[akira2501]

> can lead to maxing out while being perfectly comfortable financially.

Total credit usage can have an impact. So if all your lines of credit are at maximum, this is a negative signal. If one or more is, but your total utilization is 75% or less, it should have little to no impact.

This is why the installment loan part is useful. It starts at maximum balance and you immediately pay that down. It's not as strong of a positive signal until you hit payoff but it's a pretty massive one the day you do.