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Will Signing Up For IBR, PAYE or REPAYE Help My Credit Score?

The credit score impact of enrollment in IDR plans like PAYE, IBR and REPAYE is usually minimal, but it can be a huge help in certain circumstances.

Written By: Michael P. Lux, Esq.

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One of the big advantages of federal student loans is the income-driven repayment (IDR) plans.

The most popular plans are Income-Based Repayment (IBR), Pay As You Earn (PAYE), and Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE).

What makes these plans special is that your monthly payment is based upon what you can afford to pay rather than what you owe. As a result, most student loan borrowers can qualify for lower payments.

Will signing up for IBR, PAYE, or REPAYE hurt my credit score?

Many consumers already know that enrolling in a payment plan to settle debt can hurt your credit score. This usually happens when a lender reports to the credit agencies that the borrower is “paying partial payment agreement” or that the debt “settled.” These terms can be red flags for future creditors.

Signing up for an income-driven plan is different. Even though some of the IDR plans require a “partial financial hardship,” there is no hardship or partial payment designation on your credit report. In fact, the “partial financial hardship” required for some IDR plans simply means that signing up for the plan would save you money over the standard repayment plan.

Because there is not a negative designation associated with signing up for IBR, PAYE, and REPAYE, there should be no harm to your credit score.

However, as noted in the comments section below, there can be some negative consequences to signing up for one of the Income-Driven Repayment plans.

Will signing up for an income-based repayment plan help my credit score?

Signing up for IBR, PAYE, or REPAYE is a powerful option because it can free up money each month and get you started on the path towards student loan forgiveness. Unfortunately, the direct impact on your credit score is minimal.

This is because your monthly payment is altered. Your credit history remains the same. Signing up for an income-driven repayment plan will not erase past mistakes.

However, signing up for an income-driven repayment plan can have a couple of indirect benefits to your credit overall.

How can income-driven repayment help my credit?

For those looking to build good credit to buy a house or qualify for lower interest rates in the future, signing up for IBR, PAYE, or REPAYE can be very helpful in two ways.

  1. IDR plans help your debt-to-income ratio – Even though the direct impact on your credit score may be minimal, an income-driven repayment plan can dramatically improve your debt-to-income ratio (DTI). Your DTI compares your monthly bills as reported on your credit report to your monthly income. The more income you have compared to your debt, the better your odds of getting an approval are. By reducing your monthly obligation on your credit report, lenders will see that you are in a better position to afford a mortgage or car payment.
  2. IDR plans help avoid missed payments – Repaying student loans on the standard repayment plan can be very difficult for many borrowers. If you are barely getting by on your current student loan plan, you could be one illness away from a missed or late payment. Signing up for income-based repayment can allow a borrower to start saving an emergency fund to ensure that there are no payment issues in the future. Put simply, lower payments mean more flexibility and financial stability. A missed or late payment can have a devastating impact on your credit score. Finding a way to prevent this from happening is a major win.

Some borrowers also choose to consolidate their federal student loans as they begin repayment. Consolidation of student loans is another avenue that can potentially help credit scores.

What are the Possible Negative Consequences to IDR Enrollment?

Some borrowers who sign up for an Income-Driven Repayment plan can qualify for monthly payments of $0 based upon their income. These zero-dollar payments count towards student loan forgiveness and can be really helpful for a borrower who is unemployed or underemployed.

The downside to zero dollar payments is that loan balances will go up because the loan continues to accrue interest. Borrowers in this situation should understand the events that trigger interest capitalization and avoid them when possible.

The credit score consequences of an increasing balance without missing a payment are a matter of some debate. Credit bureau Experian appears to argue that not making payments will not directly hurt your credit score as long as it is authorized by the lender. Lender Sallie Mae says that the increasing balance could have an impact on your credit score, depending upon how the information is reported. Several readers have also stated that the increasing balance has caused their credit score to drop.

At this point, it is worth noting that IDR enrollment by itself does not have a negative credit consequence. The borrowers who have monthly payments that are less than the monthly interest accruing on the loan are the ones reporting an issue. Borrowers in this situation are permitted to make payments larger than the monthly interest accumulation if they are concerned about their credit score being hurt.

The other conceivable downside for a borrower who qualifies for $0 monthly payments comes when applying for a mortgage or other loan. When a credit agency sees $0 for the monthly payment, they will often substitute 1% of the loan balance as the monthly payment for Debt-to-Income ratio calculations. In the past, the 1% figure was used for most mortgage applications, but recent changes to mortgage underwriting changed this rule. Borrowers with $0 payments will still get hit with the 1% rule, but most other borrowers will have their actual monthly IDR payment used.

