Alliant CU Installment Loan Hack CliffsNotes®

[illusemycreditcard]

Are there any datapoints on larger loan amounts, perhaps $5000-10000? In the MyFico thread there was some worry over Alliant (or NFCU) closing out the loans early if paid down too low.

[Tyra]

Are there any datapoints on larger loan amounts, perhaps $5000-10000?

I don't recall any, but it should all work the same way with the setup. It's about the percentages rather than the amounts.

[Atl-Marcos]

Why would they close it down? I could just as easily re-open it as soon as they close it down. There are no fees involved, etc. And they are getting interest, even if it's small. They are getting interest and holding on to your money. It's a total win-win for them if they keep it open.

[mendelssohn]

Are there any datapoints on larger loan amounts, perhaps $5000-10000? In the MyFico thread there was some worry over Alliant (or NFCU) closing out the loans early if paid down too low.

 

I doubt FICO takes this into consideration, just like they don't take CLs on CCs into consideration. That could be construed as a form of discrimination based on income.

[illusemycreditcard]

 

Are there any datapoints on larger loan amounts, perhaps $5000-10000? In the MyFico thread there was some worry over Alliant (or NFCU) closing out the loans early if paid down too low.

I doubt FICO takes this into consideration, just like they don't take CLs on CCs into consideration. That could be construed as a form of discrimination based on income.

 

 

The point isn't to increase my score by having a larger loan amount but to lessen the drop from taking out other loans, e.g. auto loans.

 

If I'm not mistaken Konrad2012 suggested that another member do a $10-20,000 secured loan to offset an auto or student loan, but I cannot find the thread at the moment.

 

 

Why would they close it down? I could just as easily re-open it as soon as they close it down. There are no fees involved, etc. And they are getting interest, even if it's small. They are getting interest and holding on to your money. It's a total win-win for them if they keep it open.

 

Many institutions forgive loans that have been paid down to certain amounts. Sallie Mae forgives the last $50 or so of their student loans, and virtually every major credit card issuer will forgive a $1 balance on a card that's paid in full monthly.

[Tyra]

The point isn't to increase my score by having a larger loan amount but to lessen the drop from taking out other loans, e.g. auto loans.

 

If you plan to play with a larger amount, I'd like to see someone try a 15 year 3% secured loan at Navy. I thought about it but wasn't interested enough in the idea to spend the extra money that it would require over the almost free Alliant minimal $500 loan. Maybe try 30k or more opening amount and pay it down to 1k or so in the first month.

[illusemycreditcard]

 

The point isn't to increase my score by having a larger loan amount but to lessen the drop from taking out other loans, e.g. auto loans.

If you plan to play with a larger amount, I'd like to see someone try a 15 year 3% secured loan at Navy. I thought about it but wasn't interested enough in the idea to spend the extra money that it would require over the almost free Alliant minimal $500 loan. Maybe try 30k or more opening amount and pay it down to 1k or so in the first month.

I would prefer to avoid paying some $400 even over the course of 15 years. I was planning on having the one month balance at $100 or less. If no one has tried this I am willing to GP it in the near future.

[Tyra]

 

 

The point isn't to increase my score by having a larger loan amount but to lessen the drop from taking out other loans, e.g. auto loans.

If you plan to play with a larger amount, I'd like to see someone try a 15 year 3% secured loan at Navy. I thought about it but wasn't interested enough in the idea to spend the extra money that it would require over the almost free Alliant minimal $500 loan. Maybe try 30k or more opening amount and pay it down to 1k or so in the first month.

I would prefer to avoid paying some $400 even over the course of 15 years. I was planning on having the one month balance at $100 or less. If no one has tried this I am willing to GP it in the near future.

 

I don't have much info about how Navy handles the loans. It has been reported that there is a hard pull for the Navy secured loan, whereas Alliant is a soft pull.

 

As far as how the loan works, I found a post in the original secured loan thread over on the other forum where the poster reported that the Navy prepayments had to be made one at a time, and after each payment, the next due date is pushed into the future, similar to the way the Alliant due date is handled.

[I don't even...]

Are there any datapoints on larger loan amounts, perhaps $5000-10000? In the MyFico thread there was some worry over Alliant (or NFCU) closing out the loans early if paid down too low.

 

Currently attempting to GP this.

