AAoA. What's Optimal, Good, OK, and Bad

[Thomas_Thumb]

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@Revelate wrote:

I don't know that we can rate CK as equivalent to VS TT.

They had those metrics before they switched to the VS 3.0 algorithm.  I wouldn't put any stock into that at all as a result.

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Ok - My mistate - I assumed since CK is reporting VS 3.0 scores; the table links must also relate to VS. I saw no disclaimer stating otherwise.

The factor categories in the tables seemed... well ... poorly grouped and that was eroding my confidence in the validity of VS 3.0.

Truthfully, I am relieved the tables are NOT VantageScore. I have been (and continue to be) a supporter of VS 3.0 as good model for predicting credit risk.

Revelate, thanks for clearing up this misunderstanding.

[Anonymous]

Hi TT.  One thing that some people have mentioned before here on the Forum, and that is that there is one "score impact" area for which Credit Karma and Credit Sesame and Credit.com have always been wildly unreliable.  And that is the "total number of accounts" factor. 

I am a big advocate of those three credit scoring sites, but because they are free they make all of their money by serving as a gateway between you and future creditors.  In a word, they make their money by pushing you to apply for more credit cards.  Therefore they have always given wildly misleading information about the impact that having a lot of accounts has on your credit score.  Users of the site are told that, since they "only" have 8 accounts, they are getting a POOR from that factor and they need to grab several more credit cards quick (which Karma and Co. are happy to help them do).

As a guy with an ultrahigh score, you know that is bollocks.  In fact, someone can score extremely high overall with 3 credit cards, an auto loan, and a mortgage -- what Karma calls VERY POOR. 

[pennccrn]

I'd like to second CreditGuyInDixie's last paragraph, since I do feel CK and the other sites push you to open new accounts. Just as my example, I had an AAoA of about 7 years before I went back to grad school and had to take out some student loans. With the addition of these loans my AAoA dropped from 7 to about 4 years, which is termed on CK as "poor" however both my Vantage and FICO only really dropped about 5 points. I think we should keep in mind the emphasis that the scoring models place as having a medium impact, not a high impact. 

Just my $.02

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi TT.  One thing that some people have mentioned before here on the Forum, and that is that there is one "score impact" area for which Credit Karma and Credit Sesame and Credit.com have always been wildly unreliable.  And that is the "total number of accounts" factor. 

I am a big advocate of those three credit scoring sites, but because they are free they make all of their money by serving as a gateway between you and future creditors.  In a word, they make their money by pushing you to apply for more credit cards.  Therefore they have always given wildly misleading information about the impact that having a lot of accounts has on your credit score.  Users of the site are told that, since they "only" have 8 accounts, they are getting a POOR from that factor and they need to grab several more credit cards quick (which Karma and Co. are happy to help them do).

As a guy with an ultrahigh score, you know that is bollocks.  In fact, someone can score extremely high overall with 3 credit cards, an auto loan, and a mortgage -- what Karma calls VERY POOR. 

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