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AAoA and Scoring Buckets

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Anonymous
Not applicable

AAoA and Scoring Buckets

haulingthescoreup posted something in another thread which stated that there are scoring buckets for average age of the accounts, and that she thought that one of the thresholds was when you cross below average age of 5 or 6 years you fall into a lower bucket.

I appreciated that post and it got me wondering about the details of AAoA buckets. I remember somebody once posted a graph of utilization versus credit score that shows how your FICO goes down as utilization crosses various thresholds. I appreciated that graph and was wondering if there was more details out there about where the various AAoA thresholds were?

I will be applying for some more credit cards in the future and this info would help me decide how many to apply for.
Message 1 of 12
11 REPLIES 11
Established Contributor

Re: AAoA and Scoring Buckets


@Anonymous wrote:
I appreciated that graph and was wondering if there was more details out there about where the various AAoA thresholds were?

I will be applying for some more credit cards in the future and this info would help me decide how many to apply for.

What is your average age now?

 

I might have some insight to share if you are actually in

or almost in the 5-6 year old range.

Message 2 of 12
score_building
Senior Contributor

Re: AAoA and Scoring Buckets

you may get more responses to this post in the

Understanding FICO® Scoring forum.

DCU EQ 5.0, Citi EQ 08 Bankcard, PenFed EX NG2
EX 08: AFCU, Amex, Chase, PSECU EX 98(?)
TU 08: Barclays, Discover
Message 3 of 12
Guardian
Valued Contributor

Re: AAoA and Scoring Buckets


@score_building wrote:

you may get more responses to this post in the

Understanding FICO® Scoring forum.


This is already in the right forum, the same one you are stating.


Common Abbreviations|FDCPA|FCRA
Take the FICO Fitness ChallengeStarting Score: TU:695 - EQ:719 - EX:630
Current Score: TU:712 - EQ:755 - EX:712
Goal Score: TU:800 - EQ:800 - EX:800


Message 4 of 12
Guardian
Valued Contributor

Re: AAoA and Scoring Buckets


@Anonymous wrote:
haulingthescoreup posted something in another thread which stated that there are scoring buckets for average age of the accounts, and that she thought that one of the thresholds was when you cross below average age of 5 or 6 years you fall into a lower bucket.

I appreciated that post and it got me wondering about the details of AAoA buckets. I remember somebody once posted a graph of utilization versus credit score that shows how your FICO goes down as utilization crosses various thresholds. I appreciated that graph and was wondering if there was more details out there about where the various AAoA thresholds were?

I will be applying for some more credit cards in the future and this info would help me decide how many to apply for.

Buckets are a weird animal, I would like to see how this goes and compare to my own experiences and see if I have the right strategy going. Smiley Happy I figure if I let me accounts age, avoid new ones unless they substantially increase my ratio, avoid closing old account unless absolutely necessary and avoid baddies and get rid of any baddie, keep util down, little to no inquiry, that should put me a pretty sweet bucket but it has been unstable to say the least. The current market isn't helping either.


Common Abbreviations|FDCPA|FCRA
Take the FICO Fitness ChallengeStarting Score: TU:695 - EQ:719 - EX:630
Current Score: TU:712 - EQ:755 - EX:712
Goal Score: TU:800 - EQ:800 - EX:800


Message 5 of 12
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: AAoA and Scoring Buckets


Guardian wrote:


@score_building wrote:

you may get more responses to this post in the

Understanding FICO® Scoring forum.


This is already in the right forum, the same one you are stating.



I moved it here from CC's. One of our mobile threads! Smiley Very Happy


Guardian wrote:

Buckets are a weird animal, I would like to see how this goes and compare to my own experiences and see if I have the right strategy going. Smiley Happy I figure if I let me accounts age, avoid new ones unless they substantially increase my ratio, avoid closing old account unless absolutely necessary and avoid baddies and get rid of any baddie, keep util down, little to no inquiry, that should put me a pretty sweet bucket but it has been unstable to say the least. The current market isn't helping either.



Weird, indeed. We do a lot of sniffing around with these things, and we think we figure something out. We strut proudly around for a couple of months, until we see something that blows all our guesses right out of the water.

We do know that there are 2 negative and 8 positive buckets.

My latest guesses: there's a negative bucket for a serious derog OR a public record, and a negative bucket for a serious derog AND a public record. Serious derog = CA, CO, 120-day, 90-day, 60-day less than 2 years. (The others count for the whole time they're on the reports.) Public record = BK, judgment, tax lien. (OK, what am I forgetting...)

Then, let's see, we haven't kicked around the age thing in a while. Again, my guesses: under 2 years; 2 - under 5 years; 5 - under 8; 8 - under 12 (under 13?); 12 (13?) - under 19; 19 years +. Then maybe one for thin files? And maybe another for more than X new accounts within the last year???

And this doesn't address when the longest history or the AAoA drives the bucket assignment.

Plus whenever we throw something like this up there, someone pops up with convincing indications that every single thing listed is wrong. Smiley Very Happy

Even without knowing what the ages are for the buckets, Timothy had a good approach: he said never to add so much new credit that it drops your AAoA a year (or more.) Even though we can figure AAoA in YY/MM, it's the whole years that show on our reports. So if your AAoA is 6 years 1 month, for instance, be very careful going for new credit, because it could easily drop you to 5 years-something. Wait until you're 6 years 9 months, do the math first, and then proceed with caution.

Speaking as someone whose scores dropped 75 points after a much-needed and much-planned app spree, this is hard on the soul.
* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007
Message 6 of 12
Guardian
Valued Contributor

Re: AAoA and Scoring Buckets

Sorry everyone, I didn't know it was moved. My bad. When I saw it, it was already here.

Common Abbreviations|FDCPA|FCRA
Take the FICO Fitness ChallengeStarting Score: TU:695 - EQ:719 - EX:630
Current Score: TU:712 - EQ:755 - EX:712
Goal Score: TU:800 - EQ:800 - EX:800


Message 7 of 12
fused
Moderator Emeritus

Re: AAoA and Scoring Buckets

Smiley Very Happy
Message 8 of 12
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: AAoA and Scoring Buckets

There are different types of accounts on a credit report:

 

1)open account

 

2)account listed as closed by credit card bank

 

3) account listed as closed by the holder of the credit card

 

4) authorized user on an account closed by holder of the credit card

 

Are all of the ages of these different account types included the AAoA calculation?  Are all the types weighted equally?

 

Thanks for any info you can give

Message 9 of 12
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: AAoA and Scoring Buckets

All these types that you listed, open or closed, are counted in your AAoA, and if one of them is your oldest account, it counts for that as well.


eta: OK, I'm not positive about #4, AU on a closed card. I think it counts though. And thank you for answering a question I asked on another thread, whether closed cards would continue to report on an AU's reports! Smiley Very Happy

eta again: per fused (next page) #4 is included in AAoA.
Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 04-03-2009 04:25 PM
Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 04-04-2009 08:00 AM
* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007
Message 10 of 12
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