Options Besides An Alliant SSL

[Schwartzinator]

I’m 23, have about 3 years of credit history and okay credit scores: 758 Tu (9/17 Discover), 740 EX (8/30 AmEx), 729 EQ (5/26 LifeLock). I will be graduating in May, and would like to secure a loan for a new car at that time as well as start browsing for a house and would like my reports to look as strong as possible. I have zero debts, but no history of loans. What are the other options for getting a simialr loan? I am particularly fond of USBank, but don’t know of anything besides their PLoC which don’t appear to operate the same way.

[Anonymous]

IMO, but you are not in need of an installment loan. You will be adding one soon with the vehicle loan (make sure to check some CUs for rates, it is better to go to a dealership with an approved check in hand than to have them do your rate shopping). Go over to the mortgage forum if you have not already and start seeking advice there; you want to start very early with prepping for house buying. 

Installment loan technique is for people who need a real boost in score, and yours are already in the very good to trending excellent range. If you had no plans for a car loan in the near future, maybe, but since you do, I'd say skip it.  

I'd also say to hold off on apping for any credit cards or anything else in this timeframe especially if you are house buying, again consult the mortgage forum for more specific advice.

[Anonymous]

Putting the SSL technique in place in the 2-3 months before an auto loan can make sense if the extra scoring boost would get you better rates.  But as Capabk says, you probably are already in best rate zone for a car loan.  (Feel free to do some research on that to confirm.)

I don't know anything about the LifeLock product, but are you certain that the score you are getting with it is a FICO score?  As I say, I don't know, just suggesting you be sure you know.

[Schwartzinator]

I have no idea if it's an actual FICO score or not, but it doesn't really matter much anyway as the last score I got from them was back on May 26th. Hopefully EQ is completed discredited now so I won't have to feel bad about not getting one every month from a credit provider.

[Schwartzinator]

Thanks for the insight, capabk! I checked in with USBank a couple months ago and was offered a loan at 2.49% iirc. The offer has long since expiered, but I could chat with the local bank again and see what offers exist in a couple months. I'm hoping to be over 800 by the time graduation rolls around which means no more apping! I've been in the garden since January and plan to stay there until atleast May now that I finally have the CSP.

[Anonymous]

I encourage you to get your true FICO 8 scores from all three bureaus at least a couple times a year.  A good place to get your EQ FICO 8 score is Credit Check Total, which will also get you your TU and EX score at the same time.  The trial membership costs $1.

I would not assume that lenders and CC issuers are no longer pulling your EQ report because of the data breach.  If a lender typically used EQ in the past, I'd be surprised if they are not still using it. 

[Anonymous]

OP, I'm not quite understanding what you are looking for here or the point to your post.  You say you're looking for an option besides the Alliant SSL.  Do you mean another SSL?  An option for what?  Are you looking for a 25-30 point score boost?  If so, what's wrong with the Alliant SSL?  I'm not sure what advice to offer when I'm not understanding what your goal is here with respect to your credit profile.

[Glen_M]

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@Anonymous wrote:

OP, I'm not quite understanding what you are looking for here or the point to your post.  You say you're looking for an option besides the Alliant SSL.  Do you mean another SSL?  An option for what?  Are you looking for a 25-30 point score boost?  If so, what's wrong with the Alliant SSL?  I'm not sure what advice to offer when I'm not understanding what your goal is here with respect to your credit profile.

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I had the impression he was asking about other places to get a secured loan.  You can get them at just about any bank or credit union.  The problem with banks usually being that they will want to charge an origination fee, for something like $50-100, which is going to be more than you would pay in interest if you got it from a credit union (and the interest rate will probably be higher than a CU too).

If you dig back in the big thread a ways (I want to say around pg94-100) you'll find my example, in which I got a 60mo $5,000 SSL from NFCU.  It took 2-3months for it to fully kick in, but I got 30-40 points from it.

[Anonymous]

I get that, I just didn't get the reason as to why even bothering looking to another source when Alliant has worked super easy and fine for a ton of people.

[Glen_M]

I didn't want to because I didn't want to add another account to have to check, eliminating a nuisance chore by letting me monitor the SSL while I'm checking other accounts.   It also has the potential to build some history and credibility with a specific desired lender that you may pursue another more significant service or loan with in the future.