what sort of things are installment credit?

[haulingthescoreup]

Well, this is truly a newbie question, but if we're supposed to maintain a mix of credit types, what sort of things fall into the installment category? Student loans and car loans are the only ones I know about. I'm about to pay off my student loan, and we're flogging our 12+ year old vehicles until they dissolve. Only then will I shop for another car and another car payment. What else is there? Do I have to go out four times a year and buy a coffee table and pay it off over three months or something? Our house is pretty small, and we can't cram much more furniture into it... ;-)

[Anonymous]

other types include credit card debt, mortgage, personal loans, as so on.

[Anonymous]

Installment debt: you pay the same exact amount each month for a pre-determined term.  So credit card debt is NOT an example. 

[haulingthescoreup]

Right, so I'm not going back to college (student loans), not getting another car quite yet (car loans), and I'm sure not buying a second house! ;-) I guess consumer finance loans or whatever they're called fall under installment, since they are fixed repayments, but they seem to be considered tacky by FICO. Not sure what's left!

I think I saw advice to have non-mortgage installments loans as part of the mix on one of the FAKO sites, but I'm not positive. (I've cautiously signed up for TrueCredit to get a feel for how my reports shift back and forth.) On the other hand, these are the same sites that tell me that I have too much revolving credit (3 CC's, one store card) AND that I need to open more accounts to get more history! thanks for any more ideas

[Anonymous]

You could always take an unsecured installment loan from you bank. Like 2K- put in savings/cd/money market and pay it back over the term. (set it to auto pay)

This would give you a Installment account.

Even better open a 4K unsecured loan, have it report and pay down the balance to 50% after 60 days.

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Anonymous wrote:
You could always take an unsecured installment loan from you bank. Like 2K- put in savings/cd/money market and pay it back over the term. (set it to auto pay)

This would give you a Installment account.

Even better open a 4K unsecured loan, have it report and pay down the balance to 50% after 60 days.

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Bingo! that's exactly what I'll do. I was just admiring DH's much nicer reports, and I discovered that all the signature loans from our credit union used to glue our aging fleet of cars back together show as installment loans. Thanks!

--and an unsecured installment loan from my bank/ CU is not the same as the less favorable consumer finance loans, apparently?

[Anonymous]

Yep- Unsecured loans from a Bank do not show as "consumer finance accounts"

The oldest accounts on my CR are unsecured loans Paid/never late.

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
You could always take an unsecured installment loan from you bank. Like 2K- put in savings/cd/money market and pay it back over the term. (set it to auto pay)

This would give you a Installment account.

Even better open a 4K unsecured loan, have it report and pay down the balance to 50% after 60 days.

---

Bingo! that's exactly what I'll do. I was just admiring DH's much nicer reports, and I discovered that all the signature loans from our credit union used to glue our aging fleet of cars back together show as installment loans. Thanks!

--and an unsecured installment loan from my bank/ CU is not the same as the less favorable consumer finance loans, apparently?

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