Can I dispute my student loans?

You can dispute a student loan only if you suspect it’s reported incompletely or inaccurately, or if it’s the result of fraud. It can be helpful to consider the following: 1. Take time to review your student loan statements, online account or letters from your loan provider. It may help you determine what you want to dispute. 2. New loans may appear on your credit report each time your school provides financial aid. This depends on how funds are dispersed and may happen each semester. If you’re still in school, you can talk to a financial aid officer if you have questions. 3. If you don’t recognize a student loan on your credit report, it can be helpful to contact the loan servicer first. They may have more information about the loan. 4. If you’ve reviewed everything and still think something is inaccurate on your credit report, submit a dispute online with TransUnion®.

Disputes and Student Loans

If you have student loans, you’ll likely see them listed on your credit report. New loans may be created when your school provides financial aid or you refinance.

Student Loans On Your Credit Report

How Student Loans Appear

Each time your school provides financial aid, a new loan may be created; this can happen once or multiple times a year depending on the type of loan and how it’s processed.
New loans can also be created on your report when you refinance or consolidate.
Student loans closed in good standing will remain on your credit report for up to 10 years, while a closed student loan that contains adverse information, like missed payments, will remain on your credit report for up to seven years.

Student Loans and Your Credit Score

If you pay your student loans on time each month, they can contribute to healthy credit. Missed payments on student loans can have a negative impact on your credit score.
Credit scoring models tend to favor active accounts. Once a student loan account is paid and closed, your credit score may dip due to the resulting decrease in average age of your active credit accounts. With positive ongoing credit habits, your score will improve over time.

Common Questions About Student Loans On Your Credit Report

You can dispute a student loan only if you suspect it’s reported incompletely or inaccurately, or if it’s the result of fraud. It can be helpful to consider the following:

Take time to review your student loan statements, online account or letters from your loan provider. It may help you determine what you want to dispute.
New loans may appear on your credit report each time your school provides financial aid. This depends on how funds are dispersed and may happen each semester. If you’re still in school, you can talk to a financial aid officer if you have questions.
If you don’t recognize a student loan on your credit report, it can be helpful to contact the loan servicer first. They may have more information about the loan.
If you’ve reviewed everything and still think something is inaccurate on your credit report, submit a dispute online with TransUnion^®.

Credit reports only update when lenders provide new information to the credit reporting agencies, so you may not see changes reflected immediately in your report. Some lenders send updates more frequently than others, but it usually happens once a month. Learn more about how to read your credit report.

It can feel counterintuitive to see your score drop after paying off a student loan.

This can happen because paying off a loan reduces the amount of active credit you have on file. Typically, a mix of active credit accounts is seen favorably. When you pay off a student loan and the account closes, you may see a drop in your score due to the resulting decrease in average age of your active credit accounts.

Paying your student loan in a timely fashion helps you build good credit, and paying it off entirely is an achievement that should be celebrated. Your credit score is only one measure of your financial health, and you can usually overcome these small dips quickly.

Start the Dispute Process

Here's how to file a dispute online with TransUnion. It's free to create an online account and free to file. You can also dispute for free by mail or phone.