According to the Education $1.61 trillion in outstanding debt. If you have student debt, you must be asking yourself this crucial question — How will removing student debt from my credit profile impact my credit score?
Can You Remove a Student Loan From Your Credit Report?
You can not remove a student loan from your credit report; however, you can have certain negative information removed. Not having it removed is a good thing because if you make all your payments on time, you will have a positive payment history on your credit report for ten years, which means a good credit score.
However, late student loan repayment remains on your credit account for seven years, damaging your credit report. And you will have a hard time getting financial approvals in the future.
When you review your credit report, check all three reports since their information may differ. Look for late payments and other negative marks that should not be there. If you find any mistakes or outdated information, dispute them with the credit reporting company and ask for them to be removed from your credit report.
How to Remove Late Payment or Student Loan Default from Your Credit Report
Have you tried to file a dispute and failed? If yes, you can try to remove the default status on your student loan, and here are some ways to do this.
Apply for a Student Loan Rehabilitation
A student loan rehabilitation program helps you erase the default status on your student loan. The process takes ten months, and if you make nine on-time monthly payments within 20 days of the due date, your loan will have a good standing.
After the ten months, you will repay on income-driven loan repayment terms. You are also eligible to apply for temporary postponement through loan deferment or forbearance.
Ask For a Goodwill
You can also send a goodwill letter to your lender if you have been making regular on-time payments but defaulted along the way due to a hardship. The goodwill letter is an emotional appeal to your lender, asking them to remove late repayment entries. However, for this to work, your story has to be convincing while explaining what happened, and you must have paid your debts.
Apply for Loan Forgiveness
You can check if you are eligible for student loan forgiveness if you can’t wait for the seven years to elapse, and you have been repaying your loan. Check the Federal Student Aid website to find out if you are eligible for student loan forgiveness.
Fully Pay Your Student Debt
If all others fail and you want to have a good credit score, one sure way is to pay your student debt in full. This helps you qualify for mortgages, car loans, and other loans with good interest rates because your credit score will improve.
Many lenders see student loan debt as a negative factor to consider when making lending decisions. This is particularly true of mortgage lenders, which generally view student loan borrowers as riskier than those without student debt. It’s certainly possible to get a mortgage with student loan debt, but you’re likely to pay more for it than someone without any outstanding loans. Pay your student loan if you want to have a positive credit report!
How Student Loans Impact Your Credit Score
The impact your student loans have on your credit score depends on several factors, including:
Age of your loan. A long history of loan repayment has a positive impact on your credit report. Lenders see you as someone who knows how to manage finances and will consider you when you are looking for financing. However, you have to ensure that you are paying your loans on time.
Whether or not you’re current on the loan. If you’re “in good standing,” meaning you’re making payments on time and staying current with any other requirements, that will have a positive impact on your credit score. If you are consistent in repaying, outstanding student loans have less of an impact on your credit score.
However, if you’re not in good standing, that has negative consequences for your credit score. The good news is it will only stay on your credit report for seven years. However, if you are looking for financing from lenders, you will be seen as a high risk. If the lender still chooses to give you a loan, it will be at a higher interest rate than those with a good repayment history.
How much you owe. The average student debt balance in the U.S. is $37,113 as of 2022. If you don’t owe much and have a good history of making payments on time, your credit score won’t take a significant hit from holding onto that loan.
But if you owe a lot and have a spotty payment history or haven’t made any payments toward what you owe, your credit score will be hurt. If that’s the case, paying off your student debt can help improve your credit score if you pay it off in full and on time.
Our Bottom Line
A sure way to raise your credit score fast and have a good credit score is to make your student loan payments as agreed. If you don’t make payments as promised, your account could go into default, and your balance may be submitted to collections. This means your credit score will most likely take a hit.
A more positive outlook toward a more financially secure future starts today. Give the Ascent Network a call today at 1-877-871-2400. Ascent Network helps consumers all over the United States and is available locally in Huntington Beach, CA, Coachella Valley, Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Desert Hot Springs, Indian Wells, La Quinta, Indio, and Thousand Palms.
The Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) mentions that credit inquiries are only 10% of your FICO score. However, a significant number of inquiries reduce your score by several points. It is important to have and maintain a good credit score to enjoy the benefits that come with it. Learn how to remove credit inquiries from your credit report and what credit inquiries are.
What are Credit Inquiries?
When you apply for a credit card or loan, the lender looks at your credit reports. They will determine whether to approve you for the account. The result is an inquiry on your credit report, which can temporarily tank your score.
Types of Credit Inquiry (Credit Pull)
There are two types of inquiries:
Hard inquiry
Soft Inquiry
Hard Inquiry (Hard Pull)
Hard inquiries occur when you take out new credit or loans, and these always affect your score. If there are too many inquiries on your report, it sends red flags to lenders as to why you are seeking so much credit. According to FICO, each hard inquiry knocks about five points off your score, although this amount varies depending on several factors, such as good credit history.
Soft Inquiry (Soft Pull)
Soft inquiries occur when someone checks your report without your knowledge, such as an employer conducting a background check. They could also be credit checks that you do on your own, and they don’t affect your score.
The impact of credit inquiries on your score doesn’t last forever. After two years, the effect drops off, while hard inquiries affect your score for only twelve months. However, if you’re struggling to repair your credit, waiting two years to see an improvement in your scores is no fun. Fortunately, there is a way to remove inquiries from your credit reports.
Why Do Lenders Use Hard Inquiries?
Lenders use hard inquiries to check if there is a loan that will impact credit repayment for a loan you are applying for. Credit lenders see you as a risk if you have over six inquiries on your credit report. They know you are more likely to declare bankruptcy than those with no inquiries.
How to Remove Credit Inquiries From Your Report
Can someone remove credit inquiries from their credit report? If you have several hard inquiries within a short period of time, it could be a sign to lenders that you’re having financial difficulties, and they may deny your application based on this.
Dispute Unauthorized Inquiries
According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), credit bureaus should inform consumers whenever there is a hard inquiry on their credit report. Creditors should inform by noting the inquiry in their credit files. This helps you note any inaccuracies in your credit report.
If you see any hard inquiries on your report that you didn’t authorize, dispute them with the three major bureaus. They are TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax. They’re required by law to investigate within 30 days of receiving a formal dispute request.
However, you’ll need to provide documentation of the circumstances surrounding the inquiry, such as an identity theft report or other documentation. When you submit your letter, make sure to provide your full name and address, your social security number, and a copy of some form of identification, such as your driver’s license. You should also include copies (not originals) of any supporting documents.
If it is a legitimate error on the creditor’s part, it shouldn’t be too difficult to resolve with proof. If someone has committed fraud using your identity, however, it may be harder to get everything resolved in a timely manner.
You can do nothing about inquiries that appear for legitimate reasons on your credit report. They are updated every 30 days by the creditors themselves.
Keep an Eye on Your Credit Report
You can only dispute a hard inquiry if you keep an eye on your credit score. When you regularly check your credit score, you will note any drop in your score since you can detect a drop in your score that you didn’t authorize.
Ensure you review what is listed and watch out for any suspicious activity, such as a bogus account that has gone unpaid.
The Bottom Line
Removing credit inquiries from your credit report requires you to work with the creditor and reporting agencies. Remember, you can only remove hard inquiries that you did not authorize. If you authorized any hard pull, you have to wait until they fall off naturally in two years.
A more positive outlook toward a more financially secure future starts today. Give the Ascent Network a call today at 1-877-871-2400. Ascent Network helps consumers all over the United States and is available locally in Huntington Beach, CA, Coachella Valley, Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Desert Hot Springs, Indian Wells, La Quinta, Indio, and Thousand Palms.
February 7, 2022
In this economy, it is more important than ever to have a high credit score. A good credit score helps you get approved for a loan, get a better interest rate on a loan, and could even save you money on your car insurance. But if your credit score is not as high as you would like, don’t worry – you can raise your credit score fast!
Get to Know Your Credit
The first thing you’ll want to do is to get a copy of your credit report. You can get a free copy of your credit score report from AnnualCreditReport.com. This website is authorized by the government to provide free copies of your credit report once every 12 months.
