Do I Have to Pay Back a Student Loan if My Credit Report Shows No Balance?

Question:

Dear Steve,

Student loans: Many are reporting zero balances on their student loans (I am assuming federal loans) as shown on their credit report. One person I know called the reporting agency and asked if they had to pay it back. They said that he didnt.

Do you know why many are reporting zero balances on their student loans in the past month?

Lisee

Answer:

Dear Lisee,

If these are federal loans this could just be a reporting error created by the Department of Education because of the temporary pandemic relief efforts that will expire.

“To provide relief to student loan borrowers during the COVID-19 national emergency, federal student loan borrowers are automatically being placed in an administrative forbearance, which allows you to temporarily stop making your monthly loan payment. This suspension of payments will last until Sept. 30, 2020, but you can still make payments if you choose.”

Your credit report is not a legal statement of the status of your account. It is a reporting of account data shared by a reporting party.

There is no way a credit reporting employee could make a definitive statement about if a loan is payable and no consumer could determine that as well.

All questions should be directed to the student loan creditor or servicer for federal loans. Federal loans also have the ability to be confirmed by logging into the National Student Loan Database System to find the status of loans.

There is nothing you’ve said that would make me believe the loans have vanished and won’t return.

Big Hug!

Get Out of Debt Guy –
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