Hi everyone-- I thank everyone in advance for sending any feedback my way on this one. The only consumer debt I have outstanding is my student loan, and I would like to pay that loan off in its entirety this summer. However, I filed for personal bankruptcy in '01, and so having an excellent credit record since then (which I do) has helped propel my FICO score into the "good range." My question: should I pay off the remainder of my student loan, or just pay down all but a few thousand? I love the idea of living debt free, but 10% of my FICO score rewards consumers for timely, long-term debt management, and my student loan goes back to the mid-90s.

If you can pay it off, then do so. A part of your credit score also has to do with the amount of debt... so you can't really say that paying it off will affect the score. I'd think that showing no debt WITH the excellent payment history on the former loan will be at least as good as the activity that is affecting your score now.