If I make a settlement to my student loans,will that lower my credit score or show as a negative on my report?

Yes, its considered a settlement/charge off, and it means that the creditor was unable to recover allt hat you owed them.

You can try and negotiate up front (in writing) that it will not go on your record as such...... so try that if you are settling.

Making a settlement is the same as trying to make good, once you start paying off that settlement it will show that you are making good on your payments. This will show better on your credit rating than paying off the whole thing at once. I once paid off a creditor and my credit rating went in the toilet because it looked like I had no credit. where as I made a settlement to pay off my student loans and within a year I applied for a credit card to JC Penney's for fun and I qualified. I had a friend look up my credit for me and he said I qualified because I am actively paying back my student loans because of the aggreement I went into.

Yes. It is just as if you owed a store $1000 and convinced them that they can't get more than $200 from you. They would take the $200 but notify the credit company that you failed to pay the remaining $800. That is not going to do your credit rating much good.

Just be very careful they put a hold on my checking account years ago and took everything in it. May settlement or just keep paying the government can do anything they want for there money.

yes, however making some payment is not looked upon quite as badly as going bankrupt