Student Loan

[CostantinoA]

Hello everyone:

My current student loan status was changed do to the fact I enrolled in school again.  I am still making payments on the loan even though I am not required to.  My question is that if the loan has no payment due and it is still reporting positive account status monthly, is it still being caculated into my FICO score or does it not help because there is no payment due?

[SCF]

You'll note that an on-time payment on your credit report is specifically defined as "pays as agreed."  That means that you made whatever payment you agreed on with the lender, even if that payment was $0 because you had a deferment.  Your loans will remain open and show "pays as agreed" as long as your deferment remains in effect.

[CostantinoA]

I know paying down while in deferment will reduce the amount of interest you pay. What about payments? Will it matter if I make payments monthly or not? If I don't make payments while in deferment vs making payments even though not required. Will it help my score to make these payments or does not matter since no payment is due.

[SCF]

Your loan will report "pays as agreed" regardless of if you make payments during deferment.  If you reduce the total balance on the loan enough, you might see a minor increase in your score, but most of the benefit of extra payments is, as you say, the interest savings.

[CostantinoA]

What I noticed before when I was in deferrment was then months I made payments, it reported as "payed as agreed" but the months I didn't make payments, it reported as "no data" for that month.