To put it simply, yes. If you fail to pay your student loans back according to the designated schedule (say you are late to submit a payment or can’t make a payment entirely) your credit score will unfortunately suffer the consequences. However, it’s important to note that different loan options have different terms of repayment. For the most part, federal loans are much more lenient than private loans; federal loan servicers usually wait 90 days before reporting a late payment, whereas private servicers usually only wait 30 days.