Why does Sallie Mae report so many TL's when they only send me one bill?

[danny4l]

I want to know why Sallie Mae is reporting 10 derogatory accounts on my CR when they don't send me 10 separate bills.  They send me one monthly bill for all my loans.  If they sent me 10 separate bills, I'm sure I could pay at least the minimum on a couple of them so I could at least be current on a few of them. 

Do you get what I mean?

What I'm saying is shouldn't I have one derogatory account instead of 10 or however more?

Is there anything I can do about how they report these lates?  10 derogatories are killing my score and I have 180 day lates at that.

[SCF]

They are reporting 10 lates because you technically have 10 loan accounts.  Student loans are disbursed with new account numbers every semester or year (it depends) and different loan types (Perkins, unsubsidized vs. subsidized) can also generate more accounts.  Having 10 accounts after you graduate is normal.  For everyone's convenience, your payments to a single servicer are consolidated, sent on a single statement and all have the same due date.

Most lenders will let you allocate payments over the minimum to a specific loan account, but I'm not sure about partial payments.  I think that payments less than the minimum are probably applied in a standard way, you could call your lender and ask how they apply partial payments and see if it would help you out.

Have you exhausted your options for a reduced payment plan (like IBR or Pay As You Earn) and/or deferment and forbearances?

[danny4l]

Right now my loans are in deferrment as I am back in school.

Back in 2010 I was not in school and Sallie Mae never told me what my options were and I didn't know I had many.

As a result, I couldn't afford the $1200 payment so I just didn't pay them.  If Sallie Mae let me know that I could make interest only payments, I would have found a way to make those loans current.  Now I have those 180 day lates on my file till Mid- 2017.

[SCF]

The only thing to do now about those lates would be to send goodwill letters explaining the situation and hope for a modification from Sallie Mae.

Once you do graduate, take the time to educate yourself about options for your loan payments.  There are quite a few out there for federal loans, and hopefully you'll never have to miss a payment again.

[bahbahd]

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@SCF wrote:

The only thing to do now about those lates would be to send goodwill letters explaining the situation and hope for a modification from Sallie Mae.

Once you do graduate, take the time to educate yourself about options for your loan payments.  There are quite a few out there for federal loans, and hopefully you'll never have to miss a payment again.

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I thought it was a required of each person to go through an exit counseling after they complete, withdraw or even just transfer schools.. I remember 12 years ago being forced to go though several very informative pages. It was even an online process in 2001.

Sorry to tell you this OP, but trying to make the argument to Salle Mae of "you never told me anything,"  well, it will be a very hard argument to make. It's generally seen as the borrowers responsibility to keep up with your loans. You've heard the old adage, ignorance of the law is not a defense for breaking the law. 

[danny4l]

What do you think the odds are that Sallie Mae will consider removing the 180 day lates and making those accounts current; considering I'm still a student and the loans are in deferrment?

If there is any chance, who should I speak with and what should I say?

[webhopper]

You can certainly try, and a letter may have more luck than a phone call

[danny4l]

Do you have any advice in particular?  I made a phone call to them several months ago and the customer advocate talked down to me and took the liberty of reminding me that if I don't pay my electricity bill, that the electric company will turn the electricy off.

No idea why she said that but she did.

Should I send the letter to someone in particular?

[webhopper]

I would advice writing a letter to them explaining that your credit report is reporting the loan as late during this time, but that you have since re-enrolled and the loans are deferred. Ask them if they can re-adjust the reporting of the tradelines, as the loans are in deferrment.

[danny4l]

I noticed that Sallie Mae keeps saying we have to report accurately.

Technically, can removing the lates still be considered reporting accurately since there were other options available to prevent the loans from becoming past due?