Disclosing loan status - Federal job applicants

[losanglesgal]

I have some legal questions about disclosing delinqunt or defaulted student Loan status when applying to a Federal job.

The Federal application includes a questionairre with this question:

QUESTIONAIRE: "Are you delinquent on any Federal debt? (Includes delinquencies arising from Federal taxes, loans, overpayment of benefits, and other debts to the U.S. Government, plus defaults of Federally guaranteed or insured loans such as student and home mortgage loans.) If "YES," use item 16 to provide the type, length, and amount of the delinquency or default, and steps that you are taking to correct the error or repay the debt."

This is the web info I found on the Perkins loan:

PERKINS: "The Federal Perkins Loan is a 5% fixed simple interest loan which may be granted to undergraduate and graduate students who demonstrate considerable financial need. This specialized form of student financial aid is administered not by banks or the Department of Education, but by your school itself. As with all schools participating in the Federal Perkins loan program, each school has a limited amount of funds to award each year. You must be a U. S. citizen or eligible non-citizen to participate in this program.

Repayment: Repayment of a Federal Perkins Loan begins nine months after you graduate or leave school on at least a half-time basis. The standard repayment term is ten years. There are other repayment plans available such as graduated repayment and extended repayment to minimize your monthly payment.

Federal Perkins Loan Rehabilitation Rehabilitation is a process by which a borrower enters into an agreement with the school to make (12) twelve consecutive on-time payments on their defaulted NDSL/Perkins Loan. Once the borrower has successfully made the required twelve (12) consecutive payments, the loan will be considered rehabilitated; it will be removed from its defaulted status and all negative credit will be repaired."

Federal Student Aid has a dense link describing Perkins Loans http://ifap.ed.gov/sfahandbooks/0304FSAHbkVol5.html

This is the thread in the Student Loans Forurm of this site -- with specifics to my situation. http://www.debt-consolidation-credit-repair-service.com/forums/showthread.php?p=976378#post976378

MY QUESTIONS:

1) Since this Perkins loan debt is to a school, does the Federal question in the questionairre (above) apply?

2) The loans are not listed in my credit reports, but are listed at the Federal Student Aid site -- by the original amount (no details.) If I am able to enter a rehabilitation agreement with the school before I disclose the information on the Federal employment questionairre, do I need to include the loan information?

I don't want to do anything illegal or dishonest. But I also don't want to cut myself out of a job by disclosing too much unneccesarily.

[swirlgirl]

Yes, a Perkins loan is considered a federal debt. It's a gov't loan program.

I think even with a rehab program in place, they will still see the negative status of your loan. So, you may want to disclose it.