Hello, first time posting here. I made the mistake of purchasing a home in full with cash (because I thought borrowing was a negative thing on your credit), and have no mortgage loan history. I took out a Self Lender loan a year ago because I had no idea what I was doing and my credit was sitting at 560 with some errors. After cleaning everything up and paying off the 1 year loan I took out, my score is currently at 707 with about 9 revolving credit cards (5 are new from a couple months ago - and yes I know that was a mistake, too...that's why I'm here LoL). Would an auto loan be a good idea since I have no loans reporting, or should I wait since I just earned a "seeking credit" medal (ugh!) from Experian when I panicked about a couple 4.5 year old store cards that were closing 3 months ago? Also - when does "seeking credit" drop off? I'm only at 9% utilization with $15,900 total credit limit...but opening that many new credit cards, all the inquiries, and paying off my only loan dropped my score about 35 points. I think I'll be in time-out in something you guys call "the garden" for a while.
Starting Score: 676 
It's never a smart financial decision to get into debt if you don't need to. So do you actually NEED the auto loan? Or would that be just for scoring purposes? If it's just for the credit mix thing, keep in mind, credit mix is only 10% of your score, so while maximizing your scores is always nice, if you don't have a real reason to take out an installment loan, I wouldn't do it. I would focus in the accounts you already have and just let them age, and pay on time. The "credit seeking" medal will likely fade after a couple of years. Over time your scores should go up as your accounts age and you pay on time. Just don't open up any more new accounts.
The auto loan, while not necessary at the moment, is something that may happen in the next year or so. With the possibility of also needing to move in the next year or so, I have been delaying the opening of an auto loan.
@PizzaAngel84 wrote:The auto loan, while not necessary at the moment, is something that may happen in the next year or so. With the possibility of also needing to move in the next year or so, I have been delaying the opening of an auto loan.
Are you moving cross-country?
Yes - out of state to the other side of the country haha
@PizzaAngel84 wrote:Yes - out of state to the other side of the country haha
Ooh yeah then I'd wait until the move is complete before buying a car. Shipping cars isn't cheap. And driving would take days.