Question about auto loan

[Anonymous]

So I am taking a auto loan from Pen Fed shortly for $26,000...my Fico's are high 7's....how should I expect that to effect Fico?

[haulingthescoreup]

Probably won't hurt much, other than the new account ding and any possible lowering of your AAoA. If you don't currently have any open installment accounts (mortgage, student loan, additional auto loan, etc.), it might even help.

Installment util is calculated separately from revolving util, and it carries a much lower ding to scores than does revolving.

[Anonymous]

Gottcha.....thanks haulin......own my home no other auto loans(or any loans) and very small CC balance.

[haulingthescoreup]

If you do get a ding for the new account (and the inq, if there was one), I think it goes away after 6 months. I always thought that it was a year, but mine changed after 6 months. That might vary, though.

If your AAoA didn't drop down to a lesser year, and if the drop didn't put you in a new length-of-history category, there might not be a ding for that at all, although it will take that much longer for your AAoA to go up a year.

Congrats on the new wheels!