 

Funded with 11k and paid it down to 3k that day. Did some math and paid it down to $273.99 so after the automatic payment goes through and I cancel the remaining payments I should be able to push $1/month for the remainder of the loan.

Edited November 23, 2016 by I don't even...

[illusemycreditcard]

 

Are there any datapoints on larger loan amounts, perhaps $5000-10000? In the MyFico thread there was some worry over Alliant (or NFCU) closing out the loans early if paid down too low.

Currently attempting to GP this.

 

Funded with 11k and paid it down to 3k that day. Did some math and paid it down to $273.99 so after the automatic payment goes through and I cancel the remaining payments I should be able to push $1/month for the remainder of the loan.

Is this Alliant or NFCU?

[JDK83]

 

virtually every major credit card issuer will forgive a $1 balance on a card that's paid in full monthly.

 

 

I don't recall Chase, BofA, Citi, Amex or Synchrony forgiving my $1 balances.

[illusemycreditcard]

 

 

virtually every major credit card issuer will forgive a $1 balance on a card that's paid in full monthly.

 

I don't recall Chase, BofA, Citi, Amex or Synchrony forgiving my $1 balances.

Thank you for the correction. A list of relevant institutions.

[I don't even...]

Is this Alliant or NFCU?

It is with Alliant. As a side note I was able to delete the first transfer before it went through by using the mobile app instead of the online banking interface.

[Savannah1]

Hello everyone! I thought I would post my timeline and results for anyone interested in my experience over the past week.

 

Background: I'm repairing and rebuilding my credit and I decided to do this because my car loan through my credit union only reports to one CRA and the other two don't show any installment loans.

 

Tuesday, November 22

(12:25am) Donated $10 to Foster Care to Success (from email: You are now a member of Foster to Care Success and therefore also qualify to apply for membership with Alliant Credit Union.)

(9:10am) Applied for membership with both checking and savings accounts (from email: Congratulations on your new Alliant Credit Union membership!)

 

Thursday, November 24

(4:20pm) Rec'd email notification about welcome kit (from email: Your New Member Welcome Kit is fresh off the presses and on its way to you. It’s filled with exclusive Alliant info, and special new member offers just for you, along with your unique membership number.)

 

Saturday, November 26th

Rec'd welcome packet in the mail (pretty quick considering the holiday).

I set up my account online and initiated linking my USAA checking account to both Alliant checking and savings accounts and vice versa.

 

Monday, November 28th

(10:42am) Rec'd a call from Isabelle at Alliant. She called to make sure everything was going well so far with my new membership. I said it was and I was looking forward to opening a secured loan as soon as I could. She said that was great, and she told me (without my asking) that they do not make a hard inquiry so it will not hurt my credit.

(2) Trial credits from USAA appeared in Alliant accounts

 

Tuesday, November 29th

(1) Trial credit from Alliant appeared in USAA account.

Verified trial credit amounts with both Alliant and USAA for all accounts.

Initiated $505 transfer from USAA checking account to Alliant savings account via Alliant website.

 

Wednesday, November 30th

$505 transfer available in Alliant savings account.

(9:30am) Began online shared secured loan application for $500 over 60 months. (Interest rates are 1% higher for terms of 60 months but I don't care since I'm going to pay most of it off right away) I selected "establish or rebuild credit" from the drop-down list as my loan purpose.

(10:46am) Rec'd phone call from a very nice Alliant rep named Sylvia who verified my identity & information and sent the loan documents to my email

(10:52am) Rec'd email about loan approval with link to e-sign the loan docs. (from email: Congratulations on your Alliant Credit Union loan approval! You’ve elected to sign your loan documents online.)

(10:59am) Rec'd email confirmation of signed loan docs (from email: All parties have completed Alliant Loan Documents.) I signed on to the website and I can see the new loan is there, although the amount is not yet. I suppose it will be there soon.

 

This whole process has been very quick and painless - I'm pleasantly surprised. Thank you!

[Savannah1]

The loan reported and I got a 12 point bump in my score (yay!)

[Konrad2012]

The loan reported and I got a 12 point bump in my score (yay!)

Kongrats! Hopefully it crossed you over a meaningful barrier.

[Savannah1]

Thanks!

No meaningful barrier yet. I got the loan late in the month so my payment wasn't included before the statement cut. Hopefully next month it will show the 9% balance and I'll get another score increase.

