What To Do If Your Student Loan Lender Messes Up Your Credit Report

Student loan errors on your credit report can happen - from missing loans, closed loans, incorrect late payments, inaccurate defaults, and more.

Imagine this situation: You get a letter from Nelnet confirming that your student loans are paid in full. Then two years later, you attempt to go back to school and get a student loan, only to find out you're denied because the National Student Loan Database says you're default on said loan. Through multiple glitches, Nelnet sent your loan to collections instead of marking your loan as paid in full on your credit report.

Or image in this situation shared to me by student loan lawyer Adam Minsky: I had a client who tried to consolidate his loans through the Direct consolidation program though a servicer (Servicer 1). The loans were held by Servicer 2. In the middle of the consolidation process, Servicer 2 transferred the loans to Servicer 3. Servicer 1 sent the consolidation payment to Servicer 2; Servicer 2 didn't return the payment or forward it to Servicer 3. This resulted in a duplication of the loan balance - Servicer 1 demanded payments on the newly issued consolidation loan, while Servicer 3 demanded payments on the underlying loans that were yet to be repaid. The Federal loan servicers all blamed each other and refused to communicate or rectify the situation

Now, while both of these are more extreme errors, glitches do happen. You have to realize that they loan servicing companies employ tens of thousands of people, and process millions of payments and requests each year. Even working at 99.99% correct, errors will still happen to thousands of borrowers each year (sadly)...

What can you do if your student loan lender messes up your credit report or your loans? Here's the steps you can take.