Getting my student loan to show up on my credit reports

[pen_nyc]

Hi all.

I finished rehabbing my defaulted student loan in May and made my first 2 payments to ACS/DOE for my Stafford and Perkins. As of now nothing is showing up on my report - not the defaulted loan or anything. I'm looking into getting a car but have a thin file (only 3 secured cards at $ 300.00 limit each and an old old card that has been closed for over 10 years) and could definitely use the trade line to show up on my reports.

I know there  are goodwill letters to get them to take off items from a report but is there a way to make them put something on my report?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

-P.

[ocheosa]

Hello Pen_nyc,

Not new to credit, but am new to student loans. Am I understanding you correctly, the only time SL's appear on credit reports is when you default or late payments?

To have your credit reports updated you only need to open disputes to the bureaus for the account not showing.

But after reading this again, be careful they would not also report negative history (default). If its the same original accounts that would post as positive you should be fine.

Message Edited by ocheosa on 06-14-2009 12:31 PM

[pen_nyc]

Hi Ocheosa.

Sorry if I confused you. Yes, your SL's do show up on your credit reports regardless if you default or not (as far as i know). The reason mine do not show up any longer is because  they are so old. I graduated college in 1992 so I am pretty sure they are not on my credit report is because they were soooo old. Keep in mind that the first time I checked my credit report was last year - and I'm 37. I've been "off the grid" for a long time so had no credit to check on.

-P.

[pen_nyc]

Well, I am happy to report that my student loan is now showing up on my Equifax report as a positive trade line! I decided to check my report this afternoon and there it was! I so needed this as I had no installment accounts showing on my report and I think this may help in my quest to get a car.

-P.

[ocheosa]

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@pen_nyc wrote:

Well, I am happy to report that my student loan is now showing up on my Equifax report as a positive trade line! I decided to check my report this afternoon and there it was! I so needed this as I had no installment accounts showing on my report and I think this may help in my quest to get a car.

-P.

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Great! TU should be next. For some reason EX is usually the last to update.  And, thanks for clarifying the SL reporting.

[pen_nyc]

I am pleased to report that now all 3 are showing my student loan!!!! It seems to have taken about 45 days from my first payment to show up.

-P.