Please Help!! Need Answer ASAP.

[TZLIONESS]

Hi,
To Make an extremely long story as short as possible, In 2002 I settled in full for $9800. on approx. $11K worth of student loans (Total principle owed was $8200.) I understood that according to the original SALLIE MAE bills for these loans and my credit report, that they would report settled in full and that these would fall off in Feb of 2004. Since I paid these they have reported settled in full on my credit report But, they are fighting with me as to the SOL and when they are to fall Off.
So, I wrote to them and sent copies to the Sec of State of OKLA and the SEC OF STATE started investigating into it, well that pissed off this collection agency so they have written both the sec of state & myself stating what I think is the wrong delinquent start date.
MY QUESTION IS THIS......
Jan of 1996 - I quit school.
May of 1996 - The school sent verification to Sallie Mae stating I quit.
June of 1996 - Sallie mae billed me w/ payment due in Aug of 1996.
Dec of 1996 - Sallie may billed me again w/payment due in Feb of 1997.
****I paid Nothing on either one of these bills****
Oct of 1997 - My account was turned over to this collection agency.
The Separation date used by the lender is Jan of 1996. They arent even reporting against me anymore, as of June of 2003. But this collection agency is saying that it wont fall off my report until Dec of 2004? Are they starting it from when they received my account?? Can they do this???
I need to know what date to argue my point with. I have all of this correspondance & I dont know what date to use and I have to respond to the Sec. of State... PLEASE HELP IF YOU CAN..Thank You!

[sisflomi]

Tell what the dates of settlement are and when the last and final payment was made to the ca.

[TZLIONESS]

Hi SIS.
Thanks for responding so fast!!! :P
The ca accepted my offer in writting 10-9-02. I sent payment via fedex 10-10-02. Ca sent letter of receipt 10-21-02. Please also know that never made payment to the original creditor (salliemae) or the ca since I quit school in jan of '96 until this settlement of oct of '02. From some of the paper work I have from sallie mae they started billing me in June of '96, which I never paid, and again in dec of '96 wanting payment by Feb of '97.
Also, Sallie Mae and Bank of OKLA(which was the lender that sallie mae was guarantee to) used to report to my credit but they both fell off this year and haven't reported again against me.

Any help would be appreciated....Do you think that they have re-aged this to when they received it in their office?

[sisflomi]

Hi SIS.
Thanks for responding so fast!!! :P
The ca accepted my offer in writting 10-9-02. I sent payment via fedex 10-10-02. Ca sent letter of receipt 10-21-02. Please also know that never made payment to the original creditor (salliemae) or the ca since I quit school in jan of '96 until this settlement of oct of '02. From some of the paper work I have from sallie mae they started billing me in June of '96, which I never paid, and again in dec of '96 wanting payment by Feb of '97.
Also, Sallie Mae and Bank of OKLA(which was the lender that sallie mae was guarantee to) used to report to my credit but they both fell off this year and haven't reported again against me.

Any help would be appreciated....Do you think that they have re-aged this to when they received it in their office?

Ok, so you never entered a repayment plan at all? I might leave this alone and let it fall off on its own in 2004. They could really mess this one up for you and get you another 7 years of reporting. They can start the 7 year reporting period from the time that they first get it and report it to cras.

Do you know what date the ca reported this to the cra?

Here is the law dealing with reporting student loans.

Sec. 1080a. - Reports to credit bureaus and institutions of higher education


(a) Agreements to exchange information



For the purpose of promoting responsible repayment of loans covered by Federal loan insurance pursuant to this part or covered by a guaranty agreement pursuant to section 1078 of this title, the Secretary, each guaranty agency, eligible lender, and subsequent holder shall enter into agreements with credit bureau organizations to exchange information concerning student borrowers, in accordance with the requirements of this section. For the purpose of assisting such organizations in complying with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.), such agreements may provide for timely response by the Secretary (concerning loans covered by Federal loan insurance), by a guaranty agency, eligible lender, or subsequent holder (concerning loans covered by a guaranty agreement), or to requests from such organizations for responses to objections raised by borrowers. Subject to the requirements of subsection (c) of this section, such agreements shall require the Secretary, the guaranty agency, eligible lender, or subsequent holder, as appropriate, to disclose to such organizations, with respect to any loan under this part that has not been repaid by the borrower -

(1)

the total amount of loans made to any borrower under this part and the remaining balance of the loans;

(2)

information concerning the date of any default on the loan and the collection of the loan, including information concerning the repayment status of any defaulted loan on which the Secretary has made a payment pursuant to section 1080(a) of this title or the guaranty agency has made a payment to the previous holder of the loan; and

(3)

the date of cancellation of the note upon completion of repayment by the borrower of the loan or payment by the Secretary pursuant to section 1087 of this title.

