Understood re: credit score. However, it's not wise to have to dig into your investments in order pay off debts. What if you happen to acquire a debt while your investments are down?

This is the reason that any financial advisor (who caters to all levels of risk appetite) would advise having an emergency / liquid fund available before you invest anything. This is the first thing that I did before I invested anything, and I've kept that emergency fund for years.

It feels like money that's not being used wisely, but the risk of losing even more in case of an emergency makes this the wisest decision. Please build up an emergency fund. There's an entire history of reasons that this is considered a fundamental move.