Submitted by TabulaRasa5678 t3_y3uu5l in personalfinance
In the past month, I've double downed on paying off everything. For the first time in my life, I can honestly say that I am completely debt-free. However, I have also watched my credit score go slowly down from the "Excellent" range to the "Very Good" range.... again.
I had someone here tell me that he would much rather be fiscally responsible, than have a higher credit score rating. My buddy has a credit score, well into the 800's, and he is up to his eyeballs in debt. He needed to make a down payment in cash for something, but since he didn't have any in the bank, he had to borrow it against his credit cards. Yes, that's plural. I couldn't even imagine having to do that, as I always have something in my account(s).
For all of that, his score stays the same and/or fluctuates very little, while mine is on a slow slope going downward. I click the link in my FICO score to see, "what is hurting my score" and it pretty much tells me that I don't have a "variety" of loans.
It's still a great score, but I feel that if you pay off your debt, it should go up. If you don't pay on your debt, it goes down, right? It seems crazy.