Student Loan Ombudsman

Hi Paul,

First, I wanted to thank you for offering such a great site for those of us who are faced with broken credit.  Your site and its information truly is a breath of fresh air for all of us who are so very frustrated with the seemingly impossible endeavor of repairing our credit.

Now, to the question at hand. . . In 2004, I left the country for 2 years to do missionary work overseas.  Before I left, I informed Citibank (my student loan agency) of my plans, and my loans were put on a deferment.  This deferment was good for 1 year, and was supposed to be renewed by myself after that time.  About a year into my missionary work, though, my mother was diagnosed, and later passed away, with cancer.  During that trying time, many things were neglected, including my student loans. 

Then, Citibank sent me a letter in 11/26/05 that my loans were going to default to Edfund if I failed to take action.  So, I wrote to Citibank on 12/2/05 & requested additional deferment time.  They granted my request on 1/6/06.  However, in the 30 days it took for them to process the deferment, Edfund purchased my student loans and qualified them as defaulted.  I then had to request that Citibank do a “courtesy repurchase” of my loans, which they did.  Citibank pulled my loans out of default & set me up on my original payment terms. I have maintained a current payment history ever since.

The problem is, when I just checked my credit report, the reporting for these loans has not been updated since 12/05, & they are being reported as “Claim filed with government for insured portion of balance on loan”.  Since they have been repurchased, and I have been current with my payments for the past year, what is the best approach with Citibank to have this information corrected?  I understand I made a major mistake, and will most likely have to pay the consequences of this for a long time.  However, I do want creditors to be aware of my recent good history, as well, & not just the bad.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Henry

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Hello Henry,

You’ll need to make your appeal to a supervisor at Edfund.  If unsuccessful, then call the student loan ombudsman. 

Thefreedictionary.com defines ombudsman as:

“A man who investigates complaints and mediates fair settlements, especially between aggrieved parties such as consumers or students and an institution or organization.”

According to Edfund.org the following steps should be followed before contacting the Ombudsman:

• Determine if EDFUND is involved with your loan and issue, if possible
• Determine the issue(s) that you want assistance with
• Define what resolution you are seeking, if any
• If possible, contact the EDFUND office that is designated to handle your type of issue and try to resolve it there
• Chronicle any action you have already taken to resolve your issue
• Have any pertinent documents available that you wish to discuss: loan information, payment records, dates and names of prior conversations

Henry, here is the contact information for Edfund’s Ombudsman. 

Thanks for the questions and hope this helps.

Paul

(source=thefreedictionary.com/ombudsman)

(source=edfund.org/edfund/edcentral.cfm?edfpage=/edfund/news_library/ombudsman.html)