Those Missed Student Loan Payments Are Messing Up Your Credit Score

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A new report finds that scores dropped the most for those age 18 to 29. Here’s how to deal with a drop in your score.

By Ann Carrns

Young adults, those 18 to 29, are starting to see the negative effect of missed student loan payments on their FICO credit scores.

The average score for Americans in their late teens and 20s fell three points to 676 in April, compared with the same month a year earlier, driven by struggles with resumed federal student loan payments, according to a report published this week by FICO, the creator of the widely used score. Scores can take years to recover. Roughly 14 percent of the young Americans saw a 50 point drop in their score — about double the figure from 2021, FICO said.