I'll apologize upfront if something similar has been discussed already, I've combed the forums reading all kinds of information and all the recommended reads from the moderator here and I find myself even more confused and am in need of a little advice.
I am from Alberta and went to college in 1998 until 2001 and racked up some good sized student loans(unsure of the exact amount but 30k+). When I started I know the loans were handled through the bank, mine RBC, and I wasn't aware of the switch in the system as I was out of country for school and didn't get all of the correspondence and when I called for answers it seems like I got half answers. My loans ended up defaulting but after some work I got them straightened out and back in good standing.
In 2005 I went back to school and got more loans and I was in school until 2007 when I started getting sick. Again my student loan situation became really bad and I had to jump through some hoops to get it corrected. My grace period after leaving school expired and the missed payments started racking up again. This time I had my MP sort out my issues with canada student loans.
In January 2009 I was able to go back to school again and got new loans, I finished in may and for some reason my repayment kicked in immediately and after a whole summer on the phone I was able to get them to change the repayment start date to october and was supposed to be put on RAP but something got screwed up again, payments were missed, I got extremely sick and there was no help this time. I was constantly innundated with calls from CBV collections but never really talked to them or answered the phone. One time I answered and they asked me to confirm my identity and I said "you called me, not the other way around so please confirm why you're calling and then we can talk". Needless to say the phone call didn't last long.
So long story short all my loans have been in default since sep/oct 2009. I have had no contact with either the collection company trying to collect(CBV) or Human Resouces and Skills development canada who are also trying to collect. It's all very confusing because I had no clue how my loans were broken up or who was collecting what for whom. The calls continued until january 2013 and have since pretty much stopped and they are no longer leaving messages.
Starting in 2012 I was able to get back into school and started a new program that suits my new lifestyle changes due to illness and I've paid for it on my own dime and by piggybacking on my wifes grants(which she got through applying for student loans). In the Spring I applied to student loan thinking that maybe I would be rewarded the grants that I'm rightfully entitled to despite my student loan status but apparently if you can't borrow money from student loan you aren't eligible from grants either. The rejection letter said that I was rejected because "you have defaulted on previous canada student loans".
When I started back in school(sept 2012) Human Resources and Skill development canada would send me a monthly invoice fpr "direct financing student loan CSL4" for the amount of 22000$ and asking for a monthly payment of 591$ which is no where near feasible.
About a week ago I once again applied for funding hoping maybe a policy had changed and the grants that I'm entitled to would be rewarded and I got another rejection letter but this time with a much different tone. I stated "
Student Aid Alberta has been notified your Canada Student
Loans are not in good standing. In order to be considered
for further funding, you must contact the Canada Student
Loans Program directly in order to meet the 'Rehabilitation
Agreement' as defined in the Canada Student Loans lenders
guidelines. Notify Student Aid Alberta in writing once the
requirements have been met and Canada Student Loans Program
has removed your restriction."
I looked up this rehabilitation program online and it says to meet the requirements I would need to pay the outstanding interest and 2 monthly payments in order to have the flag
removed but I'm concerned it doesn't apply to me. Before calling Canada student loans programI wanted to get some advice on what to do/not do. If this rehabilitation program
works and I can apply for SL again in order to get my grants it's a good thing because Iwould qualify for all my expenses +2000$ for my last three semesters without adding more
debt. At the same time I don't want to call them just to have the problem be worse andthe phone calls and collection calls to start anymore. Any advice?
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