@Anonymous wrote:I've been reading that a closed positive installment account with no open ones afterward dips your score on the basis of credit mix no longer including installment loans. But on Experian site and Discover Scorecard my credit mix both show as very good and include their reasoning as including an installment loan, though this loan was paid off in 2010. So I'm confused on this point. I was paying zero attention to my credit during and for years after having that loan so I have no DPs of my own but wouldn't both FICO-providing sites show my credit mix at a lesser level if I'm being penalized for not having one currently open?
A closed installment loan satisfies the "credit mix" requirement.
Certain scoring models, however, penalize for having no open installment loan.
@Anonymous wrote:
Okay, thank you. FICO 8 is the only one I think will be relevant to me for the next year (when that loan will fall off the report) so hopefully that aspect is good enough as is.
Unfortunately, FICO 8 is one of the scoring models that does penalize you for not having any open installment loan. It's silly in my book; you should be rewarded, not penalized, for having your installment loans paid off, but the FICO 8 algorithm doesn't think that way 
@Anonymous wrote:Ugh well that's the part that has me so confused. If there is a penalty for it being closed rather than open then why doesn't Experian or Scorecard show that? The only mention of that loan on those shows in the credit mix category and shows as very good. Come on FICO sites, throw me a bone! LOL
Good question. When I closed out my little share secured loan, and got slammed in my FICO 8 score, I don't remember if there was any negative reason code hinting at why. I guess I was too busy taking out a new loan to get my points back to pay attention 
Well fact is the tidbit around FICO 8's handling of open installment loans was found on this forum and even I'll admit I found it utterly by accident while I was prepping for my mortgage.
There's no reason codes associated with having no open installment loans (or no open revolvers, another penalty in FICO 8 specifically) and to be fair not everything which is a "ding" to one's credit score is associated with explicit reason codes.
The algorithm is corporate intellectual property, and right or wrong as a result it isn't disclosed to us as consumers (or even to big honking lenders) but this particular bit, we know how to get around it... now we just need to find another cheap and easy way to game the metric but unfortunately for various reasons it has been difficult to chase down a new solution after Alliant changed policies and NFCU isn't open for everyone.
