My Student Loan Nemesis

I have one account number that StudentLoan has been billing me under since the approval of my student assistence. They recently charge me off because they have been reporting 8 diffent accounts to the credit bureau and I refused to pay until they cleared my credit. I have transcripts for their company proving that it was always referred to as “my account”. This charge off reduced my credit score by 130 points. How can I fix this to improve my credit score? Is there a type of law that deals with this type of case?

Kolin

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Hello Kolin,

One check may be written each month to pay all of your student loans, yet student loans commonly report as multiple tradelines based on the multiple disbursements you received – typically, one per semester.  In addition, student loans are at the top of the list for duplicate tradelines. 

I hate to tell you this, but neither of the above are valid reasons for not paying your student loans.  Since I’m the bearer of bad news, I must also let you know that student loans exist in their own world of credit reporting and there is no statute of limitations on their enforceability.

The good news is Loan Rehabilitation Requirements have been loosened.  NCLC Reports (Vol 25, Nov/Dec 2006): “Borrowers now need make only nine on-time payments within a consecutive ten-month period in order to rehabilitate their loans.  Previously, twelve consecutive timely payments were required”.

Sorry I don’t have more cheery stuff to write. 

I appreciate the question and words of caution to others. 

Hang in there.

Paul

P.S. If in the future you discover that additional tradelines are added to your credit report from a collection agency collecting on these student loans then, at that time, the guarantee agency is required to delete its tradeline.