Worth getting SSL if I have a closed installment account already?

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Another thing to consider with the potential addition of a SSL is what your AoYA is currently.  For someone with an AoYA of < 1 year, opening the SSL will result in a greater point net gain than someone with an AoYA of > 1 year.  Most people report the score drop from AoYA crossing the 1 year mark to be around 15 points (with 10-20 being the broader range) which would effectively cut into roughly half the gain that the SSL would achieve for someone.  That being said, if someone has an AoYA of > 1 year and is going to be dropping it to 0 from the opening of the SSL, their net gain may only land around 15 points, not the 30 typically expected [by someone with < 1 year AoYA].

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My newest account was opened Apr' 17, so it just reached the 1 year mark

[Anonymous]

The best practical choice is to pay all cards to zero except one, with the remaining card reporting a small balance.

Then see how much help that gives you.  Since you had at least one card maxxed out this is certainly the route to take.  Indeed, the big SSL Technique thread advises people strongly to first get their CC debt paid way down, since that will certainly help them without any possible downside.  The SSLT involves a few downsides: lowering your AoYA to 0, lowering your AAoA, etc.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

The best practical choice is to pay all cards to zero except one, with the remaining card reporting a small balance.

Then see how much help that gives you.  Since you had at least one card maxxed out this is certainly the route to take.  Indeed, the big SSL Technique thread advises people strongly to first get their CC debt paid way down, since that will certainly help them without any possible downside.  The SSLT involves a few downsides: lowering your AoYA to 0, lowering your AAoA, etc.

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Yup, I've reached AZEO, but it won't be reported until 5/18 or so. 

[Anonymous]

So from my understanding if my newest account is from July of 2017, I would benefit more from getting a SSL and paying it down to 8.9% than if I were to let my newest account age to 1 year then do so? Super clean profile, currently in Azeo. No loans under my name yet. My auto lease which is under my mother's name will be returned in about a year and a half so I will be 25 by then and can then get a car under my name (didnt do so because of insurance rate purposes). Atleast in LA rates drop considerably after the age of 25.

My next question would be if I were to get a SSL(solely for gains in points purposes), what length term for SSL would be most beneficial if I have the intention of getting a car under my name in a year and a half? TIA!

[Anonymous]

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@AnonymousSo from my understanding if my newest account is from July of 2017, I would benefit more from getting a SSL and paying it down to 8.9% than if I were to let my newest account age to 1 year then do so? Super clean profile, currently in Azeo.

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The end result would be the same, so it doesn't really matter.

If your AoYA is < 1 year currently and you open up another account (SSL) you won't see the 10-20 point drop associated with the AoYA drop to 0 that is usually taken.  You will see the 30 point gain from the SSL, so your net gain would be say 30 points based on these two factors.  If you have a 700 score now, it would be 730.

If you waited until July and your AoYA reached 1 year, your 700 score using the same number above would increase to say 715.  At that point if you implemented the SSL, you'd receive ~30 points taking you up to 745, but then you'd lose ~15 points from your AoYA dropping from 12 months to 0 months.  The end result would be a 730 score.

The slight benefit of opening the SSL now is that the accounts starts aging right away.  The slight emotional benefit of opening it later is that you get to see your scores increase when your AoYA hits 1 year, even though that increase goes away the moment you open the SSL following that increase.

[Anonymous]

Really nice reply by BBS.  The other thing to bear in mind is that we don't have the strong kind of data that a scientist would have.  We have a lot of anecdotal responses posted by strangers, no one of which can be confirned to be accurate, and many of which vary in terms of the quality conditions in which the datapoint was gathered (skill of the researcher, quality of the tools used to measure the experiment, etc.).  This is a significant limitation that we should all bear in mind as we attempt to conclude anything based on "data" being posted here on the forums (!).

That said, we do in this case have a single thread in which we have a ton of reports.  And in a huge number of cases the benefit was a bit more than 30, sometimes as high as the mid-40s.  Thus it is quite possible that many of these 30 point increases included going from AoYA > 12 months to AoYA = 0.  The number of people who reported a bonus of < 22 was quite small.

In our last commenter's case, BBS is as usual right on target.  The car purchase is not until 15 months.  Execute the technique now and when the score ends up mattering, he'll have the benefit of the SSLT and an AoYA > 12 months.

If our OP is certain that he'll buy in < 24 months, then a 24 month loan now will be fine.  A 24 or 36 month SSL can require less initial money to secure at some lenders.

Bear in mind that he needs a lender that will permit an early payoff while keeping it open the full term.  We have found three lender options thus far, documented in the Quest For An Alternative To Alliant thread.  Personally I'd love it if he gave Ideal CU a shot, since we need a clear tester there.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your much appreciated input @BBS and CreditGuyInDixie.

Now my final question would be if you were in my shoes, what would you do?