By: Mari Gottdiener (Mari is a California attorney and founder of Outsource Solutions, where she devotes the bulk of her practice in working with mortgage brokers and lenders to maximize the credit scores of their clients. You can subscribe to her newsletter "Up Your Credit" through her Website at www.outsolve.com. For clients with challenging credit situations, she will provide you with a free consultation. Email her at marig@outsolve.com.)

You want your borrowers to take actions that raise their scores, not lower them, right? So, should your borrowers have to pay off all of their debts before loan approval? This article is about the effects debt payoffs have on credit scores.