Last year, I met my goal of eliminating all of my debt. After retirement contributions, I used as much of my income as possible for that purpose. My bank tells me my credit score every quarter. Last October, my score was over 800. Shortly after it was pulled, I paid off my car (about 3 years early). It updated today, and I got dinged
50 points, presumably because that was my last line of installment credit. The interest rate on my car loan was so low that there was no real reason to pay it off other than not to have to figure that payment into my budget every month. Had I known how much I would get punished for carrying less debt, I wouldn't even have bothered
