@Anonymous wrote:
1. Will I receive a hard inquiry on my credit reports?
2. Do they even report to the bureaus before you have to pay them?
3. Does it count against you when applying for other credit? For example, I am planning to buy a new car in 3-6 months.
1. No, federal student loans are not made based on your credit, so no credit check is neccesary. They did look to see if you within their rules for borrowing limits, and also to make sure that you are not currently in default on any student loans, but they do that through the National Student Loan Database, not the CRAs.
2. Yes, you will see a new account on your credit report in the next 60-90 days reflecting the amount borrowed and the current repayment status (which is deferred). Each month, you will show paid as agreed as long as you maintain your active deferment and begin making payments on-time when you are required to.
3. Other creditors will be able to see the loan. They will consider it when evaluating your credit history as well as your debt-to-income ratio. Different lenders have different ways of considering defered student loans in your DTI, some will use the expected repayment amount, some will count it as $0 as long as you are defered a certain number of months into the future.
