I got a consolidation loan through First Command last year and my scores went up by almost 75 points on every CRA! What you need to do is make sure that you have the discipline to not create new debt. I did the consolidation so that I could make a fresh start and you can look at my sig line to see the results.
Current Score: EX 772 EQ 777 TU 783 15 Jan 17
Hi, bewildered, welcome to the forums! You don't sound that bewildered now.
As the others said, this is a great solution for your scores, as long as you have the self-discipline not to incur new debt. It would be pretty awful a year from now to have the CC balances back up where they are, plus a loan to pay on.
The one thing to realize if that if you app for any other credit, lenders will know in a New York minute exactly what you have done, and the improved scores won't help a bit. But once that debt gets paid down, you'll be in great shape all around, especially since you'll probably get a lower rate on the loan than you have on the cards. That's good financial sense, to me.
You've just got to be really, really honest with yourself.
As the others said, this is a great solution for your scores, as long as you have the self-discipline not to incur new debt. It would be pretty awful a year from now to have the CC balances back up where they are, plus a loan to pay on.
The one thing to realize if that if you app for any other credit, lenders will know in a New York minute exactly what you have done, and the improved scores won't help a bit. But once that debt gets paid down, you'll be in great shape all around, especially since you'll probably get a lower rate on the loan than you have on the cards. That's good financial sense, to me.
You've just got to be really, really honest with yourself.
HTSU...I don't think that the lenders will really know since it shows as an installment acct. The 9 new cards I got gave me a total of $80K in new TL's to put me over $100K. They just want to see good scores and a good payment history.
haulingthescoreup wrote:
The one thing to realize if that if you app for any other credit, lenders will know in a New York minute exactly what you have done, and the improved scores won't help a bit. But once that debt gets paid down, you'll be in great shape all around, especially since you'll probably get a lower rate on the loan than you have on the cards. That's good financial sense, to me.
You've just got to be really, really honest with yourself.
@rubaty wrote:
HTSU...I don't think that the lenders will really know since it shows as an installment acct. The 9 new cards I got gave me a total of $80K in new TL's to put me over $100K. They just want to see good scores and a good payment history.
Thanks, you said that better than I did. What I was trying to say is that the total debt will still be viewable to sharp-eyed lenders. But it's true, since it's over on the installment side, it should raise fewer alarms about debt pyramiding.
As a new PenFed member who just did a BT, I'm a bit twitchy on the pyramid thing!
