@Creditaddict wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:I'm considering Alliant because I don't have any installment loans right now. Maybe you can advise me on when will be a good time to apply for it? I was pondering on the benefits of a secured 2-year loan now, or closer to home-buying time (looking at 2018)?
if you are going secured then now is great.
+1 but do a 5 year loan. If playing installment reindeer games you want as long of a term as possible when we're talking FICO improvement. Mo' pretty OK's, mo bettah!
@Creditaddict wrote:
@Revelate wrote:
@Creditaddict wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:I'm considering Alliant because I don't have any installment loans right now. Maybe you can advise me on when will be a good time to apply for it? I was pondering on the benefits of a secured 2-year loan now, or closer to home-buying time (looking at 2018)?
if you are going secured then now is great.
+1 but do a 5 year loan. If playing installment reindeer games you want as long of a term as possible when we're talking FICO improvement. Mo' pretty OK's, mo bettah!
but op won't want that loan after the mortgage right... if mortgage is in 2018, should they still take a 5 year loan and pif before applying for mortgage?
You can PIF after the mortgage, but you want the pretty installment utilization explicitly for EX Risk Model v2 which is part of the mortgage trifecta where it does actually matter. An additional $9 or whatever on the DTI calculation should make absolutely no difference, and at least as of last year many lenders would ignore it if we're talking small balances anyway.
I haven't dumped either of my secured loans (USAA and Alliant) as they're costing me literally pennies and they're easy to maintain positive tradelines.
