The article you provided and states right there that those who do not have generational wealth don’t benefit from credit scores because several of the considered factors are things they don’t have.
I don’t know if I buy that they were created to reduce discrimination, but even if they were, it’s an incredibly flawed system.
If a person pays off a loan that is a good thing. That shouldn’t make tour credit score lower.
I paid off a loan and a card and consolidated my debt to a lower interest rate loan and my score dropped 20 points even though I had overall less debt and at a lower interest rate. All because the average age of my credit dropped.