The US government has started collecting student loan payments again. This means many Americans' credit scores are going down. If you don't pay your student loan for 90 days, it is reported to companies that check credit. This can really hurt your credit score. It can make it harder and more expensive to get loans for cars, houses, and credit cards. A bank in New York said that in early 2025, over 3 million people with student loans saw their scores drop a lot. Student loan payments were stopped in 2020 because of the pandemic. They started again in 2023, and people had one year when they didn't have to pay. But the government started collecting unpaid loans again in late 2024.