<prompt> Human: Hello PersonalFinance,First, a little about myself. At a young age, I screwed up my credit. Got married early, and screwed it up even more. Now I have a great paying job, and can afford making all of my payments on time, and I have. My credit score is somewhere around the 580s Which is horrible, I know. I have 3 vehicles, which are paid off, and my mobile home is paid off as well. I have a few credit cards that gives me a total of 1000 limit, which I currently have at around 60. Im currently working with a credit repair company, and they have already started disputes with 11 of my past creditors.Now heres my question...I was told that I need either a mortgage or a car payment to raise my credit up. So Ive been preapproved for a car loan but with a 18 interest rate from an online car lender. I already have a car picked out, and I can definitely make the payments on it easy 400 a month for 72 months, and I dont mind paying it. However, my ultimate goal here is to eventually purchase a home hopefully in a years time.So, do I purchase the car? Will it help me a great deal if I make the payments on time? Having a newer car will be nice, since my other cars are around 2007. Thoughts?  <response>: I personally would not take another loan unless absolutely necessary. A better idea would be to pay off your credit cards, keep your utilization below 10 and make sure to pay in full each month. This car loan may bump your score a couple of points, but nothing beats making consistent on-time payments. That 400 should go into savings or building an emergency fund.Edit: Grammer 