Miss Heather,
      You don’t know how happy I am that I came across this website. I have been dealing with the possibility of having my dreams destroyed in the past week. I got accepted to a veterinary school program at St. George’s University in Grenada, West Indies. I need a private student loan from Sallie Mae to go, but I am getting denied left and right because I am in default on a federal student loan. However, I have already made 2 of the 9 payments required to bring the loan out of default. Is there anything I can do in order to get money for school despite my loan being in default? I know after 9 payments the default comes off my credit report and I may be able to ask for more money. But I need the money now (typical, I know). I have a very good cosigner in line to help me, but I am being denied outright. So I was wondering…what if I payed the entire defaulted student loan off (by asking a family member to help me)? I know the default would stay on my credit history for years, but at least Sallie Mae will be able to see that the loan is actually paid off. Would that make Sallie Mae mre likely to lend me the money I need??? I have a very interesting predicament also. I knew I was going to want to start school in January 2014. I knew I had a loan in default. I have been trying to rehab it since January 2013, but due to my lender being terrible (Direct Loans), and eventually going bankrupt, I was unable to even start the rehabilitation process until October 2013. Is there any legal action I can take or any kind of “exception” that may apply since it was out of my control? Here is the terribly unique situation I went through. I apologize for the length:

When I was performing my undergraduate studies at the University of Florida, I had to borrow money towards the end. I borrowed $11,000 or so. Due to extreme financial issues (issues that also kept me from applying to veterinary school), I was unable to pay it. My loan went into default. My lender was Direct Loans. I called them starting January 2013 to get my loan situation fixed; I wanted to rehab my loan. Direct Loans told me that since my loan was in default, it had been sent to the Department of Education collections agency, and that I needed to contact THEM to get things sorted out. In essence, I was told Direct Loans did not have my loan anymore. I contacted the Department of Education immediately. The news I got was not good. They did not have my loan either. They said that Direct Loans had my loan. I told them I had just spoken with Direct Loans, and they said they did not have it. Dept. of Ed. told me to call Direct Loans again and ask for a supervisor. I did. This time, I was told my loan was in the “process” of being sent to the department of education and would be there in 30 to 60 days. Practically, I was told that even if I had a bag of money, I could not pay any of my loan back, as my loan was not “owned” my anyone. It was in “limbo”..or how I liked to call it…purgatory. 30 days later, I called. Same answer. I kept calling back over and over every 15 days now, and kept getting the same answer. At one point, I was told to contact a special department of student loans that is there only as a last resort to try and fix only the hardest of issues. I called them and was told that all I could do was wait, but I could fax a letter to the Department of Education explaining my situation to them and pleading for them to acquire my loan from Direct Loans sooner than later. I sent them a faxed letter, and got no response. This went on and on until late September. I got a letter from a company named Nelnet. They said that now THEY had my loan. I called them immediately. Come to find out, Direct Loans was not doing things correctly and went out of business. The news got worse. I asked to see if I could pay any of my loan back, and after 5 phone calls that day, I found out that now Nelnet was in the same position Direct Loans was in: they had sent my loan to the Department of Education, and now I had to wait 30 to 60 days for my loan to reach the Dept. of Ed. collection agency. Needless to say, I was extremely frustrated. A few days later, I called again and got the same answer. I called the Department of Education and was told that my loan was almost there. The lady on the phone checked my file, said “oh” and then let me know that just THAT day, October 11th, my loan had arrived at the Department of Education. I was finally able to pay some of it back. I set up a payment plan with the Department of Education. I will be paying small monthly amounts in order to get my loan out of default. The rehab process requires 9 monthly payment, but I am eligible to ask for more money after the 6th payment. That being said, it does not look like I will be able to ask for federal money, at least for this first semester. After this fiasco, I want to make sure I don’t do anything wrong regarding loans. Please let me know what you suggest, and what viable options I may have. I am almost certain I will require a co-signer, too. I am prepared to do whatever it takes. I would be devastated if I wasn’t able to attend classes at SGU due to financial reasons. Please guide me in the right direction. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Miss Heather. I don’t know who else to turn to. I have called Sallie Mae 3 times, and I have received 3 different answers, only one of which was semi-positive. Any help is appreciated. Thank you very much from the bottom of my heart.

Andres Pacheco