Take control of your student loans.
We’re here to help you check your federal loan status and find answers or relief options if you’re worried about delinquency, default, or credit issues.
Follow our 3 steps to get info and help.
Image: A photograph of a man seated at a desk in front of a laptop while scrolling on his phone. Superimposed on top of the photo, collage-style, is a graphic with white text and a green background. The graphic heading text reads: 3 steps to get info and help. Beneath the heading these three steps are listed: check your loan status, see if your credit is affected and find relief options and support.Editorial Note: Intuit Credit Karma receives compensation from third-party advertisers, but that doesn’t affect our editors’ opinions. Our third-party advertisers don’t review, approve or endorse our editorial content. Information about financial products not offered on Credit Karma is collected independently. Our content is accurate to the best of our knowledge when posted.
Updated June 3, 2025
Step 1
Check your loan status
Log into your account at StudentAid.gov.
- Check to confirm you have federal loans (versus private).
- Make sure you know who your federal loan servicer is.
- See if you’re behind or current on payments with your loan servicer.
- Make sure your contact info is up to date.
If you have private loans, they won’t appear on the government website – you’ll need to reach out to your lender to check on them.
Step 2
See if your credit is affected
Current and on time – All good!
Keep it up! Consider setting up autopay to help avoid missed payments and enrolling in credit monitoring as an extra eye. If you’re struggling, check relief options in Step 3.
1–89 days past due – No impact yet!
Unlike credit card and loan accounts, federal student loans give you a 90-day safety window. If you’re having trouble catching up, a relief option in Step 3 could help you avoid a reported delinquency and credit damage.
90+ days past due – Delinquency reporting
Your loan servicer can report your account delinquent, which can reduce your credit scores by more than 150 points and stay on your credit reports for 7 years. A relief option from Step 3 could get you back on track and avoid default.
270+ days past due – Default
Your loan goes into default — which means tax refunds and other federal benefits can be withheld and your wages could be garnished starting in summer 2025; and you may have fewer relief options. Still, there are ways to recover — see Consolidation or Rehabilitation options in Step 3.
If you’re behind in payments and think your credit might be impacted, check your credit reports and scores to find out.
Step 3
Find relief
Whether you’re current, delinquent or in default, there are options. Read on or jump to FAQs.
Relief options and how they work
Income-Driven Repayment Plans:
Your monthly payment gets calculated based on your income and family size to make it more affordable. For some, payments could even be $0.
Available if you’re not yet in default
Deferment or Forbearance:
These options let you temporarily suspend payments if you’re out of work, sick, doing military service, back in school, or for another qualifying reason.
Available if you’re not yet in default
Consolidation:
If you have several student loans, consolidation combines them into a single, new loan. This simplifies how you pay and may lower your monthly bill by lengthening your repayment term.
For loans of any status, including default
Rehabilitation:
You can get certain loans out of default by agreeing to make nine consecutive payments — usually based on your income — over a 10-month period. Completing rehabilitation removes the default from your credit report and stops collections.
Specifically for loans in default
State loan relief:
Many states have loan forgiveness programs with an emphasis on certain high-need occupations like health- or child care, teaching and social services. The Education Data Initiative’s list of state student loan forgiveness programs is a good place to begin your research.
Public Service Loan Forgiveness:
Your loan balance gets forgiven after you’ve made 120 qualifying monthly payments under an accepted repayment plan.
For full-time employees with eligible government or nonprofit entities
Image: Government buildingYou can use the Federal Student Aid loan simulator to compare loan repayment options or to help you decide if you want to consolidate.
Image: Information_850dcfIf you want human help figuring out your next step, reach out to a nonprofit like The Institute for Student Loan Advisors.
FAQs: Student loans and your credit
Click on a question to get the answer.
What can I do if my credit scores dropped?
If your credit scores have fallen because of late or missed student loan payments, many relief options — including Income-Driven Repayment plans or loan rehabilitation — can help you get back on track.
Since payment history is one of the most important factors for credit scores, missed payments can really hurt, but the negative impact does fade over time. Consistently paying your bills will help you rebuild your track record.
Managing your credit well in other ways — like keeping your credit utilization as low as possible and keeping older accounts open even if you’ve paid them off — can also help increase your credit score over time.
If it’s been hard to keep track of monthly payments you need to make, setting up automatic payments, if possible, is a good way to prevent future mistakes.
It’s also a good idea to check your credit reports on a regular basis in case an inaccuracy might have contributed to the drop. If there’s been an error with your student loan account, you can dispute it directly with the reporting credit bureau and by contacting your loan servicer.
If you need help understanding your student loan options, the Department of Education’s Loan Simulator is a useful tool to compare different repayment plans that may support your goals.
