Lauren Smith, WalletHub Staff Writer
@laurenellesmith
You cannot remove a student loan from your credit report without paying if the entry is accurate. You can, however, file a dispute with the three major credit bureaus – Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion – to correct fraudulent or false student loan account information on your report.
How to Dispute a Student Loan on Your Credit Report
- Review all three of your credit reports to locate the student loan account.
- Investigate the entry to confirm if it is inaccurate or legitimate.
- Dispute any errors online, over the phone or via mail, using documentation to support your claim.
- Wait for the results (usually 30 to 45 days).
You cannot remove negative information regarding your student loans, like late payments or collections, from your credit report if it is accurate. But the derogatory marks fall off after 7 years. Even if you receive student loan forgiveness or start to make payments again, the previous derogatory marks will stay on your report for the 7-year period. However, the effect of the negative information will lessen over time, and on-time payments will have a positive impact on your credit.
Rehabilitating Your Student Loan to Reverse Defaults
Federal student loans allow you to reverse an account’s default status. You must contact the lender and apply for income-based repayment. Then, if you make 9 out of 10 consecutive payments on time, the default will be removed from your credit report. However, the previous late payments will remain on your report. This option is not available for private loans.
Goodwill Adjustments and Your Student Loans
You can ask your student loan servicer for a goodwill adjustment, a retroactive change to your payment history which removes the derogatory mark from your credit report. The servicer can choose to remove the negative information from your account or leave it as is. Although it’s unlikely a lender will agree to change accurate account details, goodwill requests are successful in some cases.
You can check your credit report and get personalized credit-improvement tips for free here at WalletHub.
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