Maintaining Healthy Credit Through Med School

[NSAID2MUCH]

Hi Network,

This is officially my first post to the SDN - I've been reading along for about a month now and I love it.

I'm curious if anyone that has either gone through the borrowing process and is paying back their loans or if someone that is midway that has begun taking out large loans can share some information about how their credit rating has changed (for better or worse).

Has the debt, ranging from 30 or 40K to over 100K affected your credit rating negatively?

Givens: I'm assuming for the sake of argument a scenario where prior credit score was strong enough to borrow (if private loans were needed) and that all credit debt is paid on time each month when active.

Any help is appreciated.

I figure that I won't be a weary about the debt if I know that it can be managed - I'm in debt about 30K now and will probably be over 100K by the end of medical school.

Thanks

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[mshheaddoc]

If you are only 100K in debt, it probably won't affect your credit that much, but it really depends on if you have established credit already. Usually established meaning 5-7 years. Also, average debt for med student is about $130K I believe. If you are only $100K in debt, it's not as bad as those that are $200K in debt because they have had to use private loans which are credit based. Yes credit will be pulled under a bit with student loans, but its really important to look at credit cards and other sources of credit as well. Your credit score isn't just student loans. The most heavily weighed are credit cards, installment loans aren't weighed any more for the amount, but more of the repayment and length of time repaid. So if you keep your credit card balances to $0 or keep your available credit greater than 80-90% I think you'd be fine with credit history. Students get into trouble when they start taking on additional debt outside of student loans, credit cards, car loans, mortgages, etc. Remember, good credit also depends on your debt to income ratio as well (total debit divided by total income - good rule of thumb over all is keep it as low as possible).