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Newbie here -- but I have been reading!
I have a question on the credit mix -- do student loans count as an installment loan? My husband and I are looking to buy a home in about 2 years and we are working diligently to increase our credit score. We are a little confused on the "ideal" credit mix. Right now we have 2 secured CapOne cards and a bunch of student loans. We are thinking we need to add at least one more credit card (also working to increase the credit limit on the ones we have). Do we also need to add an auto loan or personal loan? We talked about doing a USAA secured CD loan but aren't sure that would help.
The student loans aren't consolidated -- so they show as a tons of separate accounts (~14 accounts). Would that hurt -- to have that many student loan accounts and only the two credit cards?
Any help on the credit mix would be great! Thanks!
Yes, SL are considered installments. Getting any other type of installment would not help.
It isn't really the number of CC you have or the CLs but how you manage them.
They are installment loans. If you have many different loans (a set of loans is issued each semester) you might consider consolidating them which often results in a lower monthly payment and two loans-one subsidized and one unsubsidized. Another installment loan isn't going to do much for you in terms of credit mix, revolving accounts give you a bigger bang for your buck score wise if used appropriately.