Pay off SSL?

[SwarthyOgre]

About a year ago I was in an accident which totalled the car i was making payments on. I took the opportunity to buy a cheap ride for cash and picked up a shares secure loan from NFCU to keep my FICO from taking a ding for no secured loan being present. I paid it down to 8% and there it has sat. Fast forward to today and I just bought a new vehicle for which the loan is now reporting...I took a big ding for the balance.

My question is this...is there any score advantage to keeping it, should I pay off the SSL loan or just let it be until my next payment is due in 2023?

[AllZero]

Let it ride. You got the majority of your funds back. It'll show open positive history.

When is your car loan end date?

[CH-7-Mission-Accomplished]

I agree, let it ride.   It's not hurting anything.   I had a SSL from Alliant that I opened for 15K (used my CLOC from Navy), then paid down to $100 and just paid the interest each month -- not much.  In January I got a new car loan through Alliant so I paid off that SSL.   I only had three inquiries -- I applied with Alliant, DCU and either Navy or Penfed (I forget).   Alliant approved my loan before I woke up the next morning with no docs required.

My FICO scores dropped 25 points.

It may well be that the new 31K loan was the culprit but I do wonder if paying off that SSL hurt me. I will never know.   I have paid that 31K loan down to 17K since January and I have only gotten back maybe three points.

I would leave well enough alone.

[tussking]

Pay it off...It will always be on your report and help you. You have a new loan reporting.

[SouthJamaica]

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@SwarthyOgre wrote:

About a year ago I was in an accident which totalled the car i was making payments on. I took the opportunity to buy a cheap ride for cash and picked up a shares secure loan from NFCU to keep my FICO from taking a ding for no secured loan being present. I paid it down to 8% and there it has sat. Fast forward to today and I just bought a new vehicle for which the loan is now reporting...I took a big ding for the balance.

My question is this...is there any score advantage to keeping it, should I pay off the SSL loan or just let it be until my next payment is due in 2023?

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1. It's certainly not doing any harm.

2. In case you pay off the auto loan the SSL will still be there for you.

3. I would need to know your original loan amounts and current balances to know for sure the effect on your scores.

[SwarthyOgre]

The SSL was 3k with Navy and i have $200 left. Next payment is due early 2023. The new loan is thru Bethpage, 43k for 96 months at 4.34 first payment just made last week. Before you poopoo the term, we have a plan.

My scores just dropped an avg of 25 pts across the board when the new loan reported this week.

[SouthJamaica]

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@SwarthyOgre wrote:
The SSL was 3k with Navy and i have $200 left. Next payment is due early 2023. The new loan is thru Bethpage, 43k for 96 months at 4.34 first payment just made last week. Before you poopoo the term, we have a plan.

My scores just dropped an avg of 25 pts across the board when the new loan reported this week.

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Well the auto loan is the biggie in terms of your installment loan utilization, so the SSL is having no effect one way or the other. For the next 8 years you're covered on having an open installment loan.

[Anonymous]

All other things being equal here (no score impact, etc) I'd probably just close it.  1 less account with a balance.