Financial Aid Problem

[Rwl22]

I'm enrolling in January but am unable to get a loan at the moment because I'm diputing something on my credit record. Basically someone thinks I owe them money from 5 years ago and I don't agree. If I can't get my first semester tuition to Saba 45 days in advance what will happen? Will my admittance be cancelled? Can I get some type of delay? I just need a little time to get this cleared up.

[ResearchingGuy]

I would really recommend you call the folks at Gardner about this one (and they are helpful). If you feel that your loan situation can be cleared up in a reasonable time, you might want to consider waiting to start school. There's a lot on your plate while you attend school, you don't want to add to that with worries about financial uncertainties.


Best of Luck!

[ajcarrol]

Rwl22,

I am in a similar situation. (Starting at Saba in Jan., and getting ready to mail in a letter disputing something on my credit record.) :shock: Are they denying your loans just because you are in the process of disputing the problem, or are they denying them because of the problem on your credit report. Any idea how long the disputing process takes? Thanks for the help.

[Rwl22]

They denied my loan because it was within a 5 year window. It was filed in Nov. 98 so just my luck I almost missed it. They said it would take about a month to investigate and if I didn't hear back in a month they would drop it from my record. I'm trying to get another loan from the bank to cover my butt in case I can't get the medachiever done in time.

[muha223]

I had an identical problem with my Teri and then Medachiever loan before I came to Saba. I found out about 4 months before I was to start that my loan wasn't going to be approved. I looked into all 3 credit bureaus and discovered an error of $160 through a long distance phone company. I had paid the bill about a month late since I was overseas and it was listed as "Unpaid, charged off as a bad debt". Now isn't that nice to have on your report just before you start medical school and need to borrow almost $150,000 to live for the next 4 years.

I immediately called the company that submitted the negative listing and they told me that it had been paid already. I then instructed them to send out 2 original letters on letterhead with a phone number and contact person and send one letter to me directly and the other to the Medachiever loan office. Medachiever was satisfied with the response. It took me almost a year to get everything cleared up on my 3 credit bureaus so I am glad I dealt directly with the people involved and sent the documents by certified mail with a signature receipt to prove delivery.

So, my advice is to contact the company directly, have multiple copies of the original letter from their office sent to you and to the loan office and maybe even the Gardner office and keep calling them every day until this gets done. You may jeopardize your career for a few hundred dollars if the initiative is not taken now. It will be impossible to reconcile once you are on Saba since long distance calls and time are both valuable and expensive. Believe it.

Best of luck.