Student Loan Delinquency Timeline
How bad is it to be late with a student loan payment? Let’s find out.
1 – 7 Days Past Due
It is very important for you to remain up to date in your student loan payments. Most lenders and servicers allow for a short grace period, never longer than 1 week, in which your payment can be posted to your account. This is often to allow for processing-time differences between mailed checks, auto-debit, and phone payments. Although it’s not good to rely on this buffer, it will ensure that you do not accrue unwanted late fees just because of processing times.
15 – 30 Days Past Due
Your lender can assess late fees on the account after 15 days. The amount and assessment date of these fees can vary from lender to lender, but your fee will never be greater than 6% of each delinquent dollar, or $6 on a $100 late payment.
The later your loan payment is past due, the greater the late fees you can incur. These fees cannot be added to the principal balance of the loan while the loan is still in repayment, but they can be if your loan defaults.
30 – 60 Days Past Due
You’ve moved passed 1 month in delinquency. When your next due date comes up, you will owe your lender twice your usual monthly payment.
60 – 90 Days Past Due
Your interest is accruing on a daily basis, calculated like this:
Interest rate x Balance / 365 days = Daily interest
For PLUS loans, your lender has the right to take the interest that your loan has been accumulating and capitalize it, or add it to the principal balance, 4 times a year. In other words, after 90 days, your lender can start charging additional interest on your unpaid interest, increasing the amount you owe.
| Days Past Due | Daily Interest Charge | Unpaid Interest | Principal | Total Due |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
$1.52 |
$1.52 |
$9,300 |
$9,301.52 |
90 |
$1.52 |
$136.80 |
$9,300 |
$9,436.80 |
91 |
$1.55 |
$1.55 |
$9,436.80 |
$9,438.55 |
Say you owe $9,300 at a 6% interest rate. That means it’s costing you $1.52 every day to hold the loan, or $136.80 for 90 days. When it’s capitalized, your principal balance will rise to $9436.80, and your daily charge for the next 90 days will be $1.55. That’s just a couple of cents per day, but over the life of a loan it really adds up. In contrast, if you make regular payments and reduce your principal, your daily interest cost will go down.
90 – 120 Days Past Due
Your lack of payment has now been reported to at least 1 consumer reporting agency. At 120 days, a second report will go out. The interest rates on credit cards you hold may increase, and you may find it difficult to get additional lines of credit such as a car loan, a mortgage, or even an apartment lease.
120 – 240 Days Past Due
After 180 days, the daily loan cost of PLUS loans may increase again, as your unpaid interest is capitalized into your loan principal a second time.
After 240 days, a $9,300.00 loan at a 6% interest rate and $100 monthly payment would be $800 behind, with accumulated interest of $364.80, for a total due of $1,164.80. Depending on your loan servicer, you could also have as much as $126.00 in late fees.
240 – 270 Days Past Due: Serious Risk Of Default
It is extremely difficult to get forbearance on an account so far overdue, and although you may be eligible for a deferment, 9 months of that deferment would need to be backdated to cover your previous delinquency.
When a federal student loan hits 270 days of delinquency, it can default at any time.
Default is far more serious than delinquency.
For information about student loan default and recovery from default, visit our default page.
