New reporting requirements?

[beutiful5678]

Mine have been reporting the full balance (principle and interest) for at least as long as I started paying attention to my credit in January. My loans are serviced by Great Lakes.

[Anonymous]

Beutiful5678: Yes, but FedLoan Servicing (PHEAA) and Great Lakes are two different servicers. They each make up their own rules about what they want to contribute to the bureaus apparently.

[macinjosh]

Thanks for that. I was wondering why my Fed Loan student loans shows increased balances monthly now on my reports. That explains it all.

[Anonymous]

macinjosh: The other thing you might want to check is if the interest amount is correct. My monthly fluctuation varies too much so I'm sure mine isn't. I also have a theory that they were charging me the interest for my IBR plan for the first 3 years. Always have to keep a close eye on FLS imo.

[Anonymous]

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I had this issue as well that caused my score to decrease due to the balance increased. I contact FLS and they advised me to dispute with the CA's because my balance is the same. I am currently on in school deferrment therefore my balance should have remained the same. Did you find out anything differant about the change?? What can I do to keep it from inpacting my score month after month?? 

[Anonymous]

Mrvbyrd: I'm not sure there is anything you can do if the overall debt is accurate. Disputes are only for inaccurate information, if I'm not mistaken (and they know that, but still told you to do it just to make it somebody else's problem).
The only reason you might have a reason to take action is if it's not accurate. I would sit down and make sure the increases each month match up with the interest rate per loan (interest calculated per day). Keep in mind the interest subsidy of subsidized loans too.

[Anonymous]

I just checked Credit Karma and on my Transunion they are showing an increase in my FedLoan balance even though I'm on an IBR and won't need to recertify until February, and have not been late.  They were really slow processing my November payment for some reason, taking over a week.

I'm not happy about this since I can't afford the 10-yr payment and if this interest keeps reporting like this I will be screwed credit wise for the next 20 plus years. 

[Anonymous]

They started reporting the principal and the outstanding interest (which still acrues on IBR) and they said it was up to the CB to decide how to calculate the total. Not sure if I buy that completely but if so, I'm not sure there is any way to dispute the correctly reported information.
The only options I see that could change this would be to calculate the interest and make sure the increase has been correct. Don't forget to take into account the subsidy if your payments don't cover the interest on the subsidized loan(s) for the first (3??) years.
The other thing I had already done was instead of being on IBR, I'm on REPAYE. The gov will pay half the interest for the duration of the loans, for both types of loans. Not that it matters. I think once you're past 100% it's all the same. Might want to double check with the credit score gurus on here.
I can tell you for sure it will not hold you back though if your endgame is forgiveness. As long as you maximize yourself in other categories of the credit score you can easily get above a 750.
I just hate to see this increase on our reports every month, like we don't have enough stress in our lives. FLS sucks.

[Anonymous]

My score came down by 11 points due to this.  True it's a CK score but it does concern me because it will look to potential creditors that my debt to income will be worse due to the appearance of taking on more debt. 

I will need to purchase a new home in the next year and a half.  This will look really bad to a mortgage lender.  I so regret taking out student loans!

[Anonymous]

TexFamMan:
1. The loans going past way 100% doesn't actually affect the score that much from what I've seen. Not when the rest is optimized in payment history, age. My score even still includes a major delinquency.
2. Can you afford to pay the interest as it accrues? This will prevent the bureau balances from increasing further. It won't hurt (or help) IBR.
3. I recommend you check your FICO scores. I used the $1 trial with Credit Check Total every few months for 3 FICO 8 scores.
4. Does it change your DTI? The interest may not have capitalized but it's still there. You might want to ask someone who knows about this if it changes anything. I also know there are certain loans that only take your payment into account.
I know this seems frustrating but it will all work out, even if you have to make a few adjustments. 🙂