<prompt> Human: I have been paying for a loan for about a year. My Mother believes that I should have a loan for a certain amount of time to build credit and so forth, but I dont know if this is really true, or remains true after a certain number of months of paying a loan. When I was making less I took a year and a half or so to pay off my last car loan about 4 years ago on my old car.I havent really looked into this closely so Im wondering if there are any advantages whatsoever to keeping a loan open or if I should just pay it off now?Assistant: Ill try to give a slightly more thorough answer than what youve seen here, but everybody is pretty much giving the same advice from different angles.First, whats your interest rate? If the interest rate is very low, like 1.99 or less, then over the course of a couple years then loan is actually getting cheaper for you. That is, so long as you income keeps pace with inflation. This is probably a pretty small consideration, though, and Id be impressed if it actually mattered. On BIG loans at 0 though, this might be something you think about.It seems like youve already established some credit, so whether or not you want to have more time continuing to pay it off to demonstrate your ability to pay off your debts is really up to you, but if youve previously bought and paid off a car, and youre doing it again, then I think you probably have this box pretty well checked off. How old are you and how long is your credit history? If your history isnt all that long, then this consideration gets a little more weight from you.How are your savings? If your savings are very weak, then you might consider socking this money away for a rainy daycomplete catastrophe and just continuing to pay the loan - or at least hold off on paying it off completely until you have savings established. On the other hand, not paying a car note can help you establish savings even faster...So as you can see, there are a lot of variables for you to think about here. My personal instinct tells me to go ahead and pay it off, because I hate being in debt. Saving a couple hundred bucks a month in expenses is the same as getting a couple hundred dollar pay raise monthly, if you follow my thinking. I like the added flexibility of having less financial liabilities, and a note hanging over your head is just one more thing that could go wrong. Ultimately this decision isnt earth shattering, so try not to dwell on it too much. I think you can safely go with your gut here, but Im not aware of the rest of your financial situation so I couldnt give better or more targeted advice.Human: I got a 1.49 loan. The cost isnt breaking the bank so I am basically paying off the loan with higher than average payments.My savings are pretty good, not going to disclose the real amount but well over 10k.Ive had a bank account for 12 years since 16 now but a real job for the past 5 years.  <response>: If I were you Id just invest that money. You have your finances well in order and you can easily get more than 1.49 in a 401k. If its a mental burden for you then go ahead and pay it off, but if you dont mind the thought of it you could earn a little bit more by not paying it off. 