@Anonymous wrote:
The balance on my auto loan is almost at the end - I have $520 remaining and I have been paying $420 every month. My loan ends in July-2017 & I have 1.9% APR on the loan. I am planning to pay the last $420 and have the remaining $100 drag into 2017 before I pay off the loan. I recall from other posts that paying off auto loan would close the account & potentially bring down the credit score; so I am trying to figure out a good strategy to keep my credit score high for a mortgage I am planning in 2017. Any ideas out there?
Have you pulled your mortgage scores here yet? If not, then do so you know where you stand. Mortgage scores are not FICO 8 scores. Pulling the scores here is a consumer inq that is a SP, not a HP. That is a good thing.
Your scores might be high enough to withstand a small point temporary decrease when you pay off your vehicle. On the other hand, you can get one of those small $500 Alliant loans that Revelate talks about to get your points back. Personally I think it is better to have the car loan paid off - you have enough time to recover your points before you apply for a mortgage. See the thread below by Revelate about installment tradelines:
http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Installment-tradeline-utilization-thread/td-p/4055989
