Affect of closing an account on AAoA

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know if my AAoA would take a hit if I closed one of my cards? I'm kind of disgusted with Macys right now and I no longer want to be a customer of theirs. There is no balance on the card. But I don't to take an unnecessary hit either. Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

No immediate effect on AAoA, despite what FAKO simulators may indicate. The account will continue to add to your AAoA for ten years after its closed.

[Anonymous]

Thanks! I can always count on you for a speedy reply :-)

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@Anonymous wrote:

No immediate effect on AAoA, despite what FAKO simulators may indicate. The account will continue to add to your AAoA for ten years after its closed.

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[CH-7-Mission-Accomplished]

The account can continue to age for 10 years before it falls off.  The CRA's don't have to keep it on your reports but they usually do.

I would not close it, at least not yet.  Store cards like Macy's, Nordstrom, JCP, Sears can help soften the impact of opening other new accounts going forward.  There are no annual fees and you usually only have to use them every two years or so to keep them from canceling your card.  You can even buy something at the store and then later return it and that counts as activity.

I get that you are mad at Macy's, but in this case you would actually be hurting yourself more.  AAofA eventually gets above 10 years, and when you are going for a 20 yr AAofA you will be happy to have these old accounts.

I had a couple of 30 year old accounts and they were major store cards.

If you still feel strongly that you can't bear to have one of their accounts, there is no real harm in closing it, but you could actually improve your credit file in the long term by just SD'g the card, even if you just let them close it in two or three years, adding to your AAofA.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Does anyone know if my AAoA would take a hit if I closed one of my cards? I'm kind of disgusted with Macys right now and I no longer want to be a customer of theirs. There is no balance on the card. But I don't to take an unnecessary hit either. Thoughts?

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If it is your 1st and oldest account, I won't close it although it remains on the account for 10 years.  Why not just sock drawer it and not use it?

[Anonymous]

Thanks all for weighing in. It isn't my oldest but its one of my older cards. My two oldest are a closed Express card that I got 15 years ago and my open Discover that is 14 years old. I got the Macy's in 2008. I get someone rude everytime I call customer service. I could understand about not doing GW adjustments etc but being rude about it is uncalled for. I don't really shop there any longer as I fell their quality has gone down. I know they could probably care less if I close it one way or another.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks all for weighing in. It isn't my oldest but its one of my older cards. My two oldest are a closed Express card that I got 15 years ago and my open Discover that is 14 years old. I got the Macy's in 2008. I get someone rude everytime I call customer service. I could understand about not doing GW adjustments etc but being rude about it is uncalled for. I don't really shop there any longer as I fell their quality has gone down. I know they could probably care less if I close it one way or another.

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I would just sock drawer it, and let them continue to spend their money administering a dormant account.

[RobertEG]

The account will continue to be included in AAoA as long as it remains in your credit report.

Once closed, the creditor could choose, at any time, to simply report deletion of the account.

if they do, then obviously it will no longer be included in AAoA.

You have no control over their determination to delete the account.