Have been quietly paying off my loans for e past 2yrs as money allows. I have kept the origional 15 loans separate so that I could qualify for TLF -- not to be confused with Public Service forgiviness. After paying off 5, I've gotten used to the small drop to my score. Paid one down to $1 recently and after a couple of weeks it reported as closed, took another hit. OK, whatever. Then the usual negative reasons on my profile changed to something I've never seen:
I spent Friday night downloading my credit reports from all 3 bureaus and combing through them in case someone opened a new account in my name and found nothing. Today I get an alert from Experian that I have a 4pt increase. The reason is a reduction in my loan balance. Huh? I understand, but don't undertsand, and I've opened no new loans recently. Moreover, I thought loans didn't have utilization like credit cards. This is the first I've seen this since I've been paying close attention over the last 3 yrs. Are they just manufacturing reasons to screw me out of an increase to my score?
Does anyone else see something I'm missing? Who do I even call or email to get clarity? If paying off loans is going to trigger this nonesense, then what do I do?
B.
UPDATE
After an hour on the phone with the SL ppl, who basically said "...not our problem, we updated it to paid. Have a nice day." Then annother hour with Experian, who said "...you latest report shows everyhging normal. Wait for the next monthly update." Apparently I have to just ride it out. Slightly distressing.
B.