Originally Posted by
Sam York
I work my balls off to pay off my mortgage in just over 5 years (paid it off back in March). My credit score drops 27 points.
......
I'm beginning to think my airport bum friends are right when they told me not to pay it off and take a loan on a bird dog.
Ha, yeah. You lost a lot of seasoned "available credit" with low usage near the end of your loan, so down it goes. You could look into a no or low cost HELOC - that would boost your score if unused (not that you should give a rip, as you mentioned).
You could also use it to fund the Bird dog (fun airplane, towed gliders and banners in one for a few hundred hours many moons ago) in a tax deductible manner. (And, imo not the worst thing in the world to have that ability if you come across the right one with little time to act). While I am generally anti-debt, a cash out refi or heloc, at today's low rates, are kinda hard tax-deductible options to dismiss easily.