(b) Additional information



Such agreements may also provide for the disclosure by such organizations to the Secretary or a guaranty agency, whichever insures or guarantees a loan, upon receipt of a notice under subsection (a)(2) of this section that such a loan is in default, of information concerning the borrower's location or other information which may assist the Secretary, the guaranty agency, the eligible lender, or the subsequent holder in collecting the loan.

(c) Contents of agreements



Agreements entered into pursuant to this section shall contain such provisions as may be necessary to ensure that -

(1)

no information is disclosed by the Secretary or the guaranty agency, eligible lender, or subsequent holder unless its accuracy and completeness have been verified and the Secretary or the guaranty agency has determined that disclosure would accomplish the purpose of this section;

(2)

as to any information so disclosed, such organizations will be promptly notified of, and will promptly record, any change submitted by the Secretary, the guaranty agency, eligible lender, or subsequent holder with respect to such information, or any objections by the borrower with respect to any such information, as required by section 611 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681i);

(3)

no use will be made of any such information which would result in the use of collection practices with respect to such a borrower that are not fair and reasonable or that involve harassment, intimidation, false or misleading representations, or unnecessary communication concerning the existence of such loan or concerning any such information; and

(4)

with regard to notices of default under subsection (a)(2) of this section, except for disclosures made to obtain the borrower's location, the Secretary, or the guaranty agency, eligible lender, or subsequent holder whichever is applicable

(A)

shall not disclose any such information until the borrower has been notified that such information will be disclosed to credit bureau organizations unless the borrower enters into repayment of his or her loan, but

(B)

shall, if the borrower has not entered into repayment within a reasonable period of time, but not less than 30 days, from the date such notice has been sent to the borrower, disclose the information required by this subsection.

(d) Contractor status of participants



A guaranty agency, eligible lender, or subsequent holder or credit bureau organization which discloses or receives information under this section shall not be considered a Government contractor within the meaning of section 552a of title 5.

(e) Disclosure to institutions



The Secretary and each guaranty agency, eligible lender, and subsequent holder of a loan are authorized to disclose information described in subsections (a) and (b) of this section concerning student borrowers to the eligible institutions such borrowers attend or previously attended. To further the purpose of this section, an eligible institution may enter into an arrangement with any or all of the holders of delinquent loans made to borrowers who attend or previously attended such institution for the purpose of providing current information regarding the borrower's location or employment or for the purpose of assisting the holder in contacting and influencing borrowers to avoid default.

(f) Duration of authority

Notwithstanding paragraphs (4) and (6) [1] of subsection (a) of section 605 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681c(a)(4), (a)(6)), a consumer reporting agency may make a report containing information received from the Secretary or a guaranty agency, eligible lender, or subsequent holder regarding the status of a borrower's defaulted account on a loan guaranteed under this part until -

(1)

7 years from the date on which the Secretary or the agency paid a claim to the holder on the guaranty;

(2)

7 years from the date the Secretary, guaranty agency, eligible lender, or subsequent holder first reported the account to the consumer reporting agency; or

(3)

in the case of a borrower who reenters repayment after defaulting on a loan and subsequently goes into default on such loan, 7 years from the date the loan entered default such subsequent time

[TZLIONESS]

Im Sorry, after reading back thru this mess I realized that I was misleading about some of this info.... The agency that I have delt with is the original guarantor of my loans, when I left school (Jan-'96) they turned it over to Sallie Mae to try to start a pay plan with me. Sallie Mae tried to get payment from me from July of '96 thru Feb of '97, then they turned it back to the guarantor and the guarantor is saying that this went into default in Dec of '97. So, basically on my credit report they are saying that I defaulted in Dec of '97, which is almost 2 yrs after I left school and almost a 1 1/2 years that they had tried to get payment from me before reporting a default.
I thought that the date of the statute of limitations always starts from the date of delinquency plus 180 days, which would have been a default date of Feb 1997, not Dec 1997. Which would make this loan fall off my credit in Feb of '04 not Dec of '04

[sisflomi]

Well, you see, thats where everyone is wrong, not everything goes that way for reporting. Read through what I posted and you will see, they have right in there that not withstanding the fcra, they can report for the limits it shows. Just see what it says for your case and figure it out from there.

