Paid Off Auto Loan - Sharing Data Point Impact

[EW800]

I know we are all aware that not having an open installment loan will hurt credit scores for most profiles.  In the event that this helps anyone, I just thought I would share how paying off an auto loan (two years early) has impacted my scores...

I have had 850's for all FICO 8's and FICO 9's for more than a year now, however decided to go ahead and pay off my one open installment loan early, even though I knew it would lower some of my scores a bit.  Below are the results that I have experienced thus far...  

Experian FICO 8 --  850 to 835  (drop of 15 points) 

Experian FICO Mortgage Score 2 -- 816 to 816  (no impact on this mortgage score) 

Experian FICO Auto Score 8 -- 888 to 855 (drop of 33 points) 

Experian FICO Auto Score 2 -- 849 to 813 (drop of  36 points)

Experian FICO Bankcard 8 -- 900 to 868 (drop of 32 points)  

Experian FICO Bankcard 2 -- 845 to 845 (no impact) 

The paid-off loan has only hit Experian thus far.  I assume that EQ and TU will be similar.  

I am curious about the FICO 9 scores.  I should have them in a couple of weeks when I run my 3B report.  

My Mortgage scores are the most important to me at the moment.  I am thrilled to see that it appears that my mortgage score was not impacted.  It will be interesting to see how the EQ and TU mortgage scores are impacted.  I hope very minimal.  

[Anonymous]

What was the utilization percentage on the loan just prior to paying it off?  If you paid it off 2 years early, my guess is that you owed > 10% left on the loan, but just want to clarify before the discussion starts.

[EW800]

Hi BBS.  Good point.  The account has been way less than 10% utilization for about the last 18 months or so.  It was a 0% loan that I only left open to help with scoring.  The balance was just $100 every month for many months.  Even though I knew it would hurt my scores a bit to pay it off, I decided to do so, so that I can have the vehicle free and clear.  Even though this means the loss of my 850 "six pack", I know the socres are still considered very good.  

Thanks!  

[MakingProgress]

I just paid off an auto loan as well.   I do still have one other open installment loan (another car) at about 70% of the original loan balance.

EQ and TU Fico 8s increased putting me over 800.   These two reports updated quickly.   It has been over a month and EX finally updated today, my EX score dropped 13 points. 

[Anonymous]

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@EW800 wrote:

Hi BBS.  Good point.  The account has been way less than 10% utilization for about the last 18 months or so.  It was a 0% loan that I only left open to help with scoring.  The balance was just $100 every month for many months.  Even though I knew it would hurt my scores a bit to pay it off, I decided to do so, so that I can have the vehicle free and clear.  Even though this means the loss of my 850 "six pack", I know the socres are still considered very good.  

Thanks!  

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Gotcha, that makes more sense.  The score drops you referenced were more in line with an almost-paid-off installment loan, not one that was at > 10% utilization.