How Your Credit Report Can Help You Manage Student Loans

More than 1.8 million students graduate from college in 2017. While it’s a momentous achievement, many graduates will walk away with significant student loan debt. Though keeping up with monthly payments can be difficult, knowing how to budget for them can be an even bigger obstacle.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed and don’t know how to begin managing your loans, your credit report can be an essential tool. Here’s how your credit report can help you take control of your debt.

What’s in Your Credit Report?

Your credit report is a complete picture of your financial history. It contains information about your bills, loans and what credit cards you have open.

Lenders use your credit report to make decisions on your reliability and financial stability. They look at your report to evaluate whether to offer you a car loan, mortgage or a new credit card. However, your credit report is an invaluable source of information for you too, especially if you have student loans.

2 Ways Your Credit Report Can Help You Manage Your Loans

When you’re in school and take out federal or private student loans, it’s easy to lose track of who your lenders are or how much you borrowed — especially if you don’t have to start repaying them yet.

To make things more difficult, your debt can sometimes transfer to a new loan servicer. If that happens, you’ll have to make payments on a different website and you’ll have a new account. That’s where your credit report comes in handy. You can use it to locate your loans and their current status in the following ways:

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Identify your loan servicer: If you aren’t sure who your loan servicer is, use your credit report to identify who manages your loans. Your credit report will list all the institutions behind your debt. Once you have the name of your servicer, you can use that information to sign into your account and begin making payments.
Find out your current balance: Thanks to interest, your loan balance could grow while you’re in school. If you’re unsure what amount you owe, your credit report will list the current balance on your loans.

Where to Get Your Free Credit Report

There are many services that will send your credit report for a fee. However, paying for your credit report is unnecessary. You can get a free credit report from each of the three credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — once a year from AnnualCreditReport.com.

It’s a good idea to stagger your credit reports throughout the year. For example, you could review one credit report from each agency every four months. That way, you can continually review your credit report for issues, rather than waiting a full 12 months. Catching problems early can save you money and protect your credit.

You can also check your credit scores for free on Credit.com. They’re updated regularly and can help you spot changes in your credit reports if they go up or down unexpectedly.

What to Do If There’s an Error

An essential part of checking your credit report is reviewing it for errors. Sometimes loans are reported incorrectly or, in cases of identity theft, fraudulent accounts can be put under your name.

If you find an issue, whether it’s a simple mistake or a more serious issue of theft or fraud, it’s important to take action right away. If the accounts in error become delinquent, those late payments can cause your credit report and score to plummet. That will make it more difficult for you to get a loan, a new credit card or get approved for a new apartment. The longer you wait to act, the longer it could take to correct.

To report a problem, write a letter disputing the errors and send it in the mail to the following:

Equifax: Equifax Information Services, LLC., P.O. Box 740256, Atlanta, GA, 30348
Experian: Experian, P.O. Box 4500, Allen, TX 75013
TransUnion: TransUnion LLC, P.O. Box 2000, Chester, PA, 19016

You should also notify the bank or financial institution that reported the error. Include copies of any supporting evidence you may have to prove your case.

To ensure you have a record of contacting the organizations, it’s a good idea to send the letter as certified mail as proof.

If you report the error and the credit bureaus and financial institutions do not fix the issue, you can escalate the problem to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Managing Your Credit

Graduating from college is a huge milestone, but it’s easy to get overwhelmed managing your student loans. From figuring out who your loan servicer is to learning how much your loans grew, the process can be complex.

Getting your credit report and credit scores and reviewing them thoroughly can help you keep track of your loans and stay current on your payments.

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