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I have relatively strong credit score (high 700's), utilization near zero and all is good.
But, I don't have any installment loans.
One of my revolving account banks (PenFed) recently sent me a pre-approval on a personal loan up to 25K. No gimimck, spend anyway I want etc. I can set the durtion to up to 60 months. Terms are NOT good (9.9%)
I have no need for a loan (actually I do have some upcoming expenses that I could put 10K to use for a month or two, but I certainly don't need it and no pain in my life without the loan.)
Finally to my question,
Should I take this offer, put the cash in my bank account. Within a couple months pay back a HUGE percentage of the loan and then pay the tiny balance off over an extended time -->with the goal of having an almost paid-off installment loan on my credit file for an extended time?
Here are my naive thoughts
--No credit check, I'm pre approved. ..so no HP ding.
--New account will affect my score(?) (or will it? it's not a revolving account)
--Interest, I'll be paying a couple bucks in interest, but nothing significant cuz I'll immediatly pay off the vast majority of the loan even at 9.9% the tiny balance will create miniscule interest.
My gut tells me it's not worth messing with ...but am I missing an opportunity by not taking this offer and using it to have a solid installment loan on my credit file.
Any wisdom, (especially good wisdom LOL) appreciated.
To put it succinctly, I do not think it's worth it to pay money to improve your credit when you already qualify for top tier credit.
If your scores are in the high 700s, why do you need to optimize them? Are you planning to apply for something big? Anything over 750 already gets you the best rates. Once you start getting close to 800, it seems you take a bigger hit from cutting your AAoA than any boost you would get, at least that's what I've noticed.
@AllZero wrote:
You can expect FICO score boost +-30 points, depending on profile.
The key word's are "depending on profile".
When I paid off two houses, and two cars, I went from 4 loans --> none.
Lost 12 points and because of just aging, two years out, I am within 5 points of my starting scores.
Loss of installment loans was extremely small for my profile.
Twelve points is not worth getting a loan that I don't need.