@JediNeo wrote:Mine dropped about 10 points when I paid off my auto loan. However I'm told it will still report as a paid positive TL for at least another five years.
Anecdotally I'd read a loss of a few points for not having 2 open installment loans. 10 seems high, though I assume you have a pretty score otherwise? Don't know the files of the posters in ages past who saw that. I'll check though when my own close late this year / early January... maybe time to take out that 7 year secured CD loan 
.
The tradeline itself will stay actually 10 years after the closing date, barring Equifax silliness.
@JediNeo wrote:I thought it was a pretty big dip too. According to my Wal-Mart TU FICO report at the time I was around 750 and after I paid it went 740. Been hovering in this area ever since. Although I have opened two new TL in the months after.
That's an interesting data point to be sure; I'm fairly confident that the older conventional wisdom was on EQ '04 or similar; I have noticed personally there's a much bigger swing in short-term data (like open number of installment loans, or new derogatories) on TU '08 and possibly EX '08 (I should really spend the $20 and see if it trended the same as my Wally score with the new lien) vs. EQ '04 which seems to count older data more substantially: was nearly a 50 point swing between my top '08 and EQ '04 score, and all my derogatories are 3 years old now.
This would jive with the market conditions at the time of the development of the '08 models where otherwise pretty report people were losing their behinds in mortgages and recent payment history was considered more important when it came to underwriting loans.
ETA: Laugh, yup. EX 718 -> 662. I really need to get that lien airstruck ninja quick like.
Thank you for sharing!