FYI: This article is presently inaccurate. For starters, the .gov uses TransUnion. Equifax? 800. TransUnion? 0. BS.

I have some really basic questions if anyone knows - I don't have fantastic credit (college credit card debt, a couple 90-day-lates, etc.) but I have been making consistent and (mostly) on time payments on all of my debt for the last year and a half/2 years now. Will this affect my application or are they only concerned with debt that is currently in collections?

What? The student loan people most definitively use Equifax and Equifax only, see my answer below for more details. You are right on presently inacurrate though, some regulation things changed 6 months ago apparently.




Basically I recently was called and told I had failed a credit test for future student loans. I thought there was a mistake because my credit is good. I called and initiated an appeal and was told I had something under collections. I checked my credit scores and despite my history being near flawless I did have a single $47 collections note from what appears to be 5 or 6 years ago. I have no idea where this came from, and no one ever pursued me for it... I disputed it with TransUnion and Equifax, Transunion got rid of it within a few days, Equifax is still pending. The appeals people said they only use Equifax, but I might be able to offer evidence of the charge being a mistake through my TransUnion report, but if Equifax gets rid of it I'm golden.

I asked them why this was never an issue for my 1L loan, they said that in November or December of last year (2011) the interpretation of their regulations changed. They do not offer loans to anyone with "adverse" credit. Any unpaid collection history, $1 or less, is now considered adverse credit and auto disqualifies you. Although if you can show you are paying it off, or have already payed it off you jump that hurdle. Obviously if you prove that it is a mistake and not debt you are liable for you're in the green. I was just surprised with a near decade of paying credit cards off every month. Paying off a auto loan, and having unused lines of credit and a great overall score a $47 random collection note from many years ago will completely disqualify you unless you deal with it.

To answer your question, they are basically only concerned with collections.

I had a quick question. I defaulted on my previous student loan due to a horrible mix up between different lenders, I then consolidated my loans (defaulted and not defaulted) into 1 large installment account that I pay on regularly. On my Equifax it shows those old loans as "Paid" or "Closed" with a $0 balance. However some say "current" under status and some say 120 days late even though its "paid"

Will I be able to talk to fin aid folks about this. I know the rules say evidence of default on any title IV funding in past 5 years will cause denial of gp loan. But I am confused about the language does that mean I will be denied if its in current default status or will it be okay since I consolidated it and have a new installment account with the total sum of all of them?

I've been out of the game for a while, didn't think I'd even seriously take the steps to go to grad school when I was an undergrad, although wanted to.
So here's my issue, CH 7 will be 4 years old in the first year. I doubt the bureaucrats make exceptions(and I'm a fellow bureaucrat) unless there's an advocate office, but what is a cosigner? I can't find exclusions on this. I'm assuming if a cosigner can be a parent, could it be a wife? It just seems really 'close in the family' to be a cosigner, but legally I guess it's valid. Correct?

Submitted my appeal for a second year in a row this morning. Wish me luck!

Does anyone know if 'cosigner limits' come into effect? My cosigner for my private UG loans wasn't allowed to cosign for my final private loan in UG b/c she was 'cosigned for the limit'...just wondering if this will prevent her from cosigning for Grad PLUS?..

And we're approved, again. What a senseless pain in the ass.

On m credit report at states that an account was transferred to another office, will this have a negative effect on the approval of my grad plus loan? Anyone's help is greatl appreciated . Thank you in advance.

Only if it is seriously past due, in collections, or a chargeoff.

Thank you very much "DocHawkeye." I'll be applying for a grad plus loan next year. Is there a way I can contact you for help if I have anymore questions about what to do if I need to appeal(can we exchange emails)? Congratualtions on your success .

The appeals process is pretty simple and the group that handles it is very easy to work with, buy you can always shoot me a private message on here if you have questions.

Can anyone give me an idea as to what documents you sent? I know that when I called equifax they said they do not send out hard copies at all. When I spoke to the student loan co., they said I could print out my credit report from equifax and send that in (which shows that I have been paying my accounts for more than 6 months and my other ones were paid off), but I am afraid they will say they want more documentation than just the credit report.


So for those that have negative credit card history, which documentation did you send?

I've always gotten letters directly from the creditors stating that the account is in good standing or has been settled or whatever.

Tag

Initiated an appeal after being denied for "account in collection" and "charge off account".

I immediately contacted the creditors for the adverse accounts and negotiated for a "settled in full" and a "settled for less than the full balance" for the other. I faxed the settlement letters along with my credit report to a number provided in my appeal e-mail.

