After a long pause, student-loan late payments are being reported to the bureaus again, and many borrowers have seen sharp score drops. Here is what changed and how to recover.
What resumed
Payments restarted and servicers began reporting missed payments again. A single late payment on a loan that was current can pull a score down significantly.
What shows on your report
On-time payments help you, while late payments, defaults, and the loan status all appear. Check that every date and status matches your records, because reporting errors are common after a change this large.
If you have fallen behind
Contact your servicer about repayment or rehabilitation options. Loan rehabilitation, once completed, can remove the default notation, so it is worth asking about.
Dispute inaccurate reporting
If a payment is marked late that you actually made on time, or a status is wrong, that inaccuracy can be disputed like any other error on your report.
We check your student-loan reporting for errors, help you document them, and build a plan to rebuild the points you lost.
These guides are general educational information, not legal or financial advice. Individual results are unique and vary. You have the right to dispute inaccurate information on your own credit report at no cost.