Bottom Line

Signing up for Income-Based Repayment, Pay As You Earn or Revised Pay As You Earn may not directly help or hurt your credit score. However, the indirect benefits can be large, and going the income-driven repayment route can have a positive impact on your ability to get credit.

Many borrowers consider an income-driven repayment plan because they are unable to make the full payments on the standard repayment plan.

If a late payment is a serious risk due to unaffordable large bills, switching to Income-driven repayment should be an easy decision. The credit score implications of signing up for IBR, PAYE, and REPAYE are relatively small compared to the devastating consequences of late payments, delinquencies, and defaults.

About the Author

Student loan expert Michael Lux is a licensed attorney and the founder of The Student Loan Sherpa. He has helped borrowers navigate life with student debt since 2013.

Insight from Michael has been featured in US News & World Report, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and numerous other online and print publications.

Michael is available for speaking engagements and to respond to press inquiries.

23 thoughts on “Will Signing Up For IBR, PAYE or REPAYE Help My Credit Score?”

  1. this is absolutely wrong information it has hurt me tremendously and I cannot qualify for any credit because of my outstanding balance on my IDR plan even though my monthly payments are zero I am curious that you even think to put something like this out in the public

    Reply
  2. I am currently on the income driven repayment plan. I make all payment on time. However, the unsubsidized part of my consolidated loan is accruing interest. Therefore, my overall debt is increasing. So, it is causing my credit score to go down. It went down by 4 points last month. It stated on Credit Karma that this was due to my overall balance going up.

    Reply
  3. My son recently signed up for the IDR plan and wants to make sure it won’t have a negative impact on his credit score. He has good credit score, 745, and keeps his two credit cards paid down. According to this article it looks like it should not have a negative impact. Is that correct? Thank you for your information.

    Reply
      • That is not correct!!! Your score will drop! Mine dropped 70 points and I’m
        Certain it was because of the repayment plan!!! My payment is $0 a month, balance is steady going up and score is steady going down

      • My credit dropped not that much but it goes up and down. This is the worst cause if you want to pay something its like is it even worth it. I applied for a mortgage and was denied because of the1% rule stuff. I did get a loan with my bank only because I showed proof of statement from idr, the mortgage people not so convincing, damn if you damn if you dont

  4. If approved, does IBR program requires larger amount first 3 months of the program? I was qualified for small monthly payment of $29 on IBR but they require $276 first 3 months. Is that legit? He did look at my loans through fsa id and verified everything.

    Reply
  5. I recently got approved for the IDR and I still will make payments every month although I was approved for “$0” monthly payments. How does this help my credit score? I know that this cuts the missed payments dings and helps with DTI but how if in any way does this help improve the actual credit score? Thank you so much for your time!

    Reply
    • I’m not sure that making extra payments will help your credit score in any noticeable way (aside from lowering your total outstanding debt if you are putting a dent in your student loans). The IDR plan helps by making sure you don’t miss any payments, and with $0 payments, you won’t miss any unless you miss a certification deadline.

      Reply
      • I too had the same problem of my credit score going down because of my 0 payments. do you know what can be done.

      • Hi Deborah,

        As noted in the possible negative consequences section, it is possible that the $0 payments could conceivably hurt your credit score, but the impact should likely be minimal.

        Are there any other changes to your credit report that could account for the score change? A missed payment, new account, or even hard inquiry could also explain a drop in score.

        One other possibility is that you are seeing a score change due to FICO changing the scoring system: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/23/fico-10-credit-score-changes.html

    • The lenders only look at your outstanding balance and apply 1% to any credit you try to get so in short doesn’t make any difference if you pay more or not on a zero monthly payment it will hurt your credit score because they only look at the outstanding balance

      Reply
  6. I signed up for one of these payment plans, for now my paymemt is 0.00 because Im still looking for work BUT my balances continue to go up due to interest. They are not late or past due obviously BUT they dropped my credit score 70+ points. Please do explain to people if they qualify for 0.00 month ly repayment plan it will ruin their credit unless they pay off the interest every month (which is almost impossible because it constitute s a huge percent of a full payment until you hit the half way or more point of being paid off.

    Reply
    • Are you certain that is the cause of your credit score dropping? The repayment plan selected really shouldn’t affect credit score at all and 70+ is a huge drop.

      Also, have you looked at REPAYE? That particular plan will help you out on the interest issue.

      Reply
      • This is also happening to me as well. My credit score has dropped down 42 points. Is there another way of fixing this?

      • If you can even get credit now! the impact is huge and I am so upset cuz mine is 31 years old and I have come a long ways and I deserve more than what I able to get

    • Absolutely does hurt you financially. The lenders apply 1% of the outstanding balance against debt to income ratio. I cant get anything that needs a loan. !

      Reply

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