Find out who’s servicing your federal student loan

You can locate your federal student loan services by accessing your profile at The U.S. Department of Education’s office of Federal Student Aid site at The “My Loan Servicers” section contains your loan services name and website address. There’s also a link that provides contact info for your past and current federal student loan servicers. Your dashboard also provides your payment amount and payment due date. You’ll even have the option of making a payment directly through the site. If you prefer to pay through your servicer’s site, a link to your servicer’s …

Federal student loan repayment, collections, & interest accrual suspension extended

Until May 1, 2022, student loan borrowers are not required to make payments on their loans. Interest will not be accrued during this time period. In addition, during this repayment suspension, collections attempts cannot be made. Who qualifies for student loan relief This particular relief offered by the federal government only applies to federal student loans. However, during COVID, lenders have been generous. So, it’s possible that the owner of your private student loan can offer you some form of payment relief. If you’re unsure who your private student loan lender is or don’t know how …

More Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) loans will start reporting to Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion in 2022

As the popularity of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) continues to grow, the three major credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) want to see these accounts reported to consumers’ accounts so that lenders can see a more complete picture of consumers’ credit history. Buy Now, Pay Later loans are short-term installment loans, usually due within one to two months. Two attractive features of the loans include the common practice of not requiring a hard credit check to obtain the loan, and the offering payment plans with low or no interest charges. Millions of consumers’ …

Getting a hard credit inquiry removed from your credit report

If you did not give permission to have a hard inquiry performed, you should first contact the company that performed the credit check and ask that they remove it from your report. The company might insist that they can’t remove it. They may even try to get you to back down by telling you that the hard inquiry will only cause a small drop in your credit score. If they refuse to assist in the removal of the hard inquiry, you should file a complaint with the CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau). Credit bureaus …

Hard credit checks versus soft credit checks

When a company reviews your credit, a soft or hard credit inquiry will be performed. The type of inquiry performed can affect your credit. So, it’s important to know the which is being pulled. Soft credit inquiries Soft inquiries do not affect your credit and only you can see soft inquiries on your credit report. Hard credit inquiries Hard inquiries are viewable by anyone accessing your credit report and they affect your credit. When a hard credit check is performed, your total number of hard inquiries is added to your credit report. …

Recognizing the terminology used to request a credit check

If someone is considering extending credit to you, they may view your credit report to analyze your credit history and determine how much credit they’ll extend. Why do variations of the term “credit inquiry” matter? Anyone accessing your credit report will be able to view not only your credit history, but personal details, such as any current (or previous) address, phone number, and employer that has been added to your credit report. So, it’s important that you know when you’re being asked to provide access to such sensitive information. The primary reason for needing …

How secured credit cards work

A secured credit card is a great way for someone to build or rebuild credit if they have a poor credit history or little to no credit history. The main difference between secured credit cards and unsecured credit cards is that a secured card is “secured” or backed by the deposit that you pay. How secured credit cards work Deposits for secured cards can be less than $100 or as high as the thousands. In most cases, the credit limit for your secured card will be 100% of your deposit. So, if you pay …

Handling credit report disputes and complaints

At some point, you may discover a discrepancy on your credit report. You can contact a number of parties to attempt to resolve the matter and get your report updated. Contact the creditor It’s best to contact the creditor first since they provide updates to the bureaus. If the creditor confirms that they’re responsible for reporting the error, the creditor is required to provide the bureau with the correct information. If the creditor feels that they’re not responsible for the error, they will typically refer you to the correct party, which is normally the …

Credit card due dates

According to the Credit CARD Act, your due date must be on the same day each month (for instance, the 7th of each month). In some rare cases, a card issuer may choose to change the payment due date because of business reasons. It’s quite common for issuers to allow cardholders to initiate the request for a change to the due date. However, some issuers do not allow such requests. Consumers who change their due date typically do so because they find it easier to manage their finances. For instance, one might wish to …