Rehabilitation information

Writing is a waste of time....they really dont pay too much attention to letters.

How much do you currently owe? Who is collecting? Are you paying on the account? Why do you say it has fallen on deaf ears?

Thanks Soaplady,

Here is what i have been able to find out thus far:

How much do you currently owe?
Currently, I owe around $16,000

Who is collecting?
I was trying to work with EdFund, but they said it is now with a collection agency, so I guess I will have to deal with them to resolve this. Especially since EdFund has halted its loan rehabilitation program due to the fact the company that was supporting this is no longer doing so due to the current economic crisis. (According to their website).

This is what I know - Servicer is Student Loan Corporation, Lender is CitiBank ELT Student Loan Corp and Guaranty Agency is California Student Aid Commission (EdFund).

Are you paying on the account?
I stopped paying on the account last year when I lost my job. Unemployment only pays so much and I needed that to pay the basic bills to keep my home.

Why do you say it has fallen on deaf ears?
I can't seem to get the information from EdFund as to who the CA is that holds the loans. I am sure a deeper web search will tell me, as this is not on my credit report, yet, or at least as of December '08.

It is very weird that they will not tell you who the CA is collecting on the loan.....maybe call back again and tell them you want to start paying??

Ok...Edfund is not the only guarantor who has lost their rehabbing lender....Texas has has the same problem right now as do several other guarantors. So asking about rehab at this point is moot....if they dont have a rehabilitating lender, starting one is futile. IMHO, since you have a FFELP loan, your next step should be consolidation. I always recommend the Direct Loan Program thru the Department of ED.

Very interesting. I am in Texas and have not seen much of this or heard much, but who knows what the banks are doing these days. I guess I could check with my bank to see if they do this, but they are being held up by the Feds.

Ok...How will the consolidation affect my credit standing? I have issues wanting to get this repaid as soon as possible, but would like to get my credit rating back to where it was.

Also, I did find a link on EdFunds site that links to "Resolve your defaulted loan" page. Which then has an option to "set up your repayment agreement".

I guess I will follow the link to see where it gets me as it seems to request the information (name, SS#, contact info, etc.) that would verify my loan.

This seems legit...I guess I will give it a try after I get some work done this morning.

ANY FEEDBACK ON THIS OPTION WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.

BTW, I tried getting the CA info, but ended up on hold to long, so I will try that again later as well.

Your bank will probably give you a funny look...banks really dont know anything about rehab....these are all handled by student loans servicers/lenders,not your local bank.

Gotcha on the bank piece.

How about the rest...

How will the consolidation affect my credit, etc.?

Thanks again.

Also, I believe that my tax return will be taken this year to be applied to the debt, which is okay.

So again, ANY FEEDBACK AND HELP IS APPRECIATED.

Consolidation will take the loan out of default and you will get a brand new clean tradeline with your consolidating lender. Your original tradelines will be zero'd out but they will still state paid default. Those tradelines drop off 7 years from the date you defaulted and the claim was paid.

Got the CA and they were less than accommodating. I have 24 hours to come up with 10% down or they will start the garnishment process.

I guess I am stuck with that. I guess this is what happens when you wait too long.

Thanks for all of you help.

Did they do a financial statement? In order for you to be forced to a downpayment, you really have to have the ability to pay it or have the money in the bank. They cannot force you to pull it out of your bum.

They did as I was told this information "will be needed for the future lender...". I was told if I had these options: 1) pay the down payment and the have monthly payments at $275 (1.2% of the loan); 2) pay $500/mth with no down payment; 3) have it turned over for garnishment for between 15-25%.

Kinda screwed on that one.

BS....garnishment is 15% of your disposable pay....not anymore. Plus you get a 30 day notice...this gives you the ability to appeal the garnishment and enter into repayment with what you can afford.

What can you afford? Is it reasonable?? I would call back in and talk to a "qualified supervisor". Tell them what you can afford and if they refuse, simply make a phone call to the student loan ombudsman. At the same time,get your application into the Direct Loan program to consolidate.

Well, the garnishment piece is good to know.

And I was speaking to the "supervisor". He told me the garnishment would take affect within 72 hours of filing the paperwork and would be sent to my employer immediately.

I can afford the $275, but really don't like the outlay of cash.

Well, I'm still dealing with this.

I did as you suggested and ended up with the same result. I basically left the CA to their own and ended the call politely. I did contact the FSA Ombudsmans office and they were kind enough to supply me with the number for the Ombudsman's office for EdFund. Of course, all I got was a recorded message that asks for my information and issue and they would get back to me in 2-4 business days. So the drama continues. I did call back and got the operator to transfer me to the Ombudsman himself and of course, as my luck is going, he is on vacation this week. Same thing, left a message with information, etc.

I am working on the Direct Loan with DOE to consolidate.

I guess this will get more interesting as it moves along.

In case any one else needs to deal with Windham Professionals and EdFund(State of California) here is the information that was passed to me:

EdFund Ombudsman - Scot Williams - 916-526-8024

You're eleigible, and owed, by law, the chance to rehabilitate your loan through Edfund. Do not pay the collection agency.