Crossing my fingers!

Edited December 11, 2016 by Savannah1

[aanyc]

What is the ideal length of the loan to take out in years?

 

Can this just be done for 1 year or do you need to do 5 years?

 

Is there a difference in FICO jumps based on the length of the loan?

[Tyra]

What is the ideal length of the loan to take out in years? If you don't plan to take out any other loans for 5 years, I would get it for 5 years.

 

Can this just be done for 1 year or do you need to do 5 years? You can do it for 1 year, but why would you?

 

Is there a difference in FICO jumps based on the length of the loan? No. The difference is in how long you will maintain any point gain. You lose any point gain when the loan is paid in full.

[earlh]

I have a student loan that is prepaid by 3 years with a balance of $6k remaining. I have no other installment loans and no need for any -- my car is only 3 years old and fully paid. I'm considering paying off the student loan entirely, but it's a weird loan where if you prepay you can skip payments, at least according to the website. So I could also (I'll have to call and confirm) pay it down to perhaps $100 and not make any payments until 2023. Does the forum think this would provide a long-term score boost?

 

Thanks.

[Tyra]

I have a student loan that is prepaid by 3 years with a balance of $6k remaining. I have no other installment loans and no need for any -- my car is only 3 years old and fully paid. I'm considering paying off the student loan entirely, but it's a weird loan where if you prepay you can skip payments, at least according to the website. So I could also (I'll have to call and confirm) pay it down to perhaps $100 and not make any payments until 2023. Does the forum think this would provide a long-term score boost?

 

Thanks.

Since you are thinking about paying it off entirely, I would pay it down to less than 9% of the opening balance to see if you get a FICO bump after it updates with that balance. I'm guessing you will. If so, then you will retain those points as long as the loan remains open.

[rlt333]

Good morning,

 

I followed Konrad's directions to a T and it worked 100% the way he described. Just paid the balance down to under 9% today.

 

** One side note, after getting the loan docs to sign via Docusign, I did so on my iPhone and the fine print was small...process worked fine. After getting home later in the day and viewing on my iPad, I saw the initial due date was 2.15.17 and after reading here and speaking with the Rep on the phone I knew they reported to the CRA's at the end of the month. Being impatient and wanting to see the results a month earlier, I responded via email to my Rep, new docs were sent out and all fixed-1st payment date 1.15.17. I did initially request a 1.15.17 due date so there would be no last minute due date at the end of the month; just a clerical miss-step on the Rep's end.

 

So if a quick FICO bump is needed, double check your paperwork for due date the month you are taking loan out; it was one email to change if a wait until the next month is not what you are wanting, NOT an issue.

 

THANKS Konrad, great information!

 

(Konrad, have to add your $2 trick bumped EX & EQ + 63 each) thin file but a massive bump!

Edited January 6, 2017 by RLT333

[Konrad2012]

Good morning,

 

I followed Konrad's directions to a T and it worked 100% the way he described. Just paid the balance down to under 9% today.

 

** One side note, after getting the loan docs to sign via Docusign, I did so on my iPhone and the fine print was small...process worked fine. After getting home later in the day and viewing on my iPad, I saw the initial due date was 2.15.17 and after reading here and speaking with the Rep on the phone I knew they reported to the CRA's at the end of the month. Being impatient and wanting to see the results a month earlier, I responded via email to my Rep, new docs were sent out and all fixed-1st payment date 1.15.17. I did initially request a 1.15.17 due date so there would be no last minute due date at the end of the month; just a clerical miss-step on the Rep's end.

 

So if a quick FICO bump is needed, double check your paperwork for due date the month you are taking loan out; it was one email to change if a wait until the next month is not what you are wanting, NOT an issue.

 

THANKS Konrad, great information!

 

(Konrad, have to add your $2 trick bumped EX & EQ + 63 each) thin file but a massive bump!

Sweet! Make sure to post your results after the installment reports.

[pbarnes]

Does anyone know how to join Alliant with a joint membership without a HP? I don't understand why they HP your joint account holder but not you. Makes no sense.

[Tyra]

Does anyone know how to join Alliant with a joint membership without a HP? I don't understand why they HP your joint account holder but not you. Makes no sense.

Did someone at Alliant tell you they do a HP if you want a joint membership? They don't do a hard pull for individual memberships.