I had a couple of student loans in 1985, they went into default in 1987 after I dropped out of school. Now would like to now take care of the loans but I'm not sure how to approach the situation. I took a hit (served my time) as my loans were reported for 7 years or so as defaulted. Eventually, they fell off of my reports, however, now Iâ??m in a better situation and would like to address this problem. Iâ??ve read most everything about student loans on this forum, however, I donâ??t believe Iâ??ve seen this question asked or answered â?? Since thereâ??s nothing on my credit report regarding these loans anymore, should I simply consolidate and move on (i.e. nothing to stay on report for another 7 years unless itâ??s re-reported) Or should I rehab them to be certain nothing is reported from this point forward? Thanks CindyQ
Watch out Cindy Q! They chuck bricks at you if you dare to say you had student loans & didn't pay them and they fell off your report and ALL is well with the world! =)
They are federal loans, don't know why my refunds were not taken. But back to my question, which way should I go? If I consolidate will these loans be re-reported and sit on my report for another 7 years... Or should I rehab and do another 12 months or so to insure they don't pop up again?
My experience is I didn't pay a dime. I'm in the same situation as you are & I am sure we are not the only ones. I just refuse to run around going, 'the sky is falling! They'll garnish my wages!'
They never took you tax refund? Are these federally backed loans? alent1234 ================ Stupidest thing to do. So why do it? THE END ** *** ** LB 59
Could you even contact the furnisher of the loans at this point? There's no contact info on your CR. I think regardless of what you do they would end up back on your report if you made any contact. A loan is a loan is a loan and if you rehabbed them (i.e. paying them) they'd almost certainly come back on your CR (though with a positive TL after rehab). Man that was a long time ago....I have no idea what you should do. Glad I could help
Take a look at the National Student Loan Data System run by the Department of Education. If it's a federally backed loan, it should be on their system. It will tell you the status of the loan and who has responsibility to handle it. http://www.nslds.ed.gov/ click the Financial Aid Review button. You will need to register to get a PIN so you can access the system. Read up on rehabbing versus consolidation. In your situation, it may not make much difference. If there are any judgments against you for the loan, however, you should consider rehabbing.
My dh's fell off of his credit reports too (it was not even 7 years since he defaulted on them either) but they still came after him and threatened to garnish his wages. He went into the rehabilitation program. The fact is that you are probably still accuring interest on these (dh's almost doubled by the time they came after him) plus they tacked on a 5,000 fee since they had to go through NCO. We just had to pay 480.00 a month for the past 12 months and they will be contacting us once the loan buyout is done and they have a payment schedule for us. They will probably eventually catch up with you at some point and time and even if it is years from now it will accrue interest the whole time. From what I understand there are no limitation on when they can come after you and they can take 10-25% of your paycheck once they do. Good luck!!
I'm more than satisfied with the prime + 0.5% interest I'm paying on my rehabbed SLs. God only knows what kind of interest the CAs were tacking on when it was defaulted (looks to be about 15%). And it's a helluva lot better than wondering when they're going to find me.
Cindy, I really hope that you choose to deal with this loan now and not ignore it in hopes that you will remain under the "radar". There is ia high probability that the federal government will find you. As others have said: 1. Interest acrrual doesn't stop, simply b/c they aren't in contact with you. 2. There is no SOL on collections of defaulted student loans. 3. Servicers do NOT need a court order or to warn you in advance in order to garnish your wages. One day, you may look up and see that part of your paycheck is just gone. 4. Servicers will offset your tax returns until the loan is out of default. Living below the radar, hoping not to be discovered, is just not a good way to live life. SouthParkDiva is giving you dangerous advise and I hope for your own well being that you ignore it. ________ As someone pointed out, the NSLDS is the first place you want to go. When you get to http://www.nslds.ed.gov/ click on "financial aid review" to get access to your records. Once you know the status and amount of your loan, work out a game plan to pay it back. Don't contact anyone yet. Just work out your budget and see what you can do. Your choices are consolidation, rehabilitation, or complete payoff. All three choices will get the loan out of default. Then contact an Ombudsmans specialist http://sfahelp.ed.gov/ombudsman/index.html and tell that person you want to do one of the three. Would they help you work with the servicer to get it taken care of? Then contact the servicer and set it up.
