Many borrowers reported that they never received notice from the Department of Education that their student loan payments were resuming, even though they were meant to have been notified at least three weeks in advance. Monitoring your credit score regularly means you can catch any changes before it’s too late to correct significant hits.

Millions of Americans have seen their credit scores drop since the U.S. governmente resumed collecting on outstanding student loans.

After 90 days of non-payment, student loan servicers report delinquent, or past-due, accounts to major credit bureaus, which use the information to recalculate the borrower’s score. Falling behind on loan payments therefore can affect an individual’s credit rating as severely as filing for personal bankruptcy.