AAoA and app spree - math help?

[Bman70]

So I'm still fuzzy on AAoA - mine is 8 years 7 months according to CK. I have a BofA Cash Rewards opened in 2009, two Cap1 cards opened in 2003 and 2005, then some old paid off student loan accounts hanging on from 2003, some personal installment accounts paid off opened between 2003 and 2011. I think that's all. 

My question is - how will a modest (unless the killer instinct takes over lol) app spree affect that AAoA? I have 3 credit cards and would like to have 5-7 ideally. (CK went so far as to say I had "too few" accounts! And that most people had more lol. Good enough excuse for me.) So - if I did app and get approved for 4 more lines, who can tell me the formula to calculate my new AAoA? Thanks. I am researching the forum as we speak, but even if I figure the formula out, I'm still going to post to confirm I have it right so any help is appreciated.

[LearningMoreAboutCredit]

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@Bman70 wrote:

So I'm still fuzzy on AAoA - mine is 8 years 7 months according to CK. I have a BofA Cash Rewards opened in 2009, two Cap1 cards opened in 2003 and 2005, then some old paid off student loan accounts hanging on from 2003, some personal installment accounts paid off opened between 2003 and 2011. I think that's all. 

My question is - how will a modest (unless the killer instinct takes over lol) app spree affect that AAoA? I have 3 credit cards and would like to have 5-7 ideally. (CK went so far as to say I had "too few" accounts! And that most people had more lol. Good enough excuse for me.) So - if I did app and get approved for 4 more lines, who can tell me the formula to calculate my new AAoA? Thanks. I am researching the forum as we speak, but even if I figure the formula out, I'm still going to post to confirm I have it right so any help is appreciated.

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Use this calculator and it may save you the headache...FYI, CK only calculates AAoOA (Average Age of Open Accounts) not overall AAoA (open & closed accts).

http://aaoacalculator.tumblr.com/

[gh17]

Roughly - I'm assuming each of your accounts were open in May so that I can use simple year multiples, which puts your current average age at 8.33, which is close enough - if you opened 4 new accounts today, your average age would lower to 5 years.

(5+11+9+11+11+3)/6 = 8.33

(5+11+9+11+11+3+0+0+0+0)/10 = 5

Likewise, if you opened three more

(5+11+9+11+11+3+0+0+0)/9 = 5.56

[gh17]

Also, note that Credit Karma only counts your open accounts in your average age of account, whereas FICO uses closed accounts too until they fall off 10 years after the final payment.  Your 2011 paid off account brings down your average age a little from what Credit Karma says.  The 2003 closed account helps it.  So even if you use your exact ages in the calculation, it will vary from Credit Karma.

[Bman70]

Thanks you guys got it. I'm going to calculate with all my closed accounts because I do have several more, all positive. Mostly opening 2003-ish. 

One thing that's puzzling - my latest TU credit report no longer shows my closed Aspire Visa opened way back in 11/2001 (back when I was re-establishing). 

I closed it in 2008 because of an annual fee - they refused to remove it, I closed it on the spot but didn't realize it was my oldest at the time.

Still, shouldn't it be reporting still as a positive? 

[LearningMoreAboutCredit]

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@Bman70 wrote:

Thanks you guys got it. I'm going to calculate with all my closed accounts because I do have several more, all positive. Mostly opening 2003-ish. 

One thing that's puzzling - my latest TU credit report no longer shows my closed Aspire Visa opened way back in 11/2001 (back when I was re-establishing). 

I closed it in 2008 because of an annual fee - they refused to remove it, I closed it on the spot but didn't realize it was my oldest at the time.

Still, shouldn't it be reporting still as a positive? 

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A big misconception is that closed positive accounts HAVE to report for an additional 10 years.  For the most part, those accounts do but not mandatory.  So, YMMV.

[Bman70]

Yeah did a bit of research, looks like the company may have died so that would explain it.

[user5387]

If you have X accounts at present, and add Y more, then to get your new AAoA you can multiply the old AAoA by:

   X / (X + Y)

For example, if going from 5 to 8 accounts, you would multiply by 5/8.

If Y is bigger than X, then AAoA can be reduced by more than one-half.