I have 2 90 day lates from Jan/2008 listed. They sent me documentation in regards to my forbearance requests at that time. The status history is confusing and could actually be construed to mean that I was in forbearance at the time of the lates. I been arguing this with them for months, including BBB complaints. Has anyone had any type of luck with Sallie Mae in removing late payments? I think I have a decent argument. Why would I let the account go late when I have tools like forbearance and deferrment that I have used in past.
Anyone have any contact info for them besides the "office of the customer advocate" address?
Starting Scores(Jan/2011): EQ 564 TU 538 EXP 576
The question is, are the lates valid? Most places send out notices and make phone calls to you when you are past due. This is done in an effort to get you back on track and stop the lates.
Most people have to understand that on all of the forebearance forms, it specifically says to continue making all payments until you receive the notice that it has been approved. I guess I am trying to understand how the paperwork you have can be "construed" as you having been in forebearance. Normally those forms are pretty clear.
Anyhow, if they are saying you were not in forebearance, then likely you will not be able to get those removed as it is correct. I recommend just keep making all of your payments on time going forward, and as the lates age, then they will hurt your FICO less.
NO, the lates are invalid. Unless you come from the school of thought that the "banks are always right, and consumers always wrong." I think I may have to go to small claims court to fix this. Anyone have any experience taking on a creditor in small claims court?
@randaljon wrote:NO, the lates are invalid. Unless you come from the school of thought that the "banks are always right, and consumers always wrong." I think I may have to go to small claims court to fix this. Anyone have any experience taking on a creditor in small claims court?
No, i do not come from a school of thought that banks are always right and consumers always wrong, but I do expect the consumer to be able to provide that the bank is wrong just as I would expect a bank to be able to prove that a consumer is wrong. If this lates truly are NOT valid, please explain what the reason is that they are not valid, and what reasoning the bank is giving you that they are valid. I do not take sides in these boards, but give the facts. Many people get caught up in the emotions of their finances (which is understandable), but that does not make them right. If you are not getting anywhere with the regular CSRs, then try googling for Sallie Mae Customer Relations, or the Presidents office. But you need to be prepared to substantuate your claim with facts, else, unfortunately you will continue to get no where.
@Booner72 wrote:Sallie Mae has done the exact same thing to me. They have 90 day lates listed for a month in 07 and a month in 08. But no 30 or 60's leading up to it so I know they are wrong. In Nov I disputed thru CRA's and it came back verified. I have to live with this, tho, because they are some of my longest accounts and I'm nearly certain that they will just delete the entire tradeline if I throw a bigger fit - years and years of me paying on time and or being in deferment. I spent an hour on the phone w/ them on Friday and got nowhere. (My loan w/ them is paid as I switched to DirectLoans in 09).
This has happened before where sometimes the banks will only report the "worst" late on your credit report. If these truly are not lates, then I would followup on having them removed. Sallie Mae cannot just remove a tradeline that should be reporting as a "good history" just because you are requiring them to correct a mistake on your report. My suggestion would be to provide proof to Sallie Mae that the payments were made on time. Speak with your bank and get copies of your bank statement to show this and they should be more than willing to remove the lates. If not, then it will be time to take the action further.
Tazman,
I received documentation from Sallie Mae, the forms show that my loans were in forbearance at time I was hit with 90 day lates. They say I filed for forbearance after I was already late and it was not retroactive, but no documentation shows that. I been disputing with them for months. What's worse is Sallie Mae broke my loan up into 2 parts. So I am being hit with 2 90 day lates back in January of 2008. It sucks because I have excellent history besides this instance and I still owe 5500 on this loan. I went to this unaccredited school that overcharged for 2 semesters. It's just been a total waste of money. I didn't get any benefit from this loan at all but still paying it. All I want is the reporting corrected. But Sallie Mae could care less.
Interesting update to the Sallie Mae lates...got a score alert that my score increased but no real reason was shown. went to credit karma account and updated score and it said I had 3 derogs from sallie mae fall off, removed etc. So today i pulled my transunion report and sure enough they are showing as removed. However, I figured I would same some green, so i pulled my reports via annual free credit report site when I got the alert four days ago and the info was not showing on those, curiosity got the best of me hence why I paid for the transunion on here.
The GW letter I sent was last year sometime and I have not called them in forever, I felt like I was in a loosing battle with them. Maybe some hope that they saw the error of the ways and fixed my report?!?! I wont look a gift horse in the mouth, I got a 9 point increase by loosing those 3 sallie mae 30 day lates 
which were not at 7 years yet, i had another 1.5 years before those hopefully falling off themselves.