You can also sign up with a credit monitoring company, like The Ascent Network. Credit monitoring helps you get to know your credit score, gives you tips on how to increase it, and often shows you qualifying loan or credit card offers. Credit monitoring companies also flag suspicious activity and notify you of any unauthorized use of your social security number.
What to do About Credit Errors?
Next, you’ll want to check for errors in your credit report. Check the entire report looking for a name, address, and contact information mistakes. If you find errors, you need to dispute them through the credit report showing the error. The addresses to mail dispute letters to Experian, Equifax, and Transunion are here.
In your dispute letter, ask the credit bureau to remove or correct the inaccurate or incomplete information. Explain clearly what needs to be changed. Make sure you have copies of each letter and send the letter certified mail for tracking that it was received.
The credit bureau has 30 days to respond to your request. Once they complete their investigation, they must give you the results in writing.
Removing Closed Accounts from Your Credit Report
Many people think that a closed credit account will automatically be dropped from a credit report. Credit bureaus only remove information from a credit report if it’s outdated, or inaccurate, or if a creditor agrees to remove it.
Some closed credit accounts can hurt your credit. If an account is closed and paid off but has delinquent payments or a charge-off, you can write a goodwill letter to the creditor and ask the account to be removed. Creditors do not have to honor your request, but there have been cases when a company is kind enough to do so after a paid balance.
There is also an option for credit accounts that are closed but have a balance. In these cases, you can send a pay-for-delete letter, which is an offer to pay the balance in full in exchange for removing the account from the credit report. Again, the creditor does not have to comply, but, often, they will consider the exchange for full payment.
The last option is to simply wait. Most items on a person’s credit report drop off after seven years. If a negative account is still on your report after the seven-year mark, you can try to dispute the account and have it removed.
Hire a Credit Repair Company
Credit repair companies often have a negative reputation because of fraudulent companies in the past taking advantage of already-struggling consumers. The Ascent Network is different. Ascent is a nonprofit organization with a mission to provide clients with access to resources and services designed to assist individuals in improving their creditworthiness and financial position. You can find the Ascent Network Bill of Rights here.
Ascent Network is a member of the SecureTrust Trusted Commerce program. They provide services for credit repair, credit score improvement, debt settlement and negotiation, foreclosure prevention, and educational loan negotiation.
Financial Improvement is Just Around the Corner
A more positive outlook toward a more financially secure future starts today. Give the Ascent Network a call today at 1-877-871-2400. Ascent Network helps consumers all over the United States and is available locally in Huntington Beach, CA, Coachella Valley, Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Desert Hot Springs, Indian Wells, La Quinta, Indio, and Thousand Palms.
It is easy to find information concerning credit today, TV, Newspapers, and the internet are loaded with information, but sadly, much of that information is inaccurate. Here are just a few of some common credit myths circulating today:
Credit Myth: “You share a credit score with your spouse.”
(Now, you might think that sounds absurd, but I assure you it’s far more widespread than you think.) Your spouse and your credit report and scores are looked at individually. If you have joint accounts, they’ll show up on both your credit reports.
If you get an authorized user account for your spouse, that’ll also show up on your report. However, if none of your accounts are joint, and you don’t have any authorized user accounts, there will be nothing that will affect your score for one another.
Credit Myth: “Your credit score only counts when you’re looking to borrow money.”
Huge Myth! Your credit score, right now, is looked at for almost everything you do. Increasingly, when you’re applying for a job, they look at your credit score. When you’re applying for auto insurance (in most states), homeowner’s insurance, or life insurance, they look at your credit score, they look at your credit history.
That’s why it’s so important to clean your credit up. Make sure that your credit’s reporting accurate information. If you have derogatory credit that’s truly yours, you work to rebuild credit.
Credit Myth: “Making multiple payments to a creditor in a singular billing cycle improves your credit.”
This credit myth could not be further from the truth! The truth is, there is only one payment per billing cycle that is reported to the credit bureaus from creditors.
Multiple payments or trying to split up payments so that it “looks like” there is more payment activity on an account can actually hurt the consumer, how…….a lot of times if a payment is due on the 10th of the month and partial payment is received on the 1st of the month and then a 2nd payment is received on the 15th of the month if the payment made on the 1st was equal to at least the minimum payment due there will be a late charge which will be charged to the account no matter how large payment is made on the 15th.
