Brand New - dirty credit

[Anonymous]

I’m trying to clean up my credit. My middle score is 550. Have 10k I’m student loan but for some reason it’s broke up to reporting as 8 lines and just dropped me from a 670 for being 90 days late. Didn’t realize forbearance was up. Have no idea what to do to get my score back up quick. Have mortgage, 4 cc zero balance, auto loan 6 months ahead. Can post report. Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

Posting the breakdown and details usually will help us help you sort it out. I can tell you that the loan is in a great position and helping, and that you should let one card report a small balance so that you aren’t penalized for having no credit in use and under active management - that alone can be worth 10-15 points.

For the loans it’s best to call in @calyx and @Anonymous - they are our go-to loan gurus.

[calyx]

Welcome @Anonymous !

May I ask who your servicer is?   Your best bet at this point is to contact them and explain the situation and ask them to remove the lates since you were unaware that you were coming out of deferral.  Some servicers are easier to work with than others, which is why I ask who the servicer is.     Student loan reporting is covered by an additional law (HEA) beyond the FCRA, so some servicers will refuse to change their reporting without a lot of very strong nudging (or at all).  

The reason you have so many loans is that generally each semester's student loan(s) is/are separate, so you'd have one for Fall Year1, Spring Year1, Fall Year2, etc.  They'll split up further if they're different kinds of loans (particularly subsidized and unsubsidized).

For the future:  If it would help you keep everything together, you could consolidate the loans into one (for free, through the Dept of Ed - not through any financial institutions), but you'd want to make sure you aren't going to mess up any payment history that's going towards potential forgiveness programs (though it looks like you're early into your payment).   You would also have a new tradeline, but I don't know how much age you have at this point.    The interest would be a weighted average, so you wouldn't gain/lose much of anything there.

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately for most people, student loans don't report until they are 90+ days late. This time if late will carry the full impact until it ages off. The good news is that it's fresh. My suggestion would be to go back and try to get a retroactive forbearance. This will cover the period after your other forbearance ended. This will not remove the late, however many have had success in disputing it with the CB and getting it removed. If not on the first try, then possibly on another. Don't give up. The same goes for the servicer and then some. People have often gotten an answer from them, only to get a yes anther time. You just have to be relentless and it's better to speak with the specialist each time.
As Calyx said, 8 is normal and as student loans are Tarrant people's oldest accounts, it helps age your credit profile. I had mine grouped so I still have them all but make one payment. I would look at your income and potential payment options hard before deciding to consolidate the loan, even 10k. Make sure you're not making the decision in reaction to the lates.
If you end up on an Income-driven repayment plan such as IBR or REPAYE, make sure you put your monthly dues date as well as 2 months before your recertification into a calendar. It can take over a month to process and they might not even send out a reminder like they're supposed to.