@bluedog357 wrote:What is an SSL? A secured credit card?
I would recommend reading the below from CreditGuyInDixie
Adding an installment loan -- the Share Secure technique
The Quest for an SSL alternative to Alliant
From SouthJamaica
NFCU SSL
From adrianaesque
Approved NFCU SSL - with detailed steps (May 2020)
Here are two institutions that have SSL which you can pay in advance to 8.9% utilization without shortening loan term:
NFCU - membership restrictions.
SSFCU - geofence.
SSL = shared secured loan. It's a personal loan that uses your savings as collatoral. So if you want to borrow $2k, the FI freezes $2k in your savings until you pay it back. Because they're secured, SSL's have lower rates than unsecured personal loans, so it's usually the best option if you're opening an installment purely for scoring purposes, since you'll pay the least in interest.
@bluedog357 wrote:Thanks, I did a quick browse and will read in more detail tonight. Quick question though, it mentioned it doesnt help those with open loans. I have 2 credit cards that are still open but will be closed as they are paid off (tentative date this time next year unless we expedite) one credit card that is open and will remain so after being paid down, and one (my wife's) that I am an authorized user on (I have to double check if its reported on all three CUs, I know its reported on one) does that mean it might not be the best option for me, or when they say "open loans" do they mean secured (like car payments, which at this time we dont have, we paid my wifes car off a couple months ago). Also would lenders see that its a secured vs unsecured card and take that as a negative?
By "loan" I mean an installment loan, i.e. one with a fixed term and regular monthly payments. Student loans, mortgages, car loans, and personal loans are all examples. Credit cards are revolvers, i.e. they let you borrow and pay off amounts up to certain limit repeatedly w/o having a fixed term. FICO has some scoring metrics that are based on only one or the other of these kinds of tradelines. If all of your current open accounts are credit cards, then you don't have any open installments and can take advantage of the SSL technique.
I think whether an SSL would have any note marking it as a secured loan would depend on the FI doing the reporting, but it wouldn't matter since auto loans and mortgages are also secured loans. All being a secured loan means is that it's backed by collatoral.
Probably the biggest things you can do to work on your scores right now are 1) address your revolving balances, both on your closed and open cards and 2) address your negatives, if possible. For 1), this is another reason to get a cheap vehicle for now, since the money that would have gone towards your truck payments can be used to pay down your balances quicker and put you in a much better position when you do go for the truck you want down the line. For 2), what you could do would depend on the nature of you derogs and the lenders or CAs that have them. Starting a new thread in the rebuilding sub-forum would probably get you the best results on advice in that direction.
You said that you want to boost your scores as quickly as possible, so I also want to mention that it's important to have reasonable expectations when working to improve your profile. People here often say that credit is a marathon, not a sprint, and that's true: it takes time, usually on the order of many years, to build or rebuild to high scores. But if you're informed and deliberate about how you proceed, you can cut that timetable and take the shortest route available, even if it's still a journey to the final goal.
@bluedog357 wrote:So with the SSL, correct me if Im wrong but the amount doesnt matter as much as keeping it below a certain utilization percentage and keeping it open (which by open I mean in usage above $0)?
Correct, the amount of the SSL does not directly matter, just keeping it open for as long as possible with a balance < 9% of the original loan. It does matter indirectly in that FI's usually offer longer terms on larger amounts lent, up to a certain point, so you generally want to borrow just as much as will get you the longest term available, but in and of itself the amount borrowed has no effect on score.
@bluedog357, I noticed that you stated in your thread on secured credit cards that you have open student loans. Student loans are installments, so the SSL trick won't work for your profile.