I wish people would stop trying to scare the poor OP. If the IRS really wanted their money they know where to find her. Give it a rest already. I'm sure she pays taxes right along with the rest of us. If they are going to garnish anything it will be her tax refunds & I don't think she's too worried about that. The IRS know they have bigger fish to fry. I have a friend who graduated from medical school and defaulted on nearly $60,000 in federal loans. They have just gotten around to notifying him.
Marci - you're posts are excellent, but I believe one piece is incorrect. A judgment for the servicer is required before a court order for garnishing wages or seizing property can be executed. The court order is required, although after a judgment, it would be pretty easy to get. In terms of the tax refunds, they are required to notify you before seizing, however they do not need a judgment or court order. Seems like a double standard, doesn't it?
That's easy for you to say. It's not your money that's at stake in this case, and you think (wrongly) that you are home free on your own defaults. I won't "give it a rest", because you're advising the poster to do something that could harm her in years to come. Please. You are so off base. They may only offset her tax refunds; but they may do that AND garnish her wages. Secondly, it's not about the IRS. It has nothing to do with the IRS. It's about the servicer and how serious that servicer and the collection agency it contracts is about getting the money back. Why you advise someone to play russian roulette with the system is beyond me. It's very irresponsible of you. Then I rest my case. Eventually they will find the person. And that person will be responsible for every CENT of accrued interest. Saying "nobody told me anything earlier" won't fly with the Federal government. Just like income taxes in arrears. Your warped logic is just like those people who claim "I didn't receive a statement for my car note, so I didn't pay it for ___ years, since no one was asking me for the money. " That's just stupid. When you SIGN A PROMISSORY NOTE, you are agreeing to repay the loan. The servicer tells you that you may not receive billing statements from them but you are STILL responsible to pay them and pay them on time. The same rules apply in default. When a loan defaults, that money is due IN FULL immediately, whether they remind you of it or not.
Re: Re: Sentence served! Student Loan My wages were garnished, but I didn't have a judgement preceding it (I don't have any public records against me anywhere) or a court order to my knowledge. You could very well be right. In my case the CA could have broken the law (they did on some other points) and I also was not opening a lot of mail during that time. But I don't think I had a formal judgement. :-/ But I saw the garnishment release in my Payroll office. That was the most embarrasing day of my life. I agree. I was notified before the tax return was taken. There are a lot of double standards in this whole business. The one that no one really knows about is the messed up NSLDS. Once there is an incorrect entry there, it is nearly impossible to fix it. And this is the "credit report" that all schools use to offer future loans. Mine is messed up and I will probably have to sue American Student Assistance to have it fixed. Even the Ombudsman's office won't touch it.
Re: Re: Re: Sentence served! Student Loan I'm not as right as I thought I was! I reviewed the USC and basically, you have the right to a hearing after being notified of their intent to garnish, but YOU must request it! If you don't respond, they can proceed with the garnishment! http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/20/1095a.html In my case, ASA notified me. I made a payment arrangement in the courthouse and the court executed an order. I'm curious about your experienes with ASA. I just rehabbed and supposedly they are vacating the court order THEN they can resell the loan.
Re: Re: Re: Sentence served! Student Loan It has everything to do with the IRS because they act as a arm of the federal government when they attach your refund. Hmmm
Re: Re: Re: Re: Sentence served! Student Loan The IRS is a vehicle to get money back; not the initiator of the offset. The servicer/collection agency is the one who decides whether to use the IRS to get monies back. So, I still stand by my first point. Collection activity has nothing to do with the IRS in as much as decision making goes.
Re: Re: Sentence served! Student Loan I believe Stdent Loan Guarantee Agencies can use something called an "Administrative Wage Garnishment" No court order is necessary! If they find out where you work they will garnish your pay!