Call EdFund: 1-800-367-1589 and do whatever you can to talk to a person.

After 9 months of payments the defaulted loans [the CASC / Edfund tradelines] will be rehabbed and removed. Don't worry about whether or not they have a lender to buy them right now.

My rehab, started in August, ends in April, and they've made an agreement with DirectLoans for consolidating the loans with them, WHILE STILL QUALIFYING FOR REHAB.

If you go straight to Consolidation, you still have the CSAC, as well as the Citibank negative tradelines on your credit. If you goto Consolidation after 3 months, you'll still have it. If you go after the 6 month-payments, you'll clear off the CSAC/Edfund tradelines. And who knows where they'll be in six months.

The Citibank tradelines will remain there no matter what. You'll have to write them Goodwill letters to try and it removed after rehab.

I was told by EdFund today a new consolidation lender was found March 15. Currently they are clearing up the backlog of consolidated loan aps and expect be caught up by May 1.

Joe,
How can a loan be rehabilitated if the DOE is no longer allowing it? I received a letter from the DOE stating that rehabilitation is suspended indefinitely. Are you saying that if you agree to give them an agreed amount for 9 months your loan will be rehabilitated? My collection agency informed me that rehabilitation is not guaranteed at this point in time. Mainly due to the economy. I even agreed to start paying on my debt knowing that my loans may never be rehabilitated. The only thing that I asked of the collection agency was to remove their outrageous collection fees. Does anybody have any advice?

The DOE is suspending rehab?? Or do you have a FFELP lender?

The collection agency doesnt add any fees. The collection fees are added by your guarantor ...all defaulted student loans are subject to these fees 60 days post default.

Yes, I received a letter from the DOE stating that rehab is suspended indefinitely, which means that it could be years before it is reinstated. The collection agency (Premeire Credit) will accept payments; however, rehabilitation is not guaranteed.

Who is the guarantor? The DOE?

According to the collection agency, only the DOE can remove the Fees. Is this correct. If I agreed to pay back my loans in one lump sum, the collection agency said that they could waive the Fees and reduce the Interest. I don`t have a problem with that. The problem is: I want to go to graduate school, but without rehabilitation, getting school loans is impossible.

Any one have experience with NCO collections out of NJ?

My loans are large = 100K. I am in the process of loan rehab. My are through Direct Loans. My question is, can they make me really pay 50% or 60% of my monthy income in a monthly payment? What is reasonable?

I defaulted on a consolidated loan from citibank because being ignorant to the fact, I didn't realize that I had consolidated only some of my loans and when I got a deferrement with the remaining student loans I thought it was also the ones with citibank. Well, I ended up defaulting with citibank, but now I'm in a repayment plan with Edfund. Well, I pulled my credit report and citibank and california student aid is reporting it as a charge off with the current status 120+ days late. Is this legal? I thought that once they charged off the debt they could no longer report it as late. Help! They're killing my credit score.

For some reason, UOP opened 4 different loans with Edfund. Two of them defaulted and I called in to setup the rehabilitation plan. I asked the represantitive why I had multiple loans and if I had any more... they could not tell me. Well,.. 2 months into making payments there were another two loans that defaulted and I had to start the rehabilitation program over again. This is several thousand dollars in defaulting collection fees alone. I'm looking into filing a complaint. I was never made aware that I had four loans.

Additionally,.. I have completed the 10 month rehabilitaiton program and I just received an email from edfund.org (noreply @ billmatrix.com) saying the following:

Message:

Your scheduled payments in the EdFund bill payment program for youraccount number ending in 5893 have been cancelled.If you would like to re-enroll and continue experiencing convenient, on-time payments or if you have questions about your EdFund account, please contact us at 1-800-367-1589.

____

I have called the phone nubmer but at no time is there an option to speak to a representative to establish payment terms.. it's completely voice automated.

Who can I call? I have no paperwork or a contact phone number.

FDSL in the amount of $41,552 plus interest of $2740 is in default, don't know if this includes $7000 from AES that was 2 semesters at another college. My 2008 income was $7250 and only $3500 so far this year. I'm 62 and now drawing retirement SS ($645) beginning in 5/09 to keep a roof over my head. Can I use income contigent repay and consolidate? What is the best way to handle this problem?
I live in an extremely low income area and have never been able to get employment that has put me above the pverty level, as I got this deferred once on this reason.
Help

I owe 87k. Just received a call for Premier credit. They offered to rehabilitate my loan @ $545.00 for 9 months. I told them I can not afford this amount. They then asked how much I made. I refused to give them the amount over the phone. I know I have to pay, but just wondering if they will settle for a lesser amount of $200 month. Anyone ever dealt with Preimier for student loan.

Any help would be greatly appriecated.

With a $87k balance, a standard rehab payment is $870 per month. Your interest is probably around $500 per month. $200 may be affordable but it is not reasonable based on your balance. I would suggest to apply immediately for a Direct Loan consolidation loan to get this resolved. SInce you have refused information, you have shown yourself to be uncooperative. Uncooperative borrowers find themselves being garnished very quickly.