Student debts face credit checks

Under governmental reforms, details of borrowers’ student loan debts will be put in their credit file, including any details of missed or defaulted payments.

However, only those students with defaults on payments will have their details passed on. Those who met their payments will not gain a positive impact on their credit rating.

The government has yet to announce when it will provide the data to credit reference agencies.

Graduates reportedly owe £20 billion in loans and this is predicted to grow to £55 billion in the next 10 years.

Francis Ghiloni, marketing and business development director for mform.co.uk, said: “The average student can face debts of over £20,000 by the time they graduate and their average starting salary is around £16,000.

"Given statistics like this, many students miss one or more of their student loan repayments. This information will soon be made available to credit reference agencies and, therefore, the banks and financial services companies that use them.

"If they can see a history of missed payments here, they are likely to be less willing to lend you money.”

David Hollingworth, head of communications for London & Country, commented: “Anything that adversely affects first-time buyers and keeps them from entering the housing market will be a blow.

"But if people are coming out of university with loans they are struggling to repay, then you could argue they need to get back on track before thinking about taking on a mortgage.”

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