AAoA, big deal? Couple other Q's.

[roadrage41]

I just got my wife the VS card, and she had an older car loan fall off - dropped her AAoA to sub 3 years.

Added myself to the VS card as a user, and mine is now just under 5 years.

Does it mean that much?

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• She has a cap one that she's had for 8 years or so, im also a user on that .

• I've got a cap one that I've had for 6 months (statement cuts the 19th.) I have not made her a user on it. Should I?

• and the new VS card.

We've both got a car loan, Ive got a student loan, she also has one but it's with the doe, dont know if that counts as a collection or an installment.

We've got all 3 types covered, yes?

Do we keep trying to add more cards, or just upping balances?

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We've got quite a few derogs that we basically just need to age off, no luck on goodwills, and they're with the same company.

[gdale6]

AAoA is only 15% of the Fico scoring pie. I would not be adding AUs just for AAoA reasons as you are now convolution your own score as not just your own. AUs should be added to get you started and then removed once you are on your own way. Sub 3 years isnt a bad AAoA to have.

SLs are installment loans for Fico purposes. You only need one open for it to help your Fico score and more credence to installment loans are given in Fico 8 models than earlier models but that doesnt mean you rush out to get one if you didnt already have any. You dont want to be running up credit card balances you want to have only 1 card report a small balance to the CRAs each month and all other revolvers at 0 if you ae trying to gain your best Fico score. The higher the balances and the more cards that report balances the lower your Fico goes. Do not worry about utilization on installment loans.

[Anonymous]

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@roadrage41 wrote:

I just got my wife the VS card, and she had an older car loan fall off - dropped her AAoA to sub 3 years.

Added myself to the VS card as a user, and mine is now just under 5 years.

Does it mean that much?

--------------------------------

• She has a cap one that she's had for 8 years or so, im also a user on that .

• I've got a cap one that I've had for 6 months (statement cuts the 19th.) I have not made her a user on it. Should I?

• and the new VS card.

We've both got a car loan, Ive got a student loan, she also has one but it's with the doe, dont know if that counts as a collection or an installment.

We've got all 3 types covered, yes?

Do we keep trying to add more cards, or just upping balances?

-------------------------------

We've got quite a few derogs that we basically just need to age off, no luck on goodwills, and they're with the same company.

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Its not something to worry about. Like Inquiries, its effect is quite overstated by many people here. My AAoA just hit three years on Jan 1 and my scores changed a whole four points. In another 1-2 months her acount age will go back over three years and any lost points will be recovered

[elim]

It's not a great system IMO.  The only way to have a nice AAoA is to have gotten all of your credit 20 years ago and never app again.  Of course most of the banks are no longer around and the credit products have changed.  I'm pretty sure my 20 yr old car is a cube of crushed steel, so driving it would be a pain.  I had an AAoA of 8 years and 3 or 4 accounts.  I apped for a few, A couple fell off,  and it fell to 2.

Then again,  we are a different type of borrower here at myFICO.  Maybe the flood of accounts I put on my reports will make it easier to keep a decent average age up for years to come.

[RobertEG]

Actually, AAoA is not even 15% of scoring.

The entire Length of Credit category is (on the average) 15%.

Also included is your oldest line of credit.

It is not a huge factor.

[roadrage41]

Should I peel off the authorized user status then?

I'm working on both of our scores.

I got the cap one platinum from the "you've had a cap one card before, we'd like to give you one again" thing. I got a bunch of pre-approved letters for the quicksilver as well, honestly didn't realize they were two different cards...

If I get the quicksilver as well, should I wait until after the 19th when the statement cuts and I get the hopeful CLI on the platinum? Does it matter?

The VS balance is 0, I've been having her use it, and then paying it off for her.

My Platinum has around $300 on it but it'll be paid off before the statement cuts. Tried to spend more than the credit limit this month, so it looks like I need a larger limit.

Her Platinum has $1300 on it, but its next on the beat down list, just had some unexpected expenses come up while the holidays were going on.