Practice one: student loans
One team for every major federal student loan program.
Whatever your situation looks like, there is usually a path forward. Here is where we can help, and what each option is really about under the 2026 rules.
Practice two: credit repair
Fixing the loan is half of it. The reporting is the other half.
Federal student loans are often the largest item on a credit report and among the most commonly misreported, especially after the payment pause ended and the SAVE plan collapsed. Resolving a default does not automatically correct what the bureaus are saying about it.
Active student loan clients receive $20 per month off any credit plan. One team, one file, one point of contact.
Answer library
Student loan answers, stated plainly
The 2026 rules, in the fewest words we can manage, with the deadlines named.
Do student loans help or hurt your credit score?
Paid on time, federal student loans generally help, by building long-dated installment payment history that supports two scoring factors. Installment balances also weigh far less than credit card balances, so a large loan balance is not damaging the way the same amount of revolving debt would be. Delinquency is what damages credit, and student loan delinquency is unusually often misreported.
Student loans and your creditWill getting out of student loan default remove it from my credit report?
It depends on the route. Completing loan rehabilitation, typically nine agreed affordable payments over ten months, removes the default notation from your credit report. Consolidating out of default resolves the loan faster but generally leaves the notation in your credit history. Under either route, the individual late payments preceding the default remain for seven years.
My student loans were in forbearance but reported as late. Is that fixable?
Yes, and it is one of the stronger challenges available, because a delinquency reported for a month when no payment was due is plainly inaccurate. You need the deferment or forbearance approval in writing with dates that line up. This occurred at volume during the SAVE plan transition, when enrolled borrowers were moved into forbearance.
What replaced the SAVE plan in 2026?
The SAVE plan was struck down and repealed, and enrolled borrowers were placed into a forbearance in which interest accrues and the time does not count toward forgiveness. The lasting income-driven options are now IBR and the new Repayment Assistance Plan, or RAP, which launched July 1, 2026. PAYE and ICR are closing to new enrollment and end by July 2028.
The 2026 changes, in plain EnglishAre federal student loan programs free to apply for?
Yes. Every federal repayment, forgiveness, and discharge program can be applied for at no cost at StudentAid.gov or through your loan servicer. Any company charging for access rather than for advisory work is misrepresenting what it sells. What a firm can legitimately charge for is strategy, accurate application preparation, and ongoing management of recertifications and servicer errors.
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