Yes. Paying down credit cards moves your score far more than paying off installment debt. When we run a what-if analysis for someone who just paid off a car loan or knocked out a $10,000 student loan, we typically see little to no score improvement. The same money against credit card balances can move the score dramatically. Credit utilization is the reason. Revolving accounts report how much of your available limit you are using, and that ratio is one of the most heavily weighted pieces of your score. Installment loans carry no utilization signal, so retiring them gives the scoring model little to react to. If you want a score bump before you buy, paying revolving balances down, keeping each card well below its limit, is almost always the highest-return move. One caveat: the scoring models keep evolving, and newer versions are built to look further back at your balance history rather than reward a last-minute paydown right before you apply. That could soften the instant revolving boost over time. For now the revolving-versus-installment gap holds, but have your loan officer run the what-if before you make a big move, so you spend money where it actually helps.