<prompt> Human: So I was planning on paying off my student loans on the 26th of September this year its not much. Only about 1,700. Is this the best idea? I just realized that its my oldest open account at 2 years and 9 months. Would it be better to my credit to pay it off completely and have the account closed or to keep making payments and pay it off over a longer amount of time in order to keep the account open?  <response>: The account isnt going to fall off of your report instantly, it will take years. Close the account, your score should go up because your utilization ratio will go down. Get credit cards Use them for normal purchases and pay off the statement balance every month to not accrue interest.This plan will get you a better score in the long term. In like 7 years or so, your student loan account will fall off and your score might dip a bit a that point, but 7 years is a long time. Your score should be plenty high by then. 