@BluePoodle wrote:
@elim wrote:Or would their AAoA still be damaged? hrmmmm, I think AAoA includes closed accounts?
AAoA only includes active accounts. Closed accounts do not factor in, I believe. Someone correct me if I am wrong.
I thought they included total accounts , but i could be wrong.
@BluePoodle wrote:
@money_talks wrote:
@BluePoodle wrote:
@elim wrote:Or would their AAoA still be damaged? hrmmmm, I think AAoA includes closed accounts?
AAoA only includes active accounts. Closed accounts do not factor in, I believe. Someone correct me if I am wrong.
FICO factors in all accounts, open or closed, good or bad.
That's right. I don't know what I was thinking...
everybody has an little brain freeze here and there :-)
@mongstradamus wrote:
@BluePoodle wrote:
@money_talks wrote:
@BluePoodle wrote:
@elim wrote:Or would their AAoA still be damaged? hrmmmm, I think AAoA includes closed accounts?
AAoA only includes active accounts. Closed accounts do not factor in, I believe. Someone correct me if I am wrong.
FICO factors in all accounts, open or closed, good or bad.
That's right. I don't know what I was thinking...
everybody has an little brain freeze here and there :-)
Haha, I haven't had my evening dosage of chocolate 
@Open123 wrote:It's an excellent idea if done strategically, in my view.
When it comes to "app sprees," I prefer 3 cards per quarter. For example, an Amex, Barclay and a Chase card resulting in one HP per respective CR. The Amex won't count as a new account, and will mitigate somewhat the AAOA increase caused by the new Barclay and Chase accounts. App sprees should ideally be planned to maximize existing sign-up bonuses. And, all the HPs will fall off at the same time, which is a huge benefit for applying for multiple TLs simultaneously.
On the other hand, an app spree with cards without compelling rewards/bonuses and/or all HPs in a single CRA should be avoided.
Unless one lives in an area where Chase pulls EQ the example sadly falls short: virtually every major credit card issuer other than Barclays wants to see my EX file having lived in S. Cali for the past 9 years. I have to go out of my way to not take a HP on EX for a credit card.
The edge case of bonus churners doesn't apply to the vast majority of consumers in my estimation, app sprees followed by a period of gardening (I do a minimum of a year) it really doesn't matter much where the inquiries land in the current credit market: likely was different earlier where even seeing a single inquiry back in the credit dark times (the financial crisis not long ago) would send any additional lenders screaming, we're just not in that market at the moment; however, since bonus churners have to strike when the bonus exists, I completely agree with your strategy of spreading inquiries out across the bureaus more adroitly.
@others: the AAOA confusion generally comes in from Credit Karma where forever reason they only count open accounts (AAOOA? Average Age of Open Accounts): as someone correctly pointed out, FICO calculates both open and closed tradelines for AAOA.
I'll admit that app sprees require a certain amount of discipline and might not be appropriate for everyone including a 19 year old, but one of the goals for everyone should be to build a thick file where needing to use the report (for financial gain or emergency) doesn't result in a catastrophic drop in score much like the case I theorized before; when first starting out, every lender on the planet expects a bunch of inquiries to establish a couple of tradelines, and this course generally should be pursued. The second tier lenders may want to see more than one tradeline, and in my case, on my recent app spree adding 4 more tradelines I only dropped 3 months AAOA, and that's with only 2.5 years real credit history (AAOA about to tick back over 2 years now), and that was a direct result of my having 12 or so tradelines established over the 2 and change years before the app spree.
College is a little bit of a odd case because most students aren't going to have sufficient income to support the higher tier cards, and as such can take it a bit slower as you really have 4+ years (assuming graduation) to setup the credit file, but in that instance I'd still suggest opening up 4-5 lines (2-3 credit cards and 2 credit builder style installment loans) and sitting on them for the 4 years and then be qualified for auto, mortgage, or additional credit cards for when 2 pay stubs can be dropped in front of the loan officer.
My life wouldn't have necessarily been better had I known what I do now when I was 18, but it would've been different, and I assuredly would be a home owner even in S. Cali. If I ever do have kids, they will absolutely be educated on how the credit system works and how to make use of it to their advantage.
