Hiya. Followed the newbie advice and have been reading for many, many hours over the last several weeks and think I'm ready to get started. What's really got me going now is that I've been accepted to a big-deal art school and I'm trying to finance my education. I'm 46, retired cop (on disability), and have less-good credit. The school has figured out a financial aid award package which after scholarship and regular student loans leaves me 9k/yr. shy on the tuition. Applied twice online and was told that I need a co-signer. I'm planning, pending what I learn here, to visit my bank and ask them in person for a loan (so I can explain the situation to them). School starts at the end of August. If this doesn't work out I'll hopefully get my report cleaned up by the end of the year and get the credit on my own. Is it advisable to visit my bank in person, with my CreditExpert printout and explain to them that I am not responsible for one TL and will be challenging the others? [Should I start another thread for the other questions?] 1) My multi-report from CE doesn't show any account numbers. How do I dispute? I tried to dispute online and was told I couldn't. 2) I have some old student loans that show 30, 60, 90, 120+ lates. I thought that the deferments and forbearance would have taken care of those? Then I got a consolidation loan. Could I just call them? Or, shall I send the VL? Thanks to everyone for all the good stuff here.
I don't know if this will be helpful to your personal situation - but it might. With your disability, you *may* be eligible for federal or state grants toward your education and that avenue may be worth exploring. Not only that, there may be grants designed specifically for former cops, or former cops on disability, that the school doesn't know about. After all, they can't know about everything out there! For example, I'm aware of one 36 year-old divorced woman with five children who was eligible for a state-program [ of course the feds funded it....] which paid the FULL-TUITION for her education. This was a program designed for women who were at a turning point, who needed to become educated, or skilled, to be self-sufficient and women of all ages were accepted. She began her quest at Catholic Community Services, and they helped by pointing her into appropriate programs or toward individuals who knew the world of grants. CCS, like the Lutherans and other major churches, are a national organization and if they can't help-- they'll get you to someone who can. [And you don't even have to be a Catholic....!] As one individual said here, libraries are our friends. If you're near a state or large urban library, there are research librarians who can help point you in the right direction. Don't hesitate to telephone the Reference Desk. They're more than happy to help, they'll e-mail, and they'll return telephone calls. Just my perspective, I've always found librarians and research librarians to be extraordinarily helpful and I'm sure there are many out there who'd be delighted to help. In reading your story, I think there may possibly be a dual-pronged approach as you work on your credit. But.....that said, records are our friends, too. I'd document, on paper, with CMRR or whatever may be appropriate, the journey. People change jobs, conveniently "lose" letters, or fail to input information when someone is speaking to them on the telephone. Document - everything. If it's not been thoroughly explored, consider the grant route too because there really is a mountain of money out there for people.
i appreciate the thoughts about grant-seeking. good ideas and i'll get right on those; now that the deadline has passed and i won't be going to school yet. went to the bank where i've been banking for years to ask for a student loan. they offered only a signature loan at 19%-25%. obviously i declined. now comes the fun stuff with the cretiors and CA's.
quote: __________________________________________________________________________ Originally posted by agentsmith: 2) I have some old student loans that show 30, 60, 90, 120+ lates. I thought that the deferments and forbearance would have taken care of those? Then I got a consolidation loan. Could I just call them? Or, shall I send the VL? __________________________________________________________________________ Let me know how this turns out as I am in a very similar situation. I was also under the impression that forebearance periods would prevent 90+,120+...from appearing on the TL. Da Bears
