Is paying off child support arrears & student loan with a personal loan a good idea?

[RobertEG]

Credit reporting of child support arrears, as well as their exclusion, is governed by federal statute under FCRA 622, and can remain for 7 years from a reporting that the support payments remain in arrears.

State law normally mandates reporting by the state agency of arrears, and federal law then requires the CRA to post the reported arrears to the consumer's credit report,where it will remain for 7 years.

"FCRA 611   Information on overdue child support obligations

[15 U.S.C. § 1681s-1]

Notwithstanding any other provision of this title, a consumer reporting agency shall include in any consumer report furnished by the agency in accordance with section 604 [§ 1681b] of this title, any information on the failure of the consumer to pay overdue support which

(1) is provided 
     (A) to the consumer reporting agency by a State or local child sup-port enforcement agency; or

     (B) to the consumer reporting agency and verified by any local, State, or Federal government agency; and

(2) antedates the report by 7 years or less."

[calyx]

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@dynamicvb wrote:

Do you have lates, etc.. on the student loan? If so, it would be better to rehab it so you get the baddies gone. The interest now is likley better than anything you would get with a personal loan so you would wind up paying more for the money. I have no idea on the other items

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I agree with dynamicvb - 
These are federal loans and if you rehab them, they will be reported in good standing and you can pay them back (bonus is that you'll have a nice old, positive tradeline/installment loan).   It isn't guaranteed/required that the agency remove lates, but oftentimes they do.   Definitely stay in the federal system with these loans, you probably can't beat the interest, and the protections are better for you.