Student Loan Reporting After Discharge

[kberly69]

Does anyone know how long it takes for student loans to start reporting again after discharge? I understand from what I've read that they are considered installment loans for credit scoring purposes. I see on my credit reports/scores through various sources that one reason for lower scores is because I have no installment loans reporting. My student loan statement online says it's still in bankruptcy forbearance, although my discharge occurred on 10/6. I know they were notified because prior to discharge I was unable to view my account. I continued to pay these while awaiting discharge and was hoping to see a little boost once they're reported again. Am I just dreaming?

[StartinOver]

this is a good question! My husband had a student loan that we never stopped paying (except during the few months our chapter 7 was in the system, and they refused and sent back our payments). After the bk was discharged in August 2011, we began paying again, and it was going to a special address. We paid on time consistently (might have been late a few months along the way, but every payment got made), and in late November 2015, they cancelled the remaining 12K balance, without anything more than a form letter indicating the statute of limitations was the reason. We were grateful because we had smallish medical debts piling up due to tripled medical insurance deductible for a couple years.

Recently I checked both of our credit with all three agencies and discovered that they are reporting that student loan as "failed to pay" and they continue to report it month by month long past their forgiveness. I'm not sure if we should dispute that, or what to do.

After the bk, my credit score was in the 650 range, and I did not attempt to obtain credit cards to rebuild it. It's now in the low 500's. This was because I'd been in this deep debt voodoo FOUR times (within two marriages), and only the last one went as far as bankruptcy. I had the sense that nothing short of having NO CREDIT OPTIONS was going to ensure that we didn't accidentally fall back in a hole again. It's been really hard, but I have been able to sleep at night knowing that we only have $5K medical debt which we are paying on time. I had to replace my car last year. Everyone said see if you can finance it to rebuild your credit. (I doubt I could have qualified, but even worse, I would not have slept with a real car payment stretching into the future). I cut back on the extra payments I was sending to those debts and saved up 4K, over 6 months. Took a 3K personal loan from MIL, bought the car for cash and paid her back in 3 months. Both of us filed that bk, but my husband had student debt (he still has a small one, and it's the reason his credit is still in the 600's).

Well now I am looking to the future and realizing that renting an apartment is not a good permanent solution to our need for living quarters. Rents are high here and we are in the cheapest place we can find, and it's a crummy place that's expensive as the dickens to heat. We would like someday to consider owning a home again. But clearly, we are not financeable at present.

I routinely need to purchase items for my employment. It's a non-profit and I am salaried and regularly paid the reimbursements for the items purchased. I am considering that I could obtain a low credit line credit card to use for that purpose. It's been enough years since the bankruptcy that I'm not afraid I'll misuse it. It will sort out my accounting issues with trying to budget for items that I will not be reimbursed for until the end of the month.

Advice on how to select a credit card for this purpose? It doesn't need to allow for more than $300 in purchases, it would be rare that I'd actually purchase that much. The non-profit is willing to look into providing one, but that is not going to also help me with rebuilding my score, is it?