The best advice, make your payments once a month on Credit Cards, Installment Accounts, and Mortgages and pay them at the same time each month so you develop a habit of paying on time.
Across all media platforms today you will find credit myth information on almost any topic or subject, but sadly, much of the information concerning credit is inaccurate.
Here are some common credit myths being thrown about:
Credit Myth 1: “Multiple credit inquiries will hurt your score, each and every time.”
In older Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) models, inquiries had a greater effect on your score because they counted every inquiry for automotive and every inquiry for a mortgage. So if you were shopping around for the best deal on an auto loan, or shopping around for the best deal on a mortgage, your credit score got dinged for each one.
The FCRA models realized that this was discouraging intelligent consumers from getting the best deal, so they adjusted the model to only count automotive and mortgage inquiries that are done within a certain period of time to be counted as one single inquiry.
Credit Myth 2: “It will take you seven years to improve your credit.”
This is one of the widespread credit myths. In actuality, it’s an ongoing process to improve one’s credit. It doesn’t take a certain amount of time. Most negative items will remain on your credit report for up to seven years, as long as they are accurate, can be verified, the credit bureau and creditor reporting the item can and will provide the appropriate validation of the debt and the debt actually occurred within that period of time being reported.
Of course, many items are NOT accurately reported and are not verifiable, therefore they can and should be removed.
Regardless of whether or not individual line items can be corrected or deleted, though, you can start to improve your credit. It can be done by maintaining a positive payment history, maintaining lower balances, and low utilization rates on your credit cards. It can also be done by establishing new accounts to get your new payment history going smoothly again.
Credit Myth 3: “A serious financial crisis like a foreclosure or bankruptcy permanently hurts your credit score.”
Foreclosures will remain on your credit report for seven years, Bankruptcies can linger for seven to ten years: this is entirely dependent upon how the bankruptcy gets filed. Chapter 13 will remain for seven years, whereas Chapter 7 will remain for a decade. Note, however, that the actual bankruptcy in the public records section will remain there for ten years either way.
One must remember that the reporting of a Foreclosure or Bankruptcy on a credit report must meet the same criteria that any other item must meet in order to stay on a person’s credit report and that is that all reported information pertaining to that foreclosure or bankruptcy be reported accurately and be able to be verified and validated by both the party reporting the item and the party recording the item.
Absent of that verification and validation the item must be removed from the credit report regardless of when it originally took place.
The important take-away point is that although these are certainly long periods of time, it’s not permanent, and there are many things you can do after a financial crisis to reestablish your credit and get your credit back on track.
These are just a few of the Credit Myths you find today reported online, on TV, and published on Social Media and other news outlets. Don’t be fooled, you can take control of your financial and credit future by handling your current finances responsibly and demanding your rights under the law that ALL information that is being reported about you be 100% accurate 100% of the time.
According to the Education $1.61 trillion in outstanding debt. If you have student debt, you must be asking yourself this crucial question — How will removing student debt from my credit profile impact my credit score? Can You Remove a Student Loan From Your Credit Report? You can not remove a student loan from your … Continued
The Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) mentions that credit inquiries are only 10% of your FICO score. However, a significant number of inquiries reduce your score by several points. It is important to have and maintain a good credit score to enjoy the benefits that come with it. Learn how to remove credit inquiries from your … Continued
February 7, 2022 Get to Know Your Credit The first thing you’ll want to do is to get a copy of your credit report. You can get a free copy of your credit score report from AnnualCreditReport.com. This website is authorized by the government to provide free copies of your credit report once every 12 … Continued
It is easy to find information concerning credit today, TV, Newspapers, and the internet are loaded with information, but sadly, much of that information is inaccurate. Here are just a few of some common credit myths circulating today: Credit Myth: “Your credit score only counts when you’re looking to borrow money.” Huge Myth! Your credit … Continued
Across all media platforms today you will find credit myth information on almost any topic or subject, but sadly, much of the information concerning credit is inaccurate. Here are some common credit myths being thrown about: Credit Myth 2: “It will take you seven years to improve your credit.” This is one of the widespread … Continued