Mattress firm installment loan

[Anonymous]

I just got my green card and social on October 2016, and opened two secured credit cards. I used less than 10% and my score is now

Exp 719 TU 702 Eq 713

One thing it says on my fico is that my loan mix impacts my score negatively as I have no installment loans.

Would an installment loan for $400 from Mattress firm help push it up a few points? I want to get above 720 so I can co-sign my wife's student loans to consolidate them and bring interest rates down.

Thanks in advance for your replies!

[Anonymous]

Yes an installment loan will help, but once it's paid off your score will drop back. I'm not sure if that will code as credit or a loan though I'm pretty sure it will read the same as a credit card on your reports.

Easiest way to get loan mix is to go to a local Credit Union and ask for a Savings Secured loan. It costs maybe $4 in interest for a 12 month one, $7 for a 24-month one.

Say it's for $500. You give them $500 cash they open it and return the full $500 to you. All you have to do is set up auto pay or login to make payments from the "loan". Super easy and good way to get mix.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the help! I saw another thread about a $500 savings secured loan, so I'll look into that. I was wondering whether it would come out as an installment plan for this purchase; it's funded by synchrony like the Amazon credit card, which also has installment options attached to it.

In any case, I've decided not to act on the mattress idea (they have better and cheaper ones on amazon anyway) and go for the loan instead once my secure credit cards give me my deposit back when they graduate (should be any day now)

[HeavenOhio]

Go for the loan on this site. It's a soft pull, and you can make it last for five years.

An installment loan from a place like the mattress store isn't necessarily a bad idea. From a scoring perspective, installment loans beat an over-utilized card. But you don't want the loan if it comes from a finance company as those will ding your score. Installment loans should be financed through banks or credit unions.