As I have stated before, I had applied for a hardship deferment last year when my wife was diagnosed with cancer. At that time, we had big medical bills hanging over our shoulders. I intended to get a 6 month deferment so I could take care of the medical bills. Nelnet at first granted my request, but later I found out that the original request was unapproved without my knowledge.
So 3 months into my deferment, I actually had no deferment and the past due balance and late fees were growing like crazy. And once you are behind on big monthly student loan payments, it’s really hard to get caught back up. I called Nelnet and explained what had happened and if there was anything I could do to get current again. No surprise, the only compassion I got from Nelnet was “pad the full amount due”. That’s it. That is the extent of Nelnet’s ability to work with its customers.
Before I was able to get my student loan with Nelnet transferred to Direct Loan, Nelnet has ruined my credit report with a dozen late marks on my credit report. Even though I was making monthly payments for the past 6 months, Nelnet still continued to report my 120+ days late to the credit reporting bureaus. Those 120+ day late marks on my credit reports is killing my FICO score.
I have called Nelnet several times and asked them to remove the late marks or change them to 30 day late marks and they will not. Nelnet has no compassion for any student loan holder. If you have a student loan with Nelnet, I recommend you drop them like a bad habit and get your loan consolidated elsewhere. Nelnet is the WORST company on Earth to deal with.
Kevin says:
Amen brother. I have been dealing with the shady dealings of Nelnet for several years now. They are notorious for tacking on late fees even when you made your payment on time. I had to call one of the mindless customer service reps in order to get the late fee removed. Their lack of customer service is amazing. I also find it sad that you can literally get five different answers when asking the exact same question to five different customer service phone reps.
Carlos says:
I absolutely agree with you. Nelnet has made my life incredibly difficult. Student loans in general are a huge hassel and for what reason? Most students end up coming out of college with huge debt and no job prospect.
dee says:
I KNOW IM EXTREMELY LATE BUT CURRENTLY I AM DEALING WITH A IMILAR ISSUE. I TOOK A SEMESTER OFF AND WAS NOT NOTIFIED THAT I WAS REQUIRED TO BEGIN PAYMENT, WE RECEIVED A LETTER IN THE MAIL THREE MONTHS LATER SAYING WE WERE LATE, BEGAN TO PAY IT OFF AND ARE CURRENTLY UP TO DATE ON OUR PAYMENTS;DESPITE THIS, IT IS STILL BEING REPORTED ON MY REPORT THAT THOSE PAYMENTS WERE LATE, BUT Y SHOULD IT MATTER IF THEY HAVE BEEN PAID?? BECAUSE OF THEM, I AM NOT ABLE TO BE APPROVED FOR ANY LOANS (STUDENT, CAR, ETC) DESPITE THE FACT THAT I WORK ON CAMPUS FULL TIME AND ATEND CLASSES FULL TIME. I FILED A DISPUTE WHICH TAKES UP TO 30 DAYS AND EVEN AFTER THAT THEY MIGHT NOT EVEN TAKE IT DOWN. NELNET SUCKS, THEIR INCONSIDERATE,UNCOMPROMISING JERKS JUST LOOKING TO MAKE A FEW DOLLARS OFF HARD WORKING STUDENTS.
Michele Bowes says:
They also reported a late payment of +120 on me and it has dramatically lowered my credit score. When I called them t let them know I had never received a bill from them, I finally got the customer service person to admit that they were sending my bills through email only. I never recieved them because they went directly to my junk mail. There has to be something we can do. Any suggestions?
slstress says:
My credit score is still suffering as a result of Nelnet. I have tried several avenues with Nelnet to try and get their credit reporting changed with no success. I would suggest continue to send in letters asking them to fix your credit report based on them not sending you statements in the mail. Send your letters to the correspondence address as well as to the address listed below.
NELNET INC
121 SOUTH 13TH STREET
SUITE 201
LINCOLN, NE 68508
libertynugget says:
So far I’m not too impressed with Nelnet. I had no means of contacting them to pay my bill for the first six months. I simply didn’t know who to pay. Months later, when they finally call, I pay to my bill immediately and have not missed a payment in 2 years.
I ran my credit and saw that I had a 120 day late charges from when I didn’t know how to pay. Customer service was not helpful and gave me a number to fax my complaint to. I did and they replied something along the lines of “our records are accurate and valid you have to dispute through credit bureau” (paraphrasing). So I guess I have to go through them, but they’re just going to say, you didn’t pay in time on your first 3 payments.
Albeit, perhaps I should have pursued them harder, but it’s a huge black mark on my credit score. To make matters even worse, its not over one incident its over all the loans associated with nelnet. So instead of having one 120 day late hit, I have six of them…
I’m not sure if there is anything I can do???
Maybe I’ll try writing that address over and over again to see if they’ll at least consolidate it to one late fee…
Lame
Cacey Taylor says:
I just got off the phone with two knowledgeable people from Nelnet. I have a unique and legitimate issue as to why the 120 late day notices showed up on my credit report but due to the policies of Nelnet, they were unable to get in contact with the creditors to remove these delinquencies from my account.
I think these gentleman were just doing there jobs but the policies need to change there. They need an investgation department or something to look at these legitimate claims for justice.