Credit score correlations?

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I am new to this board and would like to see if there is a correlation with credit scores and age. I am 23 and will be getting married soon and my score is currently 588 [my score is low due to poor choices made when I was 18]. 

I see a lot of 650plus credit scores but I was wondering is your score consistently higher when you are older. For example, with insurance your premium goes down typically as you get older.  I say this because my in laws and parent have scores like 680s and some 720s and mind you they have a couple of collections. How is this possible?

Just looking for some helpful advice..We want to buy a house so I am currently "credit score" obsessed! : )

[llecs]

Welcome!

The age of the person isn't a correlation. However, those who are older generally have an older length of history and that's a significant weight on FICO scoring. There are plenty of folks in here in their early 20s with FICOs in the mid-700s. But generally the thing that holds them back from the 800s is a short credit history.

Collections can hold anyone's score back. I've personally have lost 104 FICO points due to an added CA. It can be a big drain. The age of the collection is a big deal too. If they reported an old debt from 6 years ago, then that has less weight than a collection that happened last month. Also the report composition is at play too. If you have 20 collections reporting, adding another won't do anything. If you are baddie-free, then adding the first would be a tremendous ding. With that said, you can't compare your report to your folks because no two reports are alike and there might be different things at play influencing the score like a length of history, prior baddies, age of those baddies, mix of credit, scoring bucket, etc.

[vanillabean]

---

@llecs wrote:

If they reported an old debt from 6 years ago, then that has less weight than a collection that happened last month.

---

But how does that, one might ask, align with a score of 558 and, I assume, no bad stuff in the last five years?

I would imagine another question is how you would improve your score to the point that a mortgage can be obtained.

Also, chances are that the couple, if not already, could benefit from exchanging credit reports before the wedding day.

[llecs]

---

@Anonymous-own-fico wrote:

---

@llecs wrote:

If they reported an old debt from 6 years ago, then that has less weight than a collection that happened last month.

---

But how does that, one might ask, align with a score of 558 and, I assume, no bad stuff in the last five years?

I would imagine another question is how you would improve your score to the point that a mortgage can be obtained.

Also, chances are that the couple, if not already, could benefit from exchanging credit reports before the wedding day.

---

We can only assume here...I'm assuming OP has recent baddies in order to have a FICO at 588. I'm also assuming that he/she didn't default in his/her 18th year of life making those baddies at 5 years old. I think there are some reported that are much more recent than that. I have no doubt that if OP really hunkered down and focused on repair, he/she would see FICOs in the mid to upper 600s, if not more, within the next few months. Depends on what is reporting of course, along with mix of credit, balances on revolving credit, and so forth.