Car Loan Paid Off But Not On Credit Report? Advice Please!

[Anonymous]

Hey guys!

In 2005 I bought a new car and got a loan for almost the whole price of the car and had five years to pay it.  The loan came from a bank.  I paid off the car in just under 5 years and was never late on a payment.  Right now I am seeking to raise my credit score to get a home (newly married).  My car loan and the payments I made are not on my credit report.

Would it raise my credit score to call the bank and have the record of the car payments be placed on my credit report or would that harm my credit or is does it matter?  If it would help my FICO I would definitely like to do it.

Thanks for your wisdom in advance!

Douglass

[llecs]

Welcome to the forums!

Since it is paid, they no longer would update it monthly and likely won't report at all. You can always call the lender and ask, but not every lender reports to every CRA. Assuming you were never ever late, and no lates existed on the old account, the payment history probably wouldn't have any significant impact on your scores. FICO really doesn't reward you for ontime payments, but will hit you with a large loss if late. Any gain would mostly be attributed to the added length of history. If this would be your oldest account or among your oldest accounts or older than your avg. age of all of your OC accounts, then it reporting could probably help. If the loan is younger than your average age of all of your accounts, then its reporting could probably hurt your score. It all depends on your credit. AGain, it wouldn't hurt to call but your odds of getting a closed account to report are super slim.

[Anonymous]

What it DOES help is your auto enhanced FICO score. You'll likely get better terms on your next autoloan by having this one reporting. It's worth asking. I'd ask by mail and butter them up while you're asking.

[Anonymous]

Hey guys thanks for the warm welcome and the wisdom.  I appreciate you taking the time to help!

[Anonymous]

Just out of curiousity, is it reporting on any of your reports? If the loan was from a CU it may only report to one CRA (like mine does, only reports to EQ).

I know for a fact if I called my CU and asked them to report my Car Loan to EX and TU they would not do it, they strictly deal with EQ, it costs $$ for a Major Bank, CU etc...to use the services of the CRA's, so some only use one CRA (like my CU).

Best of Luck!!