Credit question

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

Okay, so I have a student loan that is in mine and my mother's name. My parents take care of paying for that student loan.

They moved in September and put an incorrect address down for a change of address on said student loan. They realized a week ago that they were not receiving bills, so they called up the loan company and paid promptly.

However, the loan company still insisted upon reporting it to the credit bureaus. Even after receiving payment and listening to the issue, they claim we should've been responsible for immediately calling to find out where the bill was.

So I guess the question is what kind of recourse do we have at this point? It was a simple mistake that was immediately rectified.

On edit: I should note that both myself and my mom had nearly flawless credit to this point.

[MissB]

1. Well.... you can check your credit reports

with the big three. I think I'd check both mine and my parents'.

You can send in a letter of explanation to go on your file. I've seen examples out there - I'm sure Google would turn up something appropriate. Basically, you want to explain your side of things.

Are you sure they actually reported it to the credit bureaus?

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

2. They told us they did report it.

I'm not certain whether they have or have not.

Do you know if the letter of explanation is useful at all?

[NV Whino]

3. At the very least it gets your side out there.

And if that fails, remember that assault weapons are now legal.

[RivetJoint]

7. No they are not....

Unless you are licensed to have one..

[slackmaster]

11. You're both misinformed

There is no longer any such thing as an "assault weapon" unless your state or locality has a law that defines them.

The federal "ban" (actually a moratorium on making weapons with certain physical features) expired on September 13.

The items that used to be assault weapons in the eyes of the federal government are now just rifles, pistols, and shotguns.

[AlCzervik]

4. From their end they will say that even though

you didnt get a bill you are still responsble for the debt. I used to work in credit and thats how it is. It sucks but the credit bureau would probably work with your parents to get that taken off.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

8. Can you tell me how damaging something like this is?

[AlCzervik]

10. If it's a one time thing it will just show up as a 30 past due one time

or at least thats how things like that used to read. They have made their payments and they have a good credit history so it's not like a huge black mark on them. I think if they talk to the loan company and the credit bureau they will remove it. Now it will take some time so patience is a must, but keep on them.

[TXlib]

5. Send in a letter of explanation

But realise that the credit companies are right -- you are already aware of the debt, and you ought to be organised enough to know if you didn't get a bill.

One thing you could try is to see if the loan company offers direct payment from a checking account -- often they do, and sometimes they offer a small (maybe 0.25%) interest rate reduction for doing it this way.

Perhaps you can convince them to retract the letter if you set up automatic payment.

[skygazer]

6. You are probably out of luck

Credit companies of any sort don't have much patience with lateness for any reason. I had surgery back in January and was waiting for my first disability check. I called my credit card company and asked if it was possible to get an extension on my due date of about a week so I could avoid penalty but no go. The balance was less than $100 too. Luckily, my check showed up in time.

I would put it in writing so it was on record but I'd be surprised if it helped.

[hunter]

9. Don't worry, be happy...

This would probably be the longest thread in DU history if everyone here who has been bitten on the ass by a student loan told their long sad story.

I think if I were to tell my student loan sob story here (which, by the way is much, much worse than yours...) I would see a lot of these:

:nopity:

But the entire student loan system is vastly stupid. It is The Thing That Wouldn't Die, a great stinking monument to everything that is broken in our government and in our society.

[denverbill]

12. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

I doubt this has exactly ruined their credit rating. It's not like it went to collection. It's not like it is a repeated pattern of late payments.