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My credit score is pretty close to 800 (around 780 IIRC). I'd like to do what I can to push it over the line. Loan diversity looks to be the best option.

I'll be buying a car soon, and could pay cash. I'd like to get a loan instead and pay it off quickly ( > 1 year) to push my credit a few points higher. Thoughts?

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    Why do you care about getting your credit score so high? Anything over ~740 is essentially the same to lenders. Definitely not worth paying interest to get it over 800.
    – Craig W
    Commented Mar 24, 2015 at 13:33
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    The only point of having a high credit score is to pay less in interest. You're suggesting paying interest in order to have lower interest payments in the future? It's probably not worth it.
    – David Rice
    Commented Mar 24, 2015 at 14:43
  • ... Unless you plan on buying a house, in which case a small amount of interest in the short term could save you a larger amount of interest in the long term. However I do agree with Craig W, going from 780 to 800 is not going to change the hypothetical mortgage's interest rate. @Steve, what evidence do you have that loan diversity is the best way to improve your score?
    – stannius
    Commented Mar 24, 2015 at 15:31
  • @stannius - blog.quizzle.com/2011/08/secrets-of-the-800-credit-score-club-2 for example, and other credit score checks that I've seen over the years indicate that the weakest part of my score is loan types. And yes, a house is in the cards in the next 5 years (thanks for bringing it up).
    – Ben
    Commented Mar 24, 2015 at 15:41
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    10% - 15% is too much utilization. If you're not going to reduce spending, apply for more cards until you get to a 7% utilization ratio. Just getting more credit will increase your score assuming your card is not always $0 (no usage).
    – Sun
    Commented Mar 24, 2015 at 19:40

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I'd recommend against this as does the article you link to in your comments:

Now, I would never recommend that you apply for credit you don’t need, but be aware that the ability to manage different types of credit responsibly bodes well for your credit score. - http://blog.quizzle.com/2011/08/secrets-of-the-800-credit-score-club-2/

It sounds like you are going to get a house in the next 5 years and that can be your diversity of credit to up your score. If you are at 780 now, I'd just wait for the mortgage a couple of years from now.

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