I've only seen this question asked once before a few years ago and only one person replied so I'd like new input. I have federal direct student loans in deferment with no problems. If I start making token payments every month will it have any impact on my credit score? I know its still a good idea to keep the balance down if I have extra money, but will it have any impact on my credit score?

I've never seen any changes to my score based on making/not making payments on deferred SLs. But if you can afford it, you might as well at least pay the interest on any unsubsidized loans to prevent it from being capitalized when you come out of deferment.

Thanks...actually they're all subsidized, but that suggestion gives me a good idea. I think I'll pay off what I don't use a few months after each disbursement to keep the balances from getting sky high. Also, the one response to a question from 2005 on the same topic said the same thing about effect on scores. On True Credit they report as "OK" each month even in deferment so I think it probably doesn't make sense to make token payments and expect to see any kind of credit score help.

I can add one interesting thing...all of the 3 CRAs show identical TLs except for one; TU doesn't report my student loans. However all three FAKO and FICO scores are nearly identical. It seems pretty logical that having SLs in deferment wouldn't tell much at all about credit worthiness and they are probably given next to no weight the more I think about it.

I really dont see any issue....most students dont go to summer school and they have no problems with their loans over the summer months.