Is the auto loan your only installment account? If so, by paying it off you might get dinged for not have an open installment account. If you paid it now that wouldn't shorten your account history. The account will still be included in your AAoA for 10 years.
To get your score up:
Try to GW and PFD the delinquincies and collections.
Make your payments on time.
Don't open any more accounts for a while.
Pay down the accounts you have now (High credit usage = high UTIL). If you have the money to pay off the $7k loan balance, put that money to paying down your UTIL and to maybe PFD your negative accounts.
@Anonymous wrote:I just purchased my FICO from this site and it was 626
I need to pay by bills on time from here on out basicly is what it suggested Payment history not good
Amount of Debt good
Time Ive had credit history good
Amount of new credit Very Good
Iv'e had a loan for my vehicle since 2007 I still owe 7,000.00 (I got ripped off but thats a whole other issue) I can pay that off now in 2011 but should I? Will it help any or could it hurt me.
Should I just continue making payments for a couple more yrs So it shows Ive had a loan for 5yrs
What is the best for my credit score continue to drag out the yrs or pay off now.
Heres whats hurting my credit according to this site
Delenquint + Collections
Bad payment history
Short account history (Heres why im asking if I should keep it for the full 5 yrs)
High credit ussage.
AAoA is the average age of your accounts. You may have a credit history of 10 years but could only have an AAoA of 2 years depending on the age of your accounts and how many you have.
GW is Goodwill - pleading letters to creditors/collection companies to delete accounts or negative info on accounts like missed payments.
PFD is pay for delete. Say you owe a collection company $100. You offer them x amount in exchange for them to delete the account. This can be the full amount or a smaller amount of what's owed.