Hi GlennTheAgent! My comments below in blue.
@Anonymous wrote:
First auto loan is 3 years old 2nd is about 6 months. I have a personal loan open only for the purpose of having a credit mix and a higher score. The personal loan has a super small balance and has been open 5 or 6 months.
Do I need the personal loan to get the full FICO benefits or are the auto loans enough?
It depends on how much the personal loan was originally for. If the PL was originally for 50k (for example) then having a mostly paid of PL like that is helping you. It were for a much smaller amount it is not helping your score, now that you have the much bigger auto loans.
If I close the personal loan it'll raise my AAoA a bit.
No, it won't. AAoA considers closed and open accounts equally. Closing an account does not affect one's AAoA.
What do you guys think? Also, I already have paid off personal loans on my credit report.
If the personal loan has a super small balance, then you are paying a super small amount of interest on it. So if it were up to me, I would keep it open for the full term of the loan. Paying it off will not help you, and it will be better for you way down the road to have kept it open longer.
