AES Loans Show as a Charge Off on Credit Report

[sunflwrgrl13]

Hi all, I just did my first credit report check in about 6months. We just got our Ch7 discharged last week on 3/8/11. My student loans, which are all consolidated with AES (all federal loans), show on my credit report as a Charge Off. Surely that can't be right? Should I contact either AES or the credit bureau to notify them of the mistake, or will it be corrected in due time?

In case it makes a difference, my loans have been in deferment for the last 13 months due to my being unemployed.

[KeithDoxen]

Your loans may have been charged off by AES so that they can pass the buck, as it were, onto the guarantor. That would mean the guarantor would be the new owner of your loans. This happens frequently with private student loans during bk. Contacting the credit bureau would be useless. You should contact AES to determine the status of your loans.

[sunflwrgrl13]

There's no one else to pass the buck to. These were not private loans. These were subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford loans that I consolidated with AES when I graduated 8years ago. No one else is cosigned on these. The guarantor would be the federal gov't, so these are not supposed to be dischargeable in a BK. But you are right, I will give AES a call to figure out what the issue is.

[HHM]

No accidental discharge of student loans. The loans are NOT discharged. The dept of education will be contacting you soon (mostly likely by taking a tax refund). Sorry.

[sunflwrgrl13]

Hold up. You're saying that I can't keep paying on them (once I'm employed again) as I was before? I didn't think they had been accidentally discharged, I just wondered if it was normal to show up as discharged even though they weren't. Now I am truly alarmed.

We've already received our tax refund for 2009, and it wouldn't have been near enough to pay the loans off anyways.

[sunflwrgrl13]

Is it possible that they may have sold off my consolidated loans to another creditor? If that's the case, the terms of loans can't change can it? I really need to keep my 3% interest rate!

[KeithDoxen]

Is it possible that they may have sold off my consolidated loans to another creditor? If that's the case, the terms of loans can't change can it? I really need to keep my 3% interest rate!

We really can't answer any of these questions. AES can. It is highly possible that AES is now out of the picture and the federal government will be dealing with you directly on these loans. That may mean that your terms will change.

[wipetheslate]

Being listed as charged off on your credit report is completely different than discharged during bankruptcy. The debt is still owed and will never go away (unlike credit card debts, which do have an expiration date in most states).

[dumpinmydebt]

Being listed as charged off on your credit report is completely different than discharged during bankruptcy. The debt is still owed and will never go away (unlike credit card debts, which do have an expiration date in most states).

I second this. I had many "charge-off" credit cards years before I filed bk. Now they are "discharged." There is a HUGE difference. It does sound like the lender has passed it on to someone else, probably a collector or the Dept of Education. You should call AES and find out who they sent it to.

[gml120]

If AES can't tell you what happened to your loans (or they just don't care which is more likely) go to www.nslds.ed.gov

[sunflwrgrl13]

I called AES yesterday to find out the situation. The rep informed me that my loans are in a 'bankruptcy hold' status - apparently a BK hold overrides a deferment status. They said they needed the 'Discharge of Debtor' letter in order to remove the bk hold and put it back into deferment status. I faxed them a copy of it yesterday, so it should be changed soon. I also specifically asked them if my loans had been sold off or anything like that and she said no, so here's hoping she was telling me the truth.

[gml120]

I have a similar thing going on with my federals. They must be terrible with paperwork because I've done that same thing like 5 times and it's always the same story about they're "processing" or they didn't receive my fax or some other bullshit. I'm going with as long as my account online status reads "bk hold" I'm good. I keep checking with them every month to confirm and keeping notes of who I talked to and when. It just makes me nervous to have had my discharge in Oct 2010 and they are still telling me my account is on hold.

[sunflwrgrl13]

Great. What a lovely adventure to look forward to.

But you're right, as long as they show as some kind of hold status, I guess it doesn't really matter since I won't be behind in paying.

[gml120]

Keep on their asses though, I don't trust any of these people anymore not even a little bit. Every time I call I get the person to explicitly say my loans are on hold, not delinquent in any way, I don't currently owe anything, and confirm my address and email and phone number. I also get them to send me letters saying all that in writing. Sounds like alot of work, which it is, but having a surprise charge off taught me not to believe what they say and get everything in writing.