At what point do you have a thick file

[red259]

People often talk about having a thin or thick file. Obviously someone with 15 cards and 20 years AAoA has a thick file and someone with one month AAoA and two cards has a thin file. At what point does everything think your credit report crosses over from having a thin file to having a thick file? 

[keithB]

I read 6 years AAoA is showing a good credit history.  Why six?  IDK... Actually it said 5.9 years and I just rounded it up 

[longtimelurker]

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@keithB wrote:

I read 6 years AAoA is showing a good credit history.  Why six?  IDK... Actually it said 5.9 years and I just rounded it up 

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I think it also depends on what you are "using" it for.   So an app spree of say 6 cards might not cause too much damage on a "thick" file with 20 accounts and 6 year AAoA, but a 20 card app spree would.  There you need a thicker file, such as 50 accounts and 10 years AAoA  (all numbers made up).  In other words, thick and thin aren't absolutes.

[Anonymous]

I believe the criteria is that if someone like CreditAddict takes a look at your file and says something like, "Wow, I'm impressed!"... then you officially have a thick file.

[pizzadude]

Moving to General Credit forum

[takeshi74]

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@red259 wrote:

At what point does everything think your credit report crosses over from having a thin file to having a thick file? 

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It's relative as longtime points out and there isn't a fixed line that everyone crosses.  In other words there's a spectrum of thickness rather than just the binary of thin or thick.  It's also not just cards and AAoA but other factors such as payment history, mix of credit, etc.

I'd say that one indicator is when creditors stop using "excessive/too many inquiries" as a denial reason when you have just a few inquiries but that's just my opinion and not based on hard numbers -- just from browsing the threads on various discussion sites (which is generally not a reliable method of analysis).

[jamie123]

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@red259 wrote:

People often talk about having a thin or thick file. Obviously someone with 15 cards and 20 years AAoA has a thick file and someone with one month AAoA and two cards has a thin file. At what point does everything think your credit report crosses over from having a thin file to having a thick file? 

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IMHO this is what I would consider the absolute minimum of accounts to be considered a thick file:

5 open credit cards with at least 3 of them being bank cards

2 year AAoA minimum

1 open installment loan

No more than 1 inquiry on each report

I think that if you had all those items on your credit reports you would be at the cusp of having a thick file. I can't see a lender using the "Denied for lack of ANYTHING" history at this point. Any credit added to these items over time would thicken your file of course.

[jamesdwi]

I have 32+ cards and have never been told that I have a thin file, even when my AAoA was under a year and only had 15 cards, its now over 2 years :-)  time cures all things credit.

I thinks it more related to TL's at least once you get 6 months of history. You need at least 3 TL's to establish a strong history.