How to check your student loan balance?

Depending on whether you have a federal or private student loan, the process of checking your student loan balance is different. 

Federal student loans

Federal student loans are granted by the United States Department of Education. To check your remaining loan balance, you need to visit the Federal Student Aid website, studentaid.gov. 

1. Log in to your FSA account with your email ID, phone, or FSA ID username and password. 
2. Once you are logged in, you will be able to see a summary of your federal student loan balances and servicers.

The outstanding balance may not always be up to date. So you may want to check with your school financial aid office and credit report for the latest updated records. Your credit report will usually have the latest update on your outstanding balance because lenders report to all three credit bureaus – Experian®, TransUnion®, and Equifax® once a month. Your credit report will be updated once a month and not as soon as you make the payments. 

Private student loans

There is no centralized website to check your outstanding loan balance if you have taken out a private student loan. This is because each lender has its platform, terms, and conditions. 

You’ll need to check your balance through your loan servicer – the company that manages the billing for the student loan. Contact your credit union, bank, or online lender to find out who your loan servicer is. The servicer may have an online dashboard where you can review your outstanding loan balance. 

You can also contact your school’s financial aid office to check the balance on institutional loans granted by the school. The office may also be able to provide the name of your lender so you can contact them directly to find out your total outstanding balance. 

Like federal loans, private loan repayments also get reported to all three credit bureaus once a month. Not all lenders report to all three credit bureaus. Check which credit bureau your lender reports to and pull your credit report from them accordingly. Your credit report is also updated once a month and not as soon as you make the payment.