Student Loan - FICO Simulator

[Red1Blue]

Not sure if I should post in this forum or Student Loan forum. I took out student loan for my Graduate school. I have been deferring the loan. When I use the FICO simulator it is suggesting if I pay down my student loan debt any where from $3000 - $18000 there will be a boost of 30 points for my report. Should I go ahead and start paying the student loan and bring that balance down ? Or wait for next 6 months and clean up the COs/Collections off my report and then pursue start paying off the student loan. Interest on my student loan is much less. Any thoughts ?

[Mookey67]

I wouldn’t put much trust in those simulators. What is going to keep your score suppressed are those collections and charge offs. Your biggest boost will come from addressing those. For assistance with those I would recommend you post the question on the credit rebuilding forum. There are some very knowledgeable people on there who be able to assist you a great deal. Good luck

[Shooting-For-800]

I would pay students LAST.

They do not affect your scores like regular loans.

My wife hovers around 800 and has a TON of student loans.

If you want to pay, pay but don’t do it for your scores especially if you have ANY cc debt.

[Red1Blue]

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@Shooting-For-800 wrote:

I would pay students LAST.

They do not affect your scores like regular loans.

My wife hovers around 800 and has a TON of student loans.

If you want to pay, pay but don’t do it for your scores especially if you have ANY cc debt.

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Thanks. I do not have any current credit card debt. But bunch of COs/CAs on the report that I am trying to clean up. Simulator says if I reduce some student loan balance I would get about 30 point score gain. Not sure.

[Anonymous]

I'm over 100% on my student loans and now they're near 800 too. I went from low-mid 700's just improving my utilization other places and the biggest jump was when my lates fell off. I've always found the simulator guided me to do the wrong thing and I didn't get the gain I expected until people on the forum actually explained the elements of my score and what was likely keeping it down.
If you're willing to share details in the other board, they can give some stellar advice, down to the creditor.
If your student loans are federal, I can help you determine if there's a more affordable plan to reduce your payments temporarily to throw everything at the CO's if you'd like.

[calyx]

I would work on your other issues before worrying about your student loans.
Installment loans have a much smaller impact on FICO (if they're in good standing) scoring than derogatory items or revolving lines.

Ignore simulators - they cannot even begin to correctly estimate any changes - our credit files have so many more factors and so much more depth than they are capable of working with.