Here's the situation. When I bought a house a little over a 2 years ago, I made an effort to pay off a bunch of little debts... credit cards, car and student loan. I cleared off a bunch of them and got the home. Fast foward a year (2001, before I found this board), I was in the process of re-financing my house and ran a credit check on myself. Lo and behold, the student loan I thought I had paid had been reported as over 120 days late over 12 times. So I called the loan servicing group and asked what was going on. They informed me that I had quit paying on the loan and therefore the servicing group started to automatically report to the CRAs. I maintained that I did indeed pay them off, along with a bunch of others little obligations (the student loan balance was about 350 dollars). Then I did some additional research, I went looking for the cancelled check... and they were right. I didn't pay them. I couldn't find any record that I had written the check to them, so I must have had a brain cramp and just assumed that since I wasn't receiving any more invoices from them that I had paid them off. See, apparently the statements are mailed in an envelope that says DO NOT FORWARD on it. So when the servicing group sent them to my old address, the post office (I assume) just sent them back to the servicing group. Well, I paid off the debt as soon as I found that it was still open (2001). But now its sits on my file as the only derog and its probably going to interfere with my ability to secure a mortgage for another house I'm trying to purchase. Its been assigned the dreaded I5 code....pffft! Its ironic that if I had let it go to default, got the loan into rehab, then paid it off, my credit would be clear. But since I did the "responsible thing" and paid it off immediately, I'm stuck for 7 years. I guess no good deed goes unpunished. Anyway, I tried to dispute it with the CRAs.. still waiting for the 30 day time limit to expire just to see what happens. Called the servicing group and explained my situation (perfect credit before this, moved, thought I'd paid them, amount of the balance was less than 350, yada yada yada) but they really aren't inclined to help. I didn't get any indication they would change the listing from what it is to Paid As Agreed. So... has anyone else out there had a similar problem or maybe could offer some advice on how to get that derog removed? Thanks in advance for the help! Gary
