Consumer complaint received 2017-04-01
Company: Nelnet, Inc.
State: NC
Product: Student loan
Sub-product: Federal student loan servicing
Issue: Dealing with my lender or servicer
Sub-issue: Received bad information about my loan

Complaint:
My complaint is in regards to my request to have late payments removed from my credit score report. I had been informed that due to regulations promulgated by the DOE and the FCRA, late payments could not be removed from my credit file. Contrary to these assertions, by failing to update previously reported information, the Department of Education/Nelnet is in violation of Section 623 ( a ) ( 2 ) of the FCRA. 
There was an issue posed in the FTC advisory opinion which interprets Section 623 ( a ) ( 2 ) of the FCRA. The issue in the advisory opinion is how a lender is to handle a situation when subsequent information updates a report that was allegedly accurate when it was made but no longer is accurate in the present time. 
The advisory opinion states that the Section 623 ( a ) ( 2 ) of the FCRA addresses the duty to correct and update information by " furnishers, '' or persons who furnish information to consumer reporting agencies ( " CRA '' ) such as credit bureaus. In particular, this section requires a person that " has furnished to a consumer reporting agency information that the person determines is not complete or accurate '' to " promptly notify the consumer reporting agency of that determination '' and provide any information needed to make it complete and accurate. Thus, on its face, this provision requires a furnisher to provide corrected or updated information to the consumer reporting agency that it had reported to originally. This duty extends to all student loan accounts reported to CRAs, regardless of whether they were accurate at one point, because the section requires the furnisher both to " update '' accounts as well as to " correct. '' After carefully reviewing my reports, I noticed that the information that has been included in my credit profile has resulted in damaging effects on my credit standing. As you are no doubt aware, credit reporting laws ensure that bureaus report only accurate credit information. No doubt the continued inclusion of this negative information is a mistake on either the Department of Education/Nelnet, or the credit bureaus ' part. Because of the mistakes on my credit report, I have been wrongfully denied credit and I have been deterred in finding adequate housing, which has been highly embarrassing and has negatively impacted my lifestyle. I am on XXXX and I am stuck with paying rent that is far above the income level for a person in my situation because I can not move. 
The following accounts are reporting erroneous late payment information. These accounts are included in a hardship forbearance granted by The Department of Education on XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX. 
Direct Stafford Unsubsidized Loan -Partial Account Number : # XXXX {$3500.00} Direct Stafford Unsubsidized Loan XXXX Partial Account Number : # XXXX {$3700.00} Direct Stafford Unsubsidized Loan XXXX Partial Account Number : # XXXX {$2200.00} Attached are copies of letters that I received from the National Student Loan Data System - U. S. Department of Education outlining the forbearances. 
The forbearance meant that no payments were due at that time and therefore no payments could be late. I was under the impression at the time of the granted forbearances that I had up until 12 months to stop making payments or reduce my monthly payments for up to a 12 month period. But late payments have been applied on my credit files during these periods. I had filed for a discharge of my students loans due to my XXXX and these loans have been closed, transferred, or sold. On some of my credit reports, I have several loans as " account paid '', " current account '' or " closed ''. So I do n't understand why these 3 loan accounts are not updated or being reported as the other loans. However, Section 623 ( a ) ( 2 ) clearly shows that the reports must be updated and/or corrected regardless of whether they were accurate at one point.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation