There is no simple answer to the question “Will a student loan help or hurt my credit scores?” The answer is going to vary from person to person and from credit report to credit report. The answer is going to be influenced by a lot of other factors as well, most importantly of which is how you manage your accounts. The answer to the question above is the ever frustrating, “It depends.”
How a Student Loan Can Help Your Credit Scores
Positive, on-time, and otherwise well-managed student loan accounts certainly have the potential to impact your credit scores in a positive way. The actual balances on your student loans are going to have minimal negative impact on your credit scores (unlike credit card accounts where the mere action of having a balance show up on your credit reports might lead to credit score problems). Furthermore, student loans may help you to add to your mix of credit – a factor which FICO and VantageScore credit scoring models consider in the calculation of your credit scores. Student loan accounts also have the potential to eventually help to improve the average age of your credit as the loans age.