Places to get a secured loan and pre-pay payments

[Atl-Marcos]

5-6 years ago, I think I got a secured loan from Alliant credit union. I put down $500, then got a loan secured for $500 and then prepaid payments to get it below 20% balance and no payments due for a couple of years. 

 

What is the best way to do that today? I paid off my car and took a 20 point hit on credit score because of no installment loans. 

 

Does Alliant still do that? 

 

Thanks.

[shifter]

https://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?/topic/576354-alliant-cu-installment-loan-hack-cliffsnotes®/&do=findComment&comment=5713912

[shifter]

Congrats on paying off your car! My wife has no installment loans anymore and her scores are still over 800 and higher than mine. YMMV. 

[supern8ural]

2 hours ago, shifter said:

Congrats on paying off your car! My wife has no installment loans anymore and her scores are still over 800 and higher than mine. YMMV. 

 

Same here.  I have an old car loan showing that sadly will drop off in a couple years but I paid it off years ago, still in the low 800s except for Experian which I think is 796 likely because it's got a hard pull the other two don't that's less than a year old.

[Flyingifr]

17 hours ago, supern8ural said:

 

Same here.  I have an old car loan showing that sadly will drop off in a couple years but I paid it off years ago, still in the low 800s except for Experian which I think is 796 likely because it's got a hard pull the other two don't that's less than a year old.

Same here. In the span of 60 days I paid off my car AND my home - freeing up $1,500 a month. I also took a 100 point hit to my credit score as a result of that. FICO absolutely HATES people who are debt free. But... I, too, am a member of the 800 club now. It took almost a year for me to get those 100 points back, but if you are in it for the long game, it can be done. Just don't expect anything that makes your credit score go up to happen quickly. Miss a payment, however, and your credit score will nose-dive in nanoseconds.

[supern8ural]

Actually I just realized that another difference with Experian is I also have a paid off Affirm loan reporting - that was paid January 2024.  For some reason Affirm only reports to Experian and not to the other bureaus.  Bought a cell phone and was offered 0% interest for a year, at the time that was worth it to me because I was still in debt and needed the phone (my Galaxy - I think it was an S20? - was dying and I was sick of Samsung.  Bought a Motorola Edge+ 2022 on closeout and I still use it; I did have the battery replaced a couple months ago but other than that it's kept on truckin'.  So I got that going for me, it's been a while since I've had a phone last longer than two years.)

Edited January 29, 2025 by supern8ural

[Atl-Marcos]

Looks like I can get it done at NFCU. THey do a non-credit check loan secured by savings.