SECURED LOANS..IS IT EVER TOO EARLY TO PAY OFF?

[bella1013]

I am thinking of getting a 12 month $5,000.00 secured loan only to help my credit.  I do not want to keep it for the full 12 months.  I'd like to pay it back ASAP.  I am thinking about paying $1,000.00 a month back for 5 months or even more.  If I did get this secured loan and paid it back within 3-5 months, is that too early?  Do I need to keep the loan going longer?

[llecs]

Do you have any loans reporting, like mortgages, car notes, SLs, other loans?

[bella1013]

No I don't.  All I have on my credit report right now is a $1,000.00 secured credit card and a $500.00 credit card.

[llecs]

There may be some in here who might disagree, but installment loans really don't help your FICO. There are plenty of examples in here of folks hitting 800 FICOs with no loans reporting, not even a mortgage. Per FICO, if you do get a loan, the balance doesn't matter. Also paying it off sooner rather than later doesn't matter to your score. You might see a ding when it gets added, but much of that will disappear inside a year, if not all of that.