How much can my score drop?

[BabyBlue]

My current scores are in 740s. I have 5 open accounts (10-month old installment loan and 4 credit cards w/ utilization around 3-5%; average account age: 3 years, length of credit hx: 6 years 8 months); no baddies.

I have just started three-year graduate school and my first student loan (10k) should be reported in the next 2-3 weeks. I think my score will drop due to the new account being reported and overall drop in average account age - how much lower can I expect it to be?

Assuming I will be taking out 5 more student loans (around 10k each) every fall and spring, will each of them have more or less the same effect on my credit score?   

Many thanks!

[haulingthescoreup]

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@BabyBlue wrote:

My current scores are in 740s. I have 5 open accounts (10-month old installment loan and 4 credit cards w/ utilization around 3-5%; average account age: 3 years, length of credit hx: 6 years 8 months); no baddies.

I have just started three-year graduate school and my first student loan (10k) should be reported in the next 2-3 weeks. I think my score will drop due to the new account being reported and overall drop in average account age - how much lower can I expect it to be?

Assuming I will be taking out 5 more student loans (around 10k each) every fall and spring, will each of them have more or less the same effect on my credit score?

Many thanks!

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When it comes to the issue of new accounts, I'll bet your scores won't drop at all; or if anything, maybe 5 points max.

Interesting question about the possible re-aging though; I had never thought of that.

Otherwise, student loans seem to occupy an odd little space of their own. Just keep taking care of them, and you should be fine. And with your current scores, you should be able to get the best deals out there. Congratulations!

[BabyBlue]

Thank you for your response and the congrats. I have been reading the forums for quite a while now but for whatever reason I have not paid much information to the student loan info until I decided to pursue another degree.

I am happy I will not be penalized a lot for all the new accounts. I can take a slight drop in my scores but not a major one My goal is to be among Fico High Achievers one day and hopefully it will happen one day.

Many thanks again!

[athensguy]

My wife has student loans, and all but one appear under the same TL because they are all Direct Loans. Both subsidized and unsubsidized. The only one that has its own separate TL is a Perkins loan. The date on the big TL is from when the first Direct Loan was opened.

[BabyBlue]

That's interesting. I was told on the Student Loans forum that I will have a separate TL for each semester. The loans are/will be also through Direct Loans (Stafford unsubsidized only).

It would be great if I had only one TL. I guess I will have to wait and see.

[athensguy]

At least in her case, she has Stafford unsub and subsidized and she's only got one Direct Loans TL.

[laz98]

Mine are all separate tradelines. They are through Sallie Mae.

[athensguy]

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@laz98 wrote:
Mine are all separate tradelines. They are through Sallie Mae.

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I am not super knowledgeable about student loans. I just want to confirm that Direct Loans are not Sallie Mae loans, right? Do your Sallie Mae loans mention Sallie Mae on the TLs?

[laz98]

They are not Direct Loans, correct. Yes, they are listed as Sallie Mae on my CRs.