"Thanks for linking to your post Diane. I was going to link to it, then I got sidetracked while posting my reply. " Don't thank me ARS, that link was kindly provided by Velo237. All I did was cut and paste his link. He's much better at that sort of thing than I and deserves credit for his effort.
I'm not sure if the second part, "Since now that you have prepaid a bunch you won't have it for 9 months." was directed at my situation, but if so, it was also covered on the other thread, I think. I got a two year loan and then paid half of it back after the first payment, creating in effect, a one-year loan. I am shooting for a loan of about 9-12 months with below 50% loan utilization asap. This may well be a mixed metaphor, but since the purpose of the loan was an attempt to massage the credit score system just a bit, I figured it wouldn't hurt. Bottom line is, it won't cost much and I may learn something useful. The total interest could amount to less than a single month's cable (in my area, and if I actually had cable), just to put it in perspective. BTW, I never took any loan proceeds out of the credit union. I just set up a sub-account with auto payment. I won't know my final cost until the last payment is made. I will probably wait at least six months before I pull my score to see if there is any change.