Closing new credit lines to raise the avg length of credit

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

However, the conventional wisdom that the closed account stays in your report for 10 more years is not always accurate.

Equifax has stopped reporting 5 credit card accounts of mine which were closed within the past year.

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Hey SJ.  You are of course right that a closed account can disappear well before the ten year mark (typically as the result of the creditor deleting it).  Many people never experience that, but some do.  I'd be really interested in hearing more about the five affected cards in your case... if you are willing to tell us more, that is.  Specifically:

Would you mind giving us the card issuer and its name (and whether it was a store card)?

Amex Jet Blue card

Comenity Eddie Bauer (store card)

Barclays NFL or American Airlines

Capital One Spark

Alliant SSL (installment)

  I am curious whether the cards might have something in common.

I would say no

Also helpful would be the timeline for the deletion.  Would you say that the cards did stay on your report as closed accounts for (say) at least six months after being closed?

Yes

How long has it been since they were deleted?

I would say 2 months.

Were the five accounts deleted roughly around the same time (within two months of each other, say)?

Yes they were removed at the same time

Is this confined to Equifax? 

Yes the accounts reporting normally in TU & EX.

(The closed accounts still appear on your EX and TU reports?)  We have heard a lot of reports of EQ having huge database issues in the last three months (and likely before that too). 

Yes that's why I posted it in this "Equifax issues" thread

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[Anonymous]

Ahhh.  I didn't realize that.

Then it sounds like it's not so much an issue of how accounts in general can be deleted from reports earlier than 10 years.  It sounds like its more likely to be "one more example of crazy nonstandard behavior from EQ in the last two months."

Until we know more about what has been going on at EQ, it's probably reasonable to suggest that, aside from EQ's nutty/eratic behavior in many respects during 2017, consumers can tend to expect that their accounts should stay on for 10 years.  That's not certain, but it sounds pretty safe to say.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Ahhh.  I didn't realize that.

Then it sounds like it's not so much an issue of how accounts in general can be deleted from reports earlier than 10 years.  It sounds like its more likely to be "one more example of crazy nonstandard behavior from EQ in the last two months."

Until we know more about what has been going on at EQ, it's probably reasonable to suggest that, aside from EQ's nutty/eratic behavior in many respects during 2017, consumers can tend to expect that their accounts should stay on for 10 years.  That's not certain, but it sounds pretty safe to say.

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Non-standard behavior by Equifax is seemingly their norm now. They took many of my closed positive reporting credit cards and show them as open. Since it isn't affecting my credit scores I have left them alone. You say why, I have disputed their behavior before and they are still just not getting it. I could say more but will stop.

[mkhan1093]

So, given all the points here, why would anyone even want to close a card that isn't costing them anything? It seems like there is no benefit to it, at least to me. Just make a purchase on it once in a while so it doesn't get closed for inactivity.

[Anonymous]

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@mkhan1093 wrote:

So, given all the points here, why would anyone even want to close a card that isn't costing them anything? It seems like there is no benefit to it, at least to me. Just make a purchase on it once in a while so it doesn't get closed for inactivity.

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Lots of reasons.  One, it could increase their exposure which could impact their ability to obtain additional lines of credit and/or larger limits with their other cards.  Two, it is simply a liability and another account that needs to be managed.  Three, if it has a low limit it could be lowering your average revolving credit limit across all accounts.  I'm sure there are a bunch of other reasons as well that people will mention.