime after 1996: You left school and your loans went into repayment. You remember making monthly payments.

2002: You returned to school. Your original loans went into deferment since you were back in school.

2002-2004: You also took out new loans to pay for school this time around. Are these federal loans?

After 2004: Your loans went into repayment after you finished school, but you do not recall receiving correspondence about any of your loans - either the old ones or the new ones. You did not contact the lender to request deferrment or forbearance, so your loans went into default.

2011: You did the 9-month loan rehab program. Did you rehab all of your loans - old and new?

2011-present: You have paid all of your student loans as agreed.

You said that after your rehab, your loans were picked up by SAF, which currently services your loans. How does SM fit in - did they service your loans originally, before you defaulted?

So the issue is that you have multiple old TLs on your CR (under SM or SM/Dept of Ed) with a current status of closed/derogatory? You should also have a positive TL for each loan (under SAF or SAF/Dept of Ed) that start with the date that you completed rehab and SAF picked up the loan.

For the negative TLs, rehabbing a defaulted SL requires the lender to delete references to default - but unfortunately it does not require them to delete the TL entirely or delete all of the lates leading up to the default. (Some people have good luck disputing or getting the lender to remove the TL through GW, but I've read here that SM is a difficult nut to crack).

Regarding the question of when these negative TLs should fall off your CRs, some things reset the clock. I am not sure how SL rehab affects that, but maybe someone here knows. What does the TL on your CR say? It should give you a DoFD or date that the TL is scheduled to report until. If the info on your CR doesn't answer your question and nobody here knows whether rehab resets the clock, folks in the rebuilding section might be able to help you determine the DoFD.