In this article:
- Can Student Loans Be Removed From Your Credit Report?
- How Long Do Student Loans Stay on Your Credit Report?
- How Student Loans Can Impact Your Credit
- How to Dispute a Student Loan Error on Your Credit Report
If you have student loans on your credit reports, they can impact your credit score for better or worse. If the information linked to your student loans is accurate, it will stay on your credit report until it reaches the date it's scheduled to be removed. This date can vary depending on the account's active or closed status and its payment history.
However, if you believe there are inaccurate student loan details in your credit reports, you have the right to dispute them and potentially have them removed sooner. Here's what you need to know.
Can Student Loans Be Removed From Your Credit Report?
If you have accurate positive or negative information on your credit reports, you typically can't get it removed. However, if you notice inaccurate details about student loans or other credit accounts, you have the right to file a dispute with the credit reporting agencies.
That said, if you're a cosigner on a student loan or you're a parent who took out parent loans to help your child, you may have other options.
Cosigners
If you're a cosigner on a loved one's student loan, it could impact your ability to get approved for credit, even if the loan has a positive payment history.
If the primary borrower has good credit and a solid income, talk with them about potentially refinancing the debt on their own or applying for a cosigner release program (if the lender offers one).
Refinancing won't remove the loan from your credit report, but it will zero out the balance and close the account. Cosigner release may have the same effect.
Parents
If you took out student loans to help your child pay for college, you may be able to transfer the debt to them by having them refinance the loans with a private lender.
Their eligibility and loan terms will depend on their creditworthiness, and not all lenders allow such a transfer. Keep in mind, too, that if your child agrees to transfer the debt and qualifies for a loan, it won't remove the account from your credit reports. Instead, it'll zero out the balance and close it.
How Long Do Student Loans Stay on Your Credit Report?
Positive credit information will typically remain on your credit reports for 10 years after the account is closed. If you or the primary borrower (if you're a cosigner) miss a payment or default on the debt, that negative information will stay on your credit reports for seven years from the original delinquency date.
Open accounts in good standing will remain on your credit indefinitely, with the timeline for removal beginning once the account is closed.
How Student Loans Can Impact Your Credit
There are a few different ways student loans can affect your credit score, both positively and negatively. Here's a quick breakdown for each FICO® Score☉ factor:
- Payment history: Your payment history is the most influential factor in your FICO® Score. As a result, making on-time payments can do a lot to help you build and maintain a good credit history. On the flip side, missed payments can cause significant damage to your credit. One temporary exception is the Biden administration's on-ramp period, created to help student loan borrowers who may struggle to repay their loans after the yearslong student loan payment pause that ended in September 2023. Under the program, late payments will not be reported to the credit bureaus until after September 2024, giving borrowers time to adjust to student loan repayment without suffering credit consequences.
- Amounts owed: The total amount you owe is another important factor in your credit score because the more debt you have, the less likely you are to be able to afford an additional loan or credit card payment. High credit card balances, which raise your credit utilization ratio, can be especially damaging to credit scores.
- Length of credit history: FICO® Score calculations consider how long your credit accounts have been open as well as the average age of your accounts. Each time you open a new credit account, it reduces the average age of your credit. That said, if you don't open new credit accounts often, this factor can naturally improve over time.
- New credit: If you have federal student loans, there's no credit check when you apply—the only exception is the direct PLUS program, which requires one. With private student loans and student loan refinancing, lenders will run a hard inquiry on your credit reports to evaluate your creditworthiness. One inquiry won't have much of an impact on your credit score, but if you have multiple inquiries in a short period of time, it could have a compounding negative impact.
- Credit mix: Lenders like to see that you're able to manage different types of credit. So, if you have student loans and a credit card, that can have a more positive impact on your credit score than if you just had a credit card.
How to Dispute a Student Loan Error on Your Credit Report
Each of the three credit bureaus—Experian, TransUnion and Equifax—has its own process for disputing credit report information. With Experian, you have the right to file a dispute online, by phone or by mail.
The quickest way is to initiate your dispute online through the Experian Dispute Center. Here are the steps you'll take:
- Start the dispute process. At the Experian Dispute Center, elect to start a dispute online. You'll either log in to your account with Experian or create a new one. As a new Experian user, you'll provide some basic information about yourself, including your name, address, Social Security number, date of birth and contact information.
- Select an entry to dispute. Review your accounts and select the one you'd like to dispute. Then, provide the reason for the dispute. Some entries may ask you to type in explanatory information, and in certain cases, you will be directed to provide documentation to verify the correction. If your reason isn't in the drop-down menu, you can select "Other reason" and write it out.
- Review and submit the dispute. Review your dispute request and make any necessary changes, then submit it. You'll get a confirmation, along with a link where you can upload documentation and a credit dispute letter to support your dispute.
- Wait for a response. Experian will provide you with email updates throughout the process and also notify you when the results of your request are available. You can also check for updates in the Alerts section of your online Experian account. Disputes are generally resolved within 30 days, at which point the results will be viewable in the Completed section of the Dispute Center.
If you have any questions throughout the process, contact the number listed on your credit report.
The Bottom Line
Having negative information on your credit report can be a stressful experience. If you believe it to be inaccurate, you have the right to dispute it with the credit bureaus. But if the information is correct, taking other steps to improve your credit can help reduce that negative impact over time.
Regardless of your situation or the steps you take, monitoring your credit regularly can help you stay on top of your credit score and understand the best ways you can build and maintain a stellar credit history. Experian's free credit monitoring service provides access to your FICO® Score and Experian credit report, along with real-time alerts when changes are made to your report.
