Frequently Asked Questions:
I Have A Student Loan Default On My Credit Report: Now What?
Having a student loan default on your record can severely damage your credit history. Often a defaulted student loan results in multiple negative entries - the original default plus subsequent collection agency listings.
However, simply because a negative items on your credit report does not mean that you cannot delete them. You still have options to repair your credit by removing negative, inaccurate, or unverifiable items.
What Exactly Is A Student Loan Default?
The Federal Government defines a student loan default as one that occurs when the debtor has defaulted (failed to pay) a monthly installment loan for at least 270 days. Defaulting on a student loan can have more severe consequences than failing to pay other types of debt such as a credit card or medical bill.
In cases of student loan default, you may suffer, among other things, the following: (1) wage garnishment; (2) state or federal payment offset; (3) collection fees, interest, and other costs; (4) collection via private collection agencies; (5) bad credit rating due to the loan default and collection entries on your credit report.
Can I Delete A Student Loan Default From My Credit Report?
The short answer is Yes. Disputing the credit report is easy. Getting results from the credit bureaus is amazingly difficult, complex, and infuriating. It is not a coincidence that the Federal Trade Commission receives more complaints against credit bureaus than any other type of business. Remember, the credit bureaus are primarily interested in protecting their profits. Investigating your challenge consumes these profits. Short of sparking a mass number of lawsuits, the credit bureaus seem to do everything in their power to discourage consumers from making progress in their restoration efforts.
Repairing your own credit is like repairing your own transmission or representing yourself in court; it is possible, but you must decide if you are willing to take the time and assume the risks of doing it yourself.
This All Sounds Good, But Is It Legal?
Although the credit bureaus would like to have you think otherwise, there is absolutely nothing illegal about disputing items on your credit report. In fact, it is your explicit right by law to do so. (See Fair Credit Reporting Act) Credit report repair is as legal as pleading "not guilty" in a court of law.
Do I Need To Pay My Bills?
If there are delinquent accounts appearing on your credit reports that have not been paid off, the actual debt behind the listing remains the same even if we delete the account from your credit report. You still owe the same money that you owed in the first place. If you don’t pay the debt, the creditor or collection agency could always re-report the item. So removing the listing without addressing the debt is only a temporary solution.
What Is The Fair Credit Reporting Act?
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) allows a consumer to challenge the information on his credit report on the basis of “completeness and accuracy.� If, after a reinvestigation by the credit bureau, the disputed information “is found to be inaccurate or can no longer be verified, the [credit bureau] shall promptly delete such information.
The credit bureaus are required to complete the investigation within a “reasonable period of time.; This period has been set at thirty days.
The credit bureaus can ignore the consumer dispute if they have reason to believe that the dispute is “frivolous or irrelevant.� The FTC commentary on the FCRA cites, as an example of a frivolous dispute, a dispute wherein the consumer challenges all negative items on his credit report without providing any allegations regarding specific items in the credit file. However, “A [credit bureau] must assume a consumer's dispute is bona fide, unless there is clear and convincing evidence to the contrary.
When a consumer challenges a negative credit listing on the basis of extenuating circumstances, such as health problems, divorce, job loss, etc., the credit bureaus are entitled to ignore that dispute.
When a consumer submits a dispute which is neither frivolous nor irrelevant by credit bureau standards, the credit bureau must “at a minimum... check with the original sources or other reliable sources of the disputed information and inform them of the nature of the consumer's dispute. In some cases of consumer dispute, “Reinvestigation and verification may require more than asking the original source of the disputed information the same question and receiving the same answer.
In other words, when a consumer files or re-files a valid dispute, the credit bureaus must contact the source of the credit information (the creditor) and confirm that the information is accurate, verifiable, and not obsolete. In some circumstances, the credit bureau is required to go beyond a simple verification of the creditor's own computer record. If, within 30 days, the credit bureau has not received verification from the creditor, then the credit bureau must promptly delete the credit listing.
In theory and law, the process is deceptively simple, thus leading many people to think that they can easily handle this themselves “for the price of a few postage stamps. Most quickly discover that the credit bureaus have made it much more difficult than one would imagine.
