Paying Down Installment Loan - as Effective as Paying Down Credit Cards?

[jones2929]

After doing some research, it looked like it would be beneficial to my credit score to get the balance on an installment loan to be less than 50% of the original loan amount.  So, I made a payment to get the principal less than 50% of the original amount.  My scores didn't really seem to change one way or the other.

On the other hand, when I made a similar payment on a credit card to get it under 50%, my scores went up by a notable amount.

So, I guess that you don't get as much "bang for the buck" with an installment loan payment.  Does that make sense?

It's all good - paying down balances is a good thing making me a much more relaxed person, but I was just curious about the score implications.  

[llecs]

Revolving util far outweighs installment util. In fact, installment util is a teeny tiny part of FICO scoring. The only experience I had was paying off a car note from 25% to 0%. I saw a gain on EQ, but I think most of that was due to adding another $0 balance.

ETA....and I'll add that this is a good thing. If you add a $500k mortgage you won't see a large score ding for staying at or near 100% util while the balance slowly goes down.

[jones2929]

Thanks for the response.  So, if I were to pay off the installment loan, I might get a bump in my score, but it would be more from adding a zero balance than anything else.  Also, how much of a bump is it?  Minor?

I find the whole process fascinating.  It is like trying to decipher a mystery.

[llecs]

It's a YMMV-thing. Single digits tops. Depends on if you are carrying other balances on other loans, CCs, etc.