@Anonymous wrote:
In anticipation of cancelling my autopay... what sort of minimum activity are you guys keeping up?
Nothing until the due date for next payment? (2019 in my case)
Or an occasional $1? In which case how to make this payment without drawing attention to it on the phone? Is there an online way to make a payment without a minimum amount? I guess I could post a check in for a dollar?!
I live in Florida so have no Alliant branches in state.
Occasional $1; there is an inactivity fee listed in their fee schedule, assessed as no activity within the last year to a savings account; kill two birds with one stone and simply transfer $1 from the savings account to the loan and done, I setup several $1 payments staggered every 6 months... unfortunately there was no way to schedule a recurring payment of this size, their software feature set is a little limiting but what I needed was accomplishable albeit with 50ish mouse clicks instead of 5.
Holy cow, this stuff works.
I only hope Revelate won't be mad at me because I didn't follow his instructions & did it in a modified way.
Getting that little $500 secured loan appears to have jumped my EX score 10 points. What is most amazing about it is that my EX score has been locked in a 2-point range for about 7 or 8 months, or longer. For the first time since I've been noticing these things, my EX score is over 700.
Here's my "data point": [updated 9/7]
8/7/15 Starting out with revolving credit only, zero instalment lines, took out $500, 12-month, Savings Secured loan with Alliant, immediately paid off 10% to 90%.
8/30 Paid another 10%, bal 80%
8/30 Paid 15%, bal 65%
9/4 Loan reported to Experian, EX score jumped 10 points, breaking 700 for first time
9/6 Loan reported to EQ, EQ score increased 1 point
9/7 Loan reported to TU, TU score increased 3 points
9/7 Paid 10%, bal 55%
Thank you Revelate 
@SouthJamaica wrote:Holy cow, this stuff works.
I only hope Revelate won't be mad at me because I didn't follow his instructions & did it in a modified way.
Getting that little $500 secured loan appears to have jumped my EX score 10 points. What is most amazing about it is that my EX score has been locked in a 2-point range for about 7 or 8 months, or longer. For the first time since I've been noticing these things, my EX score is over 700.
Here's my "data point":
8/7/15 Starting out with revolving credit only, zero instalment lines, took out $500, 12-month, Savings Secured loan with Alliant, immediately paid off 10% to 90%.
8/30 Paid another 10%, bal 80%
8/30 Paid 15%, bal 65%
9/3 or 9/4 Loan reported to Experian
9/4 Experian score jumped 10 points, breaking 700 for the first time
Thank you Revelate
Update 9:29 AM. Wait.... now I'm not so sure about the timing. According to my Experian accout it's saying that my score went up on 9/3 and the loan reported 9/5.... now I don't know what to think. Maybe the 10-point jump was from something else?!
Grin, I'll take any data . Most people aren't as obsessive as I am, no harm no foul.
Generally the last reported date has been consistent for me across the bureaus, check something like Credit Karma and look at the tradeline last activity / last report, and you can assume that it will be the same on EX for now as there is a delay with many monitoring solutions.
@Anonymous wrote:How many additional EX inquiries and revolving accounts have hit your report since the app for the installment loan? Is there any other data clouding the installment loan data point?
There have been some inquiries, & a new revolving account, which might "cloud" it downward.
Third pretty OK on EQ/TU reported from Alliant since last payment on Jun 1st: Jun 31st (May OK), July 31st (June OK), August 31st (July OK)
@Revelate wrote:Third pretty OK on EQ/TU reported from Alliant since last payment on Jun 1st: Jun 31st (May OK), July 31st (June OK), August 31st (July OK)
I was going to ask where you get the credit report images from. But I think I've figured out that they come from Credit Karma.