Im not familiar with the ins and outs of loan forgiveness. And not trying to rag on you about the loan. But I could see from a credit bureau perspective, if you have a loan that takes three years to get forgiven, and is not paid, could hurt your score.
On the other front, I would challenge you to find any “expert” that agrees carrying a balance on your credit card helps your score. Below is a link from the CFPB that says otherwise. Paying off your balance in full every month is the best thing to do for your score (and your wallet). You should aim for less than 30% utilization, i.e. statement balance vs credit limit. But should be paid in full.
I can’t speak to your wife’s credit situation (I don’t think employment matters for credit). I’ve only had a credit card for about 4 years and my score is around 800. I have no other loans or anything helping my credit.
and that link is nice and all but again, i’d much rather listen to the ones who make the scores go up. not that you’re lying about yours, but i’ve seen this work, and since it worked, i’ll listen to it. the folks that are trying to help me improve my credit have no reason to not want it to improve, since that’s the only way they get the interest from the loan i get when it improves. they have as much interest in it going up as i do and would not advise me to do things that won’t make it go up.
Ok. If you choose to take your advice from those that make money off your late payments instead of the CFPB or literally any other reputable source then I guess this isn’t for you.
Everyone else. The best strategy by pretty much every metric is paying your credit cards on time. Feel free to look at how scores are calculated. The heaviest weight is placed on timely payments.
This is one of those weird myths like making more money will push you into a higher tax bracket where your net salary would be lower.
