<prompt> Human: Hey PF,When I went to college my parents agreed to pay for a certain portion of my student loans. They were in my name in order to get better rates, but they created the online accounts and were sole possessors of the loginspasswords, and the bills and phone calls went to their contact information. I admit I should have taken more responsibility here and looked after my own finances, but they said they were taking care of them and that was enough for me.A few years out of college, I got a call at my work from a lender saying my loans were in default and wanting to work out a payment plan. I got the login information from my parents and sure enough, I had 14,000 in student loans that hadnt been paid in over a year. My parents didnt have much of an excuse other than they didnt have the money to pay them, and didnt think it was a big deal.I took over paying for the loans and rehabilitated out of default just finished up last month. My credit score was in the low 500s when I started this process, but since Ive gotten out of default and paid off all my credit cards, Im up to the mid-600s. The only blemishes on my credit history now are those many, many missed payments.My question is, is there anything I can do to repair my credit further, other than just waiting for the missed payments to fall off? Should I write a goodwill letter? If so, should I send it to the Dept. of Education who originally gave me the loan, or Nelnet, who own the debt now? Have any of you ever gotten this many missed payments wiped from your records?  <response>: I disagree with the cant do anything crowd - apply for a retroactive deferment or forbearance. Basically your goodwill letter plus a formal application. Its doubtful they would be granted but call and ask. If you and your parents actually had financial trouble and can document it income, their own debtspaymentsrent for those months they may look kindly on it. Nelnet is not the worst lender out there so they may grant it. Ive seen them grant 3-4 months of retroactive deferment before.Good luck. Might not work but the worst they can say is no. Give them a call. 