How do my student loans appear on my credit report?
Student loans are reported to the major credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — and appear on your credit reports as installment loans. Here’s a breakdown of how they’re typically reported:
Individual accounts: Each individual student loan you take out, even from the same lender or for the same academic year, will likely be listed as a separate account on your credit report. This means if you have multiple student loans, you will see multiple entries.
Information reported: For each loan, your credit report will show key details, including the original loan amount, current balance, monthly payment amount, account status and payment history.
When they appear: Student loans typically appear on your credit report shortly after they are disbursed to your school.
If you’d like to see how your student loans are being reported, you can get your credit reports from Equifax and TransUnion for free on Credit Karma.
Is Credit Karma involved in my loans being reported delinquent?
No, Credit Karma doesn’t report loan delinquencies or cause them to appear on your credit report.
Here’s how it works: Credit Karma is a service that provides you with access to your credit information as reported by two of the major credit bureaus, TransUnion and Equifax. Think of Credit Karma as a window into your credit report; it displays information that is already there but doesn’t create or report that information itself.
The responsibility for reporting the delinquency status of your loans lies solely with your student loan servicer. If you miss a payment and your account becomes past due, your loan servicer is the one that reports that delinquency directly to the credit bureaus.
If you see a delinquency listed when viewing your credit report through Credit Karma, it means your lender or loan servicer has reported the account as past due to TransUnion, Equifax or both — and Credit Karma is displaying that information to you.
If you believe there is an error on your credit report regarding a delinquency, you can file a dispute directly with the credit bureau that is reporting the incorrect information. You should also contact the loan servicer that provided the information to the credit bureau.
Can Credit Karma help me dispute an error on my credit reports?
Yes, Credit Karma can help you dispute errors found on your credit reports. Through our Direct Dispute™ tool, you can dispute errors on your TransUnion credit report right from Credit Karma.
For errors on your Equifax or Experian reports, Credit Karma can direct you to file disputes directly with those bureaus.
How can I make room in my budget for my student loan?
If you need more room in your budget and have federal loans, you might consider exploring Income-Driven Repayment plans. These can potentially lower payments based on your income and family size.
You can use the Loan Simulator tool on StudentAid.gov to compare how different IDR options would affect your payment.
You may also want to consider consolidating student loans, an option that combines multiple federal payments into one. Consolidation can offer you up to 30 years to pay off your loans, so your new monthly payment could be lower than your current payments.
Also, look for assistance programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness if your job qualifies.
For a clearer picture of how much money you’re spending, what you’re spending it on, and how you might be able to tighten up your spending, try using our budget calculator.
What happens if I don’t pay my student loans?
It’s understandable to feel overwhelmed by student loans and want to put off dealing with them. Try to keep in mind that addressing them sooner rather than later can be a big positive.
If you’re struggling with your payments, it’s important to act early. Contact your loan servicer to explore relief options like Income-Driven Repayment plans, deferment or forbearance.
The whole purpose of these programs is to get you — and your finances and credit — in a better place.
With student loans, missed payments are not reported until 90 days past due. After that, your loan servicer can report the delinquency to the credit bureaus, hurting your credit scores.
Your loan can go into default after 270 days. The impact of a default can be more serious because it involves greater credit score damage, loss of eligibility for further federal student aid and potential legal action from lenders. Wage garnishment and the loss of tax refunds and federal benefits are also possibilities.
What is wage garnishment for student loans?
The U.S. Department of Education has resumed collections actions against students who have defaulted on their student loans.
Borrowers’ benefits, including tax refunds, could be seized by the government as part of the Treasury Offset Program, which collects past-due debts owed to state and federal agencies.
The Department of Education said it would begin wage garnishment later this summer. Through garnishment, your employer may be ordered to withhold up to 15% of your disposable pay to collect your defaulted debt.
Borrowers whose loans are in default are urged to contact the Default Resolution Group to either make a monthly payment, enroll in an Income-Driven Repayment plan or sign up for loan rehabilitation.
Is Public Service Loan Forgiveness still available?
Yes, Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) is still available.
Full-time government employees and qualifying nonprofit organization workers with Direct Loan Program loans may be eligible for loan forgiveness under the program. If you qualify, your remaining loan balance could be forgiven after you make 120 qualifying payments (10 years).
Learn more about how Public Service Loan Forgiveness works at the federal student aid website.
With the end of extended Covid-era protections, federal student loan delinquencies have begun showing up on credit reports for the first time in years and collections are resuming for loans in default.
For tips and recommendations for repaying your loans, go to Repaying Student Loans 101 at StudentAid.gov.
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