<prompt> Human: So I just found out I qualify for a teacher loan forgiveness and they are going to forgive a chunk of my student loans. Will bring my total loan amount down to 2000 or so. I was considering paying that last amount off just to be out of debt, but the student loans are my oldest accounts 5-7yrs and contribute to my credit history. Other than that we have 2 credit cards that are 1 and 2 years old. We recently paid off our car and that lowered my score for awhile but it is back up again. Also, we are pregnant and saving to buy a house next spring soon after baby comes if everything goes well- this is American healthcare after all. If I pay off all the debt and my score tanks, will it recover by way of keeping card utilization low by next spring? Currently in the 780 range which is great for buying a house. I also am considering just paying the minimum on the student loans after the forgiveness just to keep them open until we buy a house, but we really want to be debt free as that has been a goal of ours for awhile. Thoughts?  <response>: Dont pay interest to build credit. 