Should I bother keeping student loan accounts open?

[Anonymous]

Yup, as SJ says, the SSL has got your name on it now.  Go for it.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the strategy.

My score hasn't dropped just yet; I'm sure I will be more motivated to follow up on this tip once I see it plummet.

I'm curious ... are there known alternatives to Alliant for implementing the savings-secured technique effectively?

[Anonymous]

It is known that CUs do exist that will meet all of the criteria that Alliant meets for this technique:

     * Allows you to open a $500 SS loan for a 60 month term

     * Funds unlock proportionate to how much you pay off

     * Allows you to pay off most of it early on and then keep it open for the full 60 months

     * Soft pull only for approval -- no hard pull

There very well might be many such CUs -- and more that meet some of the criteria but not all.  (Example, credit union X requires a hard pull, Y requires a minimum loan amount of $1000, Z permits a maximum term of 48 months, etc.)

I haven't seen anyone create even a partial list of these CUs, however, where at least two people have actually taken out the loan and verified a few months later that all those criteria were met.  Certainly Alliant is the only one where the degree of step by step hand holding for the process that you seen in the guidance has been documented.

I would be delighted to hear more about alteratives from anyone who wants to do the work on it.

[Chris679]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thank you for the strategy.

My score hasn't dropped just yet; I'm sure I will be more motivated to follow up on this tip once I see it plummet.

I'm curious ... are there known alternatives to Alliant for implementing the savings-secured technique effectively?

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Yes, the alternative is to not throw money away for a loan just to possibly raise your credit score.  Do you realize you will be paying interest on your own money?  Money that will be tied up in this savings account for years? 

[Anonymous]

Well, as described, the interest would be about $9 over 5 years.

Hardly onerous if you intent to utilize your credit, and fit the profile of those likely to see a score boost: a few points' difference could mean savings of thousands or tens of thousands on mortgages or other products.

Of course, if you don't intend to utilize your credit, it's a waste of $9.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Well, as described, the interest would be about $9 over 5 years.

Hardly onerous if you intent to utilize your credit, and fit the profile of those likely to see a score boost: a few points' difference could mean savings of thousands or tens of thousands on mortgages or other products.

Of course, if you don't intend to utilize your credit, it's a waste of $9.

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+1.

PS.  And for those people for whom it is recommended, the FICO 8 boost is quite a lot.  About 30 points, we typically say, though the median and average might be a bit more, like 32. 

[Anonymous]

Postscript:

The two student loan accounts have now been reported as closed, per Experian credit monitoring.

I haven't checked thoroughly but that is likely the only report change from the previous days.

Experian FICO 8 dropped 22 points.

[Anonymous]

Really helpful forum. Going to contact local CU's to find one that offers this product. Makes sense just to build a relationship with one that I'd want to use anyways. Does anyone know the score boost you'd get if the student loans you pay off include late payments? I have some from 2 years ago and now it's another 5 years until they fall off. But I feel like paying off an account that had latest would be even more of a boost?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Really helpful forum. Going to contact local CU's to find one that offers this product. Makes sense just to build a relationship with one that I'd want to use anyways. Does anyone know the score boost you'd get if the student loans you pay off include late payments? I have some from 2 years ago and now it's another 5 years until they fall off. But I feel like paying off an account that had latest would be even more of a boost?

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Can you describe your situation a bit better?  Are you saying that you have open student loans right now?

If you have open loans, then the Share Secure Loan Technique is of no value.  It was suggested to our OP because the OP unintentionally paid off his SLs. 

[Anonymous]

I know, and I would keep mine... But they have late payments. Isn't it better to ditch those accounts even though they're already 8 years old and get a new loan with zero late payments?