Specialized Loan Servicing (SLS) on Your Credit Report? Fight Back and Win

If you check your credit report and there’s a collections account from a company called Specialized Loan Servicing, what does that mean? Could there be a mistake? How can you get Specialized Loan Servicing off your credit report? Can you stop their calls? These are all common consumer questions.

There are solutions when you’re dealing with Specialized Loan Servicing. The specific steps to take can depend on whether or not it’s already on your credit report and if you think there’s an error.

You might also end up needing to work with an attorney, depending on your situation.

Is Specialized Loan Servicing a Scam?

First, Specialized Loan Servicing isn’t a scam. This is a legitimate company. Specialized Loan Servicing is a mortgage servicing company. When you get a loan, the mortgage lender is the original company you borrowed from. The mortgage servicer is the company that handles the day-to-day management of your loan.

A loan servicer like SLS will typically process any loan payments, keep up with your principal and interest amounts paid, and if you have an escrow account, they will manage it. The loan servicer may initiate foreclosure procedures as well. Your loan servicer doesn’t have to be different from the original company you got a loan from, but they often are.

Who Does Specialized Loan Servicing Collect For?

SLS works exclusively in the mortgage industry. This company is a general loan servicer of mortgages. The company doesn’t just work as a debt collector, but trying to collect late payments is part of what Specialized Loan Servicing does. 

Why Is Specialized Loan Servicing Calling Me?

Specialized Loan Servicing is most likely trying to contact you about a mortgage. You might be behind on your payments, so they could contact you to discuss this. It’s important if you’re getting calls from Specialized Loan Servicing that you don’t ignore them. You might need to speak to an attorney. 

Your account with Specialized Loan Servicing could be in collections. If the account is in collections, it can greatly impact your credit score. If SLS is on your credit report, it’s usually at the top. Collections accounts have their own section on a credit report. The information that’s shown about a collections account on credit reports will usually include:

• The name of the agency trying to collect.
• Original balance.
• Current balance.
• Your payment status.
• The original creditor.
• The date first reported.
• Date first placed in collections.
• Closed date.
• Updated date.

If you have a collections account on your credit report, it stays there for around seven years from when you first became past due.

What to Do About an Error

There could be a mistake if you get calls or letters from SLS. This is more common than you might think. For example, an original mortgage company may have provided the wrong information to Specialized Loan Servicing.

There could also be a mistake on your credit report. For example, your credit files could be mixed up with someone else’s who has a similar name to yours. You might not have a mortgage with Specialized Loan Servicing at all.

If you believe there’s been a mistake, the best thing you can do is contact a consumer protection attorney who specializes in the Fair Credit Reporting Act. It’s your legal right under laws like the Fair Credit Reporting Act to dispute inaccurate debts. You can also have an attorney dispute debts listed on your credit report because of fraud or identity theft.

What Happens When You Dispute a Debt?

If you dispute a debt with Specialized Loan Servicing, they have to investigate it legally. Within 30 days, an investigation into your dispute must be completed. Then, the company reports what they find. If SLS doesn’t do these things, they’re non-compliant with the FCRA.

Once the investigation is over, if the information is fully or partially wrong, it should be removed from your credit report.

After you submit a dispute to SLS or your attorney does so on your behalf, it may also be necessary to dispute information directly with credit bureaus where it’s reported. 

Specialized Loan Servicing Is Harassing Me

If you feel like this company is harassing you, threatening you, or behaving in any other way that’s inappropriate, this may be against the law. Another law relevant to debt collection at the federal level is the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

The FDCPA puts limits on what debt collectors can do. A debt collector can’t do any of the following:

• Contact you at work if you’ve asked them to stop.
• Call before 8 a.m.
• Contact you after 9 p.m.
• Call repeatedly.
• Threaten or intimidate you.
• Be deceptive.

If SLS or another debt collector does any of the above things, you might need to work with an FDCPA attorney.

Removing Specialized Loan Servicing From Your Credit Report

In theory, when you dispute an invalid debt or collections account, it should be removed in a timely way. That is the law, and consumers are all protected by this. Unfortunately, this isn’t always what happens.

A debt collector might not agree with your dispute or even respond to it, and collections companies might not investigate. These companies can also say they will remove the information but don’t or re-submit old information.

It’s difficult for individual consumers to get collectors to pay attention. When that happens, you may need to work with FCRA attorneys to remove Specialized Loan Servicing from your credit report.

If there’s been an error or fraud, and that’s why Specialized Loan Servicing is on your credit report, you have to deal with the fallout of another person’s mistakes, but a legal professional can help. 

Work With an FCRA Attorney

It’s frustrating to have to deal with a company like Specialized Loan Servicing, and they can end up having a huge impact on your life. The team at Fair Credit can help. We’re FCRA attorneys, and we can do a free case review to see your best options for dealing with Specialized Loan Servicing.