[michigangirl530]

Well, you see, thats where everyone is wrong, not everything goes that way for reporting. Read through what I posted and you will see, they have right in there that not withstanding the fcra, they can report for the limits it shows. Just see what it says for your case and figure it out from there. well i guess im screwed

[kb9tbq]

(1) 7 years from the date on which the Secretary or the agency paid a claim to the holder on the guaranty;

(2) 7 years from the date the Secretary, guaranty agency, eligible lender, or subsequent holder first reported the account to the consumer reporting agency; or

(3) in the case of a borrower who reenters repayment after defaulting on a loan and subsequently goes into default on such loan, 7 years from the date the loan entered default such subsequent time

Think they are making this look misleading or other wise I am reading it wrong...

(1) If it is positive - then it should technically be 10 years reporting. If negative, then they are making this out to be the same punishment as a tax lien! Which I had not seen or read anything up to this point saying they would be allowed to do so.

(2) is not making much sence either... 7 years from open date or asign date be it original creditor or collection agency?!?

(3) is messed up too, usually repayment is for the statute of limitations... but government loans have no statute of limitations to begin with... so why do they get to apply it to reporting an additional 7 years.

This needs further review... I have had defaulted student loan, and it came right off when I had expected it to using the regular reporting rules shown in the FCRA. Something is wrong with this - :evil:

[michigangirl530]

glad u see something there doing me the same way

[sisflomi]

Thats part of the US TITLE CODE too. We turned this one upside down. And it seems that if you don't pay as agreed, they have worked it out to screw you for a long time.

[kb9tbq]

I admit I don't know much about there... my crossing was but brief since I was disabled at the time... and with a doctors letter - poof they forgave the debt. None the less I will / when I have the chance grill our rep at one of the agencies when I talk to him again - he has not steered me wrong on things yet. May be fortunate that the CRAs just don't make it a practice to comply with this (hopefully) just don't know with them all doing things their own way on these matters.

[sisflomi]

May be fortunate that the CRAs just don't make it a practice to comply with this (hopefully) just don't know with them all doing things their own way on these matters.

Thats what I think too kb. I have had two of the folks here help me turn this upside down for Michigangirl. I thought it was crazy, how can they report for 7 years after the debt is paid off? It says so right there. I learned that the "not withstandind fcra" means that it dont matter what fcra says, they can do it their own way.

Thats why I say op should leave it alone and let it fall off in 2004. They paid it in 2002, which means they could report it until 2009 if they wanted to.

[michigangirl530]

im gonna scream i want it off its a collection agency so that means that they csn do what want?

[kb9tbq]

See that just stumps me, because all along I had been telling people when they contacted our office that it would come off regularly, just that there was no sol on these... going to have to go back and talk to my boss about this matter and see what he can tell me on this.

[sisflomi]

lol, kb, maybe you should not talk to him about it. Might get some very po'd consumers on your end!!!!

[kb9tbq]

Well, it is important to re-address this matter so we don't instruct consumers incorrectly on this matter.

Won't be the first time... but we ae here to keep on top of these things for the consumers as well as the businesses which we serve. And this is very important since I have to update credit reports here, by the rules. We see student loans ALL the time on credit reports... they are a nightmare already with the dupe reporting problem!

[michigangirl530]

u no i thought the same thing. until i contacted the bbb and the letter was sent to me im just wondering who i can contact if the title over ride the fcra if in fact it does that will b messed up b/c some people hav lots on report and if it keeps going from one agency to another then it will be on there for life. thats acary

[michigangirl530]

contacted ftc was told that it was not a violation for collection agencies or original creditors to report student loans from date it was paid to my understanding is if u hav not paid ur student loan in 10 years and u decide to pay it it reports 7 years after uve paid it

[sisflomi]

Yes, that just how it can go Migirl. Its sad, but what can we do? OP should leave it alone see, cause they could report from 2001 for another 7 years.

[michigangirl530]

u no i called everyone ag,ftc department of ed collections and they all told me the same thing. i hav just that one on experian i feel sorry for people that have more than one they can be on there for ever until paid and that sucks

[kb9tbq]

Ok, I followed up on this with my boss here... and he was as suprised as me on this matter.

Will try to research further and see if some of our contacts with the CRAs can clarify on this. BUT he agrees with me... that just because it says one thing - does not mean the CRAs will honor it. They tend to set their own standards individually on certain matters and just stick to them as they see fit. So their may be hope in this matter, but only time will tell - unless we can find something else to the opposite to dispute with.

[michigangirl530]

the ftc told me that i just dont understand not saying ur wrong i just need to see this law and if it overrides fcra