I haven't studies this entire thread, and assuming this is your only installment TL open w/ a balance, then I still vote to PIF ASAP. Let's say your FICO scores jump 10 points each CRA if you PIF, then doing that now would result in an increase sooner w/ interest saved. Let's say they drop 10 points each, and let's say you would have spent $50 in interest over the 4 months, would it be worth it to save your score for $50 just for 4 months? The change is going to happen either way.
@haulingthescoreup wrote:
You (usually) get more points with at least one open installment loan than with all closed loans. Either is better than no loans at all, open or closed, on your reports.
And it varies by CRA. One member pm'd me that when he paid off his only open loan, his EQ went up and his TU went down (I think it was that way), and the TU went down by a huge amount. He was livid. Of course, TU98 is pretty obsolete, and I don't know if that's still the case with TU04.
I've posted a few times in here of my experience of paying off my last installment (car). My EQ also went up and TU down, but both by single digits (5 & 7 respectively). In other words, it hurt EQ while reporting and it helped TU. I was predicting a drop on both and was surprised w/ the gain on EQ. BTW, it was measured by pulling the day before and the day after it reported.
