Wife's Late Payments

[xXIDaShizIXx]

Hello, so my wife has 5 late payments on her student loans that are on her credit history. It is through the Dept. of Education/Nelnet. They are small amounts, but she does have one 180 day late, which I didn't know about until we looked at her reports. The others were 30 and 90s. The total amount of the late payments equals only $267. We can totally pay this amount to get her current (but we can't pay off her total loan balance). What can we do to get them current and get her lates removed from her credit reports? Thanks guys!

ALSO! Let me note that she will be applying for masters programs next year, so her loans are in deferrment right now, if that changes anything.

[SCF]

You should call the lender and arrange to make a payment for the past due balance.  You can send goodwill letters asking them to remove the late payments, but unless the lates are incorect, they are not required to remove them.  You'll definitely want to stay on top of these loans and keep them in good standing so that they don't cause issues when she tries to apply for more federal aid.

[xXIDaShizIXx]

---

@SCF wrote:

You should call the lender and arrange to make a payment for the past due balance.  You can send goodwill letters asking them to remove the late payments, but unless the lates are incorect, they are not required to remove them.  You'll definitely want to stay on top of these loans and keep them in good standing so that they don't cause issues when she tries to apply for more federal aid.

---

Yeah we understand that. Has anyone generally had any luck at getting them to remove the lates? Who would we speak to and where would we send the letters? and should she just say she will pay the past due balances in full in exhange for them removing the lates? Sorry, I've just never had to do this this before.

[SCF]

You can search these forums for other users' experiences, but its not very common for federal lenders to remove late payments unless there was some type of mistake or extenuating circumstance, or if the loan has been rehab'd (but that's also not consistent).  Offering to pay off the loans in full may help, but its really not much of a bargaining chip.  These lenders have a lot of tools to collect what they are owed, so that doesn't work quite as well as it would with a collection agency or credit card company.

Its certainly worth putting some time into getting these lates removed, but you may want to decide how much effort you're willing to invest knowing that it may not work so that you can redirect that energy to growing your score in other ways if they don't respond.

[xXIDaShizIXx]

---

@SCF wrote:

You can search these forums for other users' experiences, but its not very common for federal lenders to remove late payments unless there was some type of mistake or extenuating circumstance, or if the loan has been rehab'd (but that's also not consistent).  Offering to pay off the loans in full may help, but its really not much of a bargaining chip.  These lenders have a lot of tools to collect what they are owed, so that doesn't work quite as well as it would with a collection agency or credit card company.

Its certainly worth putting some time into getting these lates removed, but you may want to decide how much effort you're willing to invest knowing that it may not work so that you can redirect that energy to growing your score in other ways if they don't respond.

---

Yeah, I definitely understand. I would just like for her to pay the balance and show a good faith effort to them. I never let my debts go and I'm just trying to help her fix her credit and get stable (creditwise) so we can get a mortgage together eventually. I'm just building from a lack of history myself and I'm not used to dealing with negative items. If they aren't willing to work with her though, will the negatives fall off 7 years from the time she had a late payment, or is it when the balance is paid off (which may come first)? Thanks for being so helpful!

[SCF]

The lates will fall off 7-7.5 years from when they occured, and any positive history on the loan should remain for around 10 years.  Whether she pays it off now or slowly over the next 10 years will have no impact on how long those lates stay on her report.

[xXIDaShizIXx]

---

@SCF wrote:

The lates will fall off 7-7.5 years from when they occured, and any positive history on the loan should remain for around 10 years.  Whether she pays it off now or slowly over the next 10 years will have no impact on how long those lates stay on her report.

---

Thank you for being so helpful! Now I know what to do for her!