The US government is now asking for student loan payments again. Because of this, many Americans are seeing their credit scores go down. If people do not pay their loans for 90 days, the loan companies tell credit report groups. This hurts their credit score a lot. This can make it harder or more expensive to get loans for cars, homes, or credit cards. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said that in early 2025, more than 3 million people with student loans saw their scores drop a lot. The US Department of Education stopped federal student loan payments in March 2020 because of the pandemic. They started them again in 2023, giving people one year to get ready. But the government started collecting unpaid student loans again at the end of 2024.