I got punished for paying off my car loan two years early

I’ve worked very hard over the years to improve my credit score. It was not easy.

But through much hard work and perseverance, through self-sacrifice and grit, I was able to get my score up to what is called “very good.” “Very good” means that I can apply for loans and receive a much lower interest rate, in that I am considered a dedicated, hard-working and trustworthy person.

And as you know from reading my blog, I’ve worked hard in terms of paying off my car loan. I am the proud titled owner of my 2017 Chevrolet Volt Premier (“Lightning’s Girl”). Paid the car loan off two years ahead of the final maturity payment.

So yesterday, I received a notice from one of my credit monitoring systems that there was a change in my FICO credit score.

I’m thinking … fantastic. The credit companies acknowledged my trustworthiness and commitment to paying off my debts.

I checked my FICO score – it had dropped 50 points.

A 50-point DROP???

What the screaming cross-eyed fuck???

This can’t be right. You don’t drop 50 points unless you went bankrupt or defaulted. I never defaulted. I am a good kid.

And then I did some research.

Research that, in the end, made me ANGRIER.

So apparently once a car loan is paid off, then the loan itself no longer appears on your credit score. It’s like Chuck Cunningham syndrome. On the sitcom Happy Days, Richie had an older brother in the first two seasons, Chuck Cunningham – who by the third season was written off the show and never mentioned or referenced ever again. So essentially my credit score no longer acknowledged my car loan, and instead monitored my other lines of debt – credit cards, etc.

And because of that, I saw my credit score drop faster than a Thanksgiving turkey in Cincinnati.

You have to be kidding me.

Again, more research. The credit score companies – TransUnion and Equifax and Experian and all those other wonk-name-combos – explain the score with complicated algorithms and financial doublespeak. But it’s the same doublespeak where doing the right thing and doing the wrong thing bring equal levels of punishment.

You paid off your loan ahead of time? Shame on you. You should have only made the minimum payments so that the bank can receive the maximum amount of interest on the debt owed. You essentially cheated the bank out of money, therefore we’re dropping your score.

Oh, you made all your payments on time? Shame on you. You should have missed a payment or two so that we know you’re alive and we can charge late fees and penalties. Now we’re not going to get that money, and it’s ALL YOUR FAULT. Down goes your credit score.

Wow. Thanks a pantload. 50-point drop.

And then one of the companies suggests I open a new credit card or loan, so that the credit companies can see a new line of credit in my name, and then maybe – just maybe – my credit score can tick up a point or two.

What a fucking joke.

You know what this does for me? It motivates me to pay EVERYTHING OFF even quicker. And I’ll self-sacrifice to do it. Even more than before. That’s all I am to these companies, right? I’m nothing more than a three-digit number. That’s it.

That’s all I am. And yeah, I take this personally.

So don’t come at me with credit card pre-approval letters and amazing offers on low-interest loans that would jack up the interest rate because you sent the letters to me when I had a credit score 50 points higher than it is now. And no amount of me telling you that I paid off my loan – with no late payments and a couple of years early – will give me your blessings.

As I said … I take this very personally. Very, very personally.

Thanks for making me feel like a pile of dog shit because I looked out for my financial health, credit companies. Thanks for making me feel like I’m not worth anything more than the three digits you assign to my existence.

And to reference another trope from Happy Days … if you give me Chuck Cunningham syndrome, I suggest that these credit services and their FICO scores have completely jumped the shark.

Ugh.