Secured loan - Amount

[gercredit]

Hi guys,

To improve my fico scoring I like to do a secured loan through alliant CU. Is there any difference if I put 500$ or 10.000$ down in regards to fico or how lenders look at it?

Thanks in advance,
Gercredit

[Anonymous]

your are probably better off getting 2 secured cards n a store card (target/walmart).

[gercredit]

oh ok, I have not even considered that.

Currently I got 5 credit cards and a FICO of around 730.

So coming back to the amount question (even if I take two of them), do they matter?

[gdale6]

I never recommend anyone take out an installment loan just for Fico purposes, you really dont get that big of a bang for it scorewise, you are better off getting more revolvers and keeping your utilization in check. I would not bother with secured cards if you are already being approved for unsecured cards.

[Anonymous]

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@gercredit wrote:

oh ok, I have not even considered that.

Currently I got 5 credit cards and a FICO of around 730.

So coming back to the amount question (even if I take two of them), do they matter?

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what are you trying to get?  i mean 730 is pretty decent i would assume

[Revelate]

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@gdale6 wrote:

I never recommend anyone take out an installment loan just for Fico purposes, you really dont get that big of a bang for it scorewise, you are better off getting more revolvers and keeping your utilization in check. I would not bother with secured cards if you are already being approved for unsecured cards.

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Leaving points on the table is leaving points on the table /shrug.

If we pay $20 just to get a score, why not spend the same $20 ($20.68 at 2% APR on $500 for a 4 year term) to actually do something to improve one's score?

The amount doesn't matter for FICO as near as we know, but a score isn't everything.  Any loan which reports secured may be evaluated differently by manual underwriting regardless; however, since all of the big ticket items in life are secured by the asset anyway, I don't think this is relevant to consider.

[gercredit]

That was my feeling as well. 730 is not too bad but I wanted to be in the 750 and above range. I am thinking about applying for a mortgage in 1-2 years and I have the feeling that a loan on the file would help.

I am currently thinking about a 1.000$ loan which would roughly lead to 20$ interest.

[Anonymous]

I got a significant score boost (+25 pts average/ bureau) when my 500 dollar alliant loan hit the board. plus they just raised deposit rates so my net cost on the loan just dropped

[gercredit]

That's good to know. I have seen old threads that the loan does not report to TU? I assume meanwhile they are reporting to all 3 bureaus right?

[Anonymous]

Yep shows bright and clear on my TU.