credit score increase question

[Anonymous]

I am browsing the message forums for related situations...

I am currently debt free. No credit cards, no car loans (paid off in Sept), no student loans, no bank loans, no mortage.

My credit score is 702. Should I go to the bank and take out a loan and pay it monthly? To show a loan to increase my score? How much would my score increase if I did this?

Thanks

[Junejer]

What is your goal? Are you needing to apply for something soon? Car loan, mortgage? I wouldn't take out an installment loan for the sake of having a loan. If anything, I would open up a couple of rewards cards and use them to pay some bills and PIF monthly, making sure to pay off all but one before the statement cuts and bring the balance down to 1-9% util on the remaining one.

[Anonymous]

My goal is to buy a house in 2011, after I am finished with schooling. I'm hoping the rates (mort.)  will remain or be even better than as well.

[Junejer]

You are going to want to have some recent credit history/activity, when you apply for a mortgage. I would get a few CCs and use them responsibly, as I provided in the previous post. Two years is plenty of time to build your score through the use of CCs.

Make sure you research the cards to ensure that they are the right ones for you.