@BSCHIEBEone They don't, but the loss of an installment account might hurt the score, especially if it is your only installment loan. It hurts the portion that is credit mix, and since having an installment loan with low balance, so substantially paid off does help your score, it might hurt installment loan utilization percentage as well. It all depends on whether you have other installment loans with low balances. It is not paying it off early that results in a lower score, it is loss of the account in your credit mix and utilization calculations. For very high scores you need at least 1 installment loan and 3 credit cards. The installment loans need to be paid below 50% of original loan amounts. Only 1 of the 3 credit cards should report a balance, with the other 2 having a zero balance. The one card reporting a balance can be paid before the due date, but after the statement reflects the balance. It is what they call AZEO...all zero except 1, and the balance on it should be under 29% of that cards credit limit, and less than 8.9% of all credit cards limits combined. That will maximize your revolving credit utilization, but is in fico 08 and fico 09 a point in time metric. If you lose points due to high utilization one month, paying them down to maximize utilization will recover every single point lost...in other words...utilization carries no history. It will in the future fico 10 T, the T in that score stands for trended data. ... View more

@spdev25 I would not advocate against stimulus payments for those in dire need. I would be helping family even if no stimulus payments were provided. I do however think the stimulus should be more targeted for those who actually have been negatively impacted. The stimulus could even be increased for those who really need it if it was not also going to those who don't. If I had been given the option to opt out, with the end result being those who are in dire straits getting more, I would have done so. ... View more

@vn Good advice, and good score...but which score is it? I am guessing it is a fico 08 from one of the 3 CRA's. One thing, if you apply for discover card, you can get a free TU fico 08 monthly. Discover card also provides free to everyone a monthly Experian score at creditscorecard.com. A great resource for learning about credit scores is the myfico forum.   https://ficoforums.myfico.com/     Getting all your fico scores...I think there are 28 total is costly, but the forum is free. ... View more

@pancakes Very sound advice. It is never necessary to pay interest due to carrying a balance...ever! As long as you wait until the statement cuts on one card it will show utilization. I have not payed credit card interest in 20 years. Here are some of my scores.   TU fico08=829 02/28/21 EX fico08=819 03/09/21 EQ fico08=835 03/09/21 EX fico09=833 03/09/21 EQ fico bankcard08=856 01/26/21 TU Fico Bankcard 08=853 01/23/21 EQ NG1 fico=802 01/21/21 EQ Resilience index score=58 03/09/21 Unknown score from EX=784 used by Cap1 07/10/20   The fico 08 and 09 scores max out at 850....the bankcard scores max out at 900. The new score is the EQ resilience score index, and it is from 0-99 with lower scores being better. That score gets worse when your other scores improve usually. It is suppose to be an indicator of how resilient your credit is to an economic downturn. My score in that is moderate, but high everywhere else. The myfico forum is free, but to get all your fico scores on the myfico site is costly. There are about 30 of them between the three major CRA's...Equifax, Experian, and Transunion.  ... View more

Join the Myfico forum for all the tips you will ever need. My fico 08 and fico 09 scores are all between 810 and 835. In spite of what some might think, carrying a balnce is not necessary to show use of cards as long as at least 1 card is paid after the statement cuts, but paid in full before the due date. Credit card issuers would love for you to believe that paying them interest is required, but it is not. I have not payed one cent in interest in 20 years. I have 20 credit cards with all having at least 10000 in credit limits. Many, many of that forums members have 800+ scores. Some even have all 6 fico 08, and fico 09 scores at a perfect 850. Anyone who says that carrying a balance and paying interest increases scores is just wrong. By the way, there are many other fico scores for Auto loans, mortgage, and credit cards. If you are serious about these scores, that is where you learn.  https://ficoforums.myfico.com/ ... View more

OK, I use turbotax to do 5 family members taxes, and filed them before the law was passed. My Niece and her husband were both unemployed. Between the 2 of them the exclusion amount was a little over 18000. I opened their turbotax files today to discover the exclusion amounts had been incorperated in a turbotax update, without me even saving the now saved file. Thankfully the pdf files had not changed, so I can look at that to see the actual return sent by US mail. I am so bumfuzzled at this point. I fear me, my Niece, and her husband might all wind up in prison. I read the IRS would automatically fix it, but since when has the Government been able to fix such crazy changes. First the stimulus rd. 2 was not recieved by some family...now this. God help us when we have to pay for all this mess the Virus brought us. In spite of what many believe, the Government can't just keep printing money, or borrowing it on the National debt credit card. My income was not affected by this virus at all, and still got 3200 in the 3 rounds that I did not even need. Those who are celebrating this huge spending spree will not be happy when the time comes for payback through either higher taxes or inflation. ... View more