The impression I got from the PLUS loan people (haven't heard back from the appeals people) is that as long as I settle the adverse accounts and obtain a zero balance I should be okay. However, at .gov it says a "paid in full" or "six consecutive payments" are required.

I am worried that because I settled for less I will still be denied. Can anyone give me some insight? Will my documentation be sufficient?

Thanks everyone.

I'm super nervous because I'm in the process of appealing and it's taking me forever to get letters from my creditors showing that my accounts have been settled (due to moving/forwarded mail, etc). It's now July 11th and my school expects a payment on July 20th. I'm just wondering if anyone knows how fast the process will go once I'm approved (hopefully). Let's say I receive the letters I need tomorrow and fax them in tomorrow, do you think it's possible that I will get approved and have that info sent to my school before the 20th? Or should I just go ahead and jump off that cliff now??

P.S. I have read all the comments in this forum twice now and it was very helpful in this process so thank you all very, very much! It also got rid of the nerves I had when I first got denied, which of course are the same nerves that have returned now that this has been taking so long to get resolved [sigh]. I missed a call from my appeal person on June 29th and I've been calling him at least once a day since then (minus weekends) and have left numerous voice mails but I've yet to hear back from him. I eventually got over waiting and asked someone else what I could do and she just told me to fax in whatever I have (even though I'm still not exactly sure what they need from me). I feel like I'm just having the worse luck ever since everybody else is available to talk except the person I need to talk to. He said he sent me an email which states what I need to send in but I never received that email. So I'm just so frustrated because everything that can go wrong has already gone wrong!

P.P.S. I know my p.s. was super duper long so the p.p.s is just to apologize for that. Now I shall head to bed before I go crazy. [sigh again] [screams] [more sighs]

If the letters say anything about the account being "settled" you should be ok. I appealed using oe that stated that the acount was settled for less that the full balance and they would "take no further collection action" and got appvoed on appeal.

As far as the speed of the process, one I submitted my documents it took about two or three days to get my appoval. I seem like it will take another day or so to let the school know. I don't know how fast the actual cash become available though.

Thank you very much! I still haven't gotten this resolved and my school is expecting to be paid tomorrow! The loan people told me that I should hear something between 3-5 days from last Friday but the last time they told me someone was going to call me, I never heard anything and the guy I left the voice mails for never called back. Nothing short of a miracle can make this happen by tomorrow so I'm just trying not to pull out all of my hair by individual strands.

DocHawkeye, thanks for sharing your experience appealing and getting approved--it was helpful for the 7 days I was freaking out about being denied.

Just to share, I was also approved after sending in documents that verified I had settled the adverse accounts that got me denied. I sent the documents in last Wednesday and heard back via email today (about 7 business days).

I'm sure you already have done this, but ask your school for an extension pending your appeal. I'd imagine they'd rather receive full tuition late as opposed to none at all.

Here is my status guys.

Equifax report ~~~

Score: 654

Negative accounts = 3

1. Car repossession on 06/2007 (over 5 years)
2. Credit card charged off 12/2006 (closed account over 5 years)
3. Verizon wireless charge-off from 02/2008 ($0 balance...I settled and paid them).

Collection accounts = 0

-------------------------------------------------------------------

What are the chances of me being approved? I read that they don't count things that are over 5 years old...is that true???

Btw...the repossession has also been paid off via a settlement. So the balance is $0 on it. The only thing I haven't paid off is the credit card charge off from 2006.

After sending the requested information over 7 days ago, I am still waiting to hear back on this stupid appeal! I have called to follow up to see if they need any additional information, and I am getting the cold shoulder at this point. Any advice on what to do? School starts in 2 weeks, and I cannot concentrate at all! My loan was already approved loan, but because my school certified it more than 90 days after the initial credit check, I had to do a new credit check all over again, and it was denied for the same reason that was successfully appealed less than 2 months ago! Now it is taking FOREVER for the new appeal, and it is the same freaking information! What should I do?!

I was denied a Direct PLUS loan today, and you're able to click on a link for "details" about being denied. Some of the information included in my credit "details" is:



It seems that Direct PLUS is either switching to TRANSUNION or using multiple credit bureaus in order to calculate "adverse credit."

I plan on calling the Collection Agency tomorrow morning and resolving the debt (I didn't even know I HAD one until I looked it up. I figured the mail they were sending me was spam...). I'll repost with how it all works out.

As a fun side-note, the debt that I owe is a $37 library fine from 4 years ago. The book in question? Personal Finance for Dummies.

What part of the country are you in? My letter clearly says they use Equifax.