Age (of person) a factor in FICO scoring?

[Anonymous]

Does age make a difference in credit scoring??? My wife & I missed out on a 0% apr financing a new car because my score is nearly 70 points lower. Both my wife and I have good credit (over 700, her's is upper 700's), with almost identical credit histories (we have joint everything- cards, mortgage, utilities). I say almost because my wife had a small ($100) collection with a dermatologist from two years ago due to an oversight and then a lost payment. We took care of it promptly but it is still listed as a paid collection on her record, not mine. We've been married 16 years, I'm 39 and she just turned 44. What gives?!?

[WhirledPeasPlease]

Your age doesn't make a bit of difference.  Have you looked at the portion of the reports (that you get from here) that lists factors hurting your scores?  Are you carrying a high utility?  Several new accounts?  Lots of inquiries?

[Anonymous]

I've checked the Equifax report for both of us, and they are nearly identical, except for the paid collection noted on my wife's account. We have low credit utilization, about $600 on one card with a $4,000 balance, three other cards are clean (around $12,000 in total availability for the 4 accounts).

The finance manager at the dealership is the one who showed us our scores before they hit the shredder (he wasn't supposed to, apparently). The rest of the story is we ended up with another lender they use with a shorter term, but just as good a deal. Still, I was annoyed enough to try to figure out why the discrepancy, and the Equifax reports are identical enough to not justify the difference. So i'm still stumped.

The finance guy did tell me that all the credit agencies have come up with their own scoring systems, that they vary widely between them, and aren't worth a darn when compared with an actual Fair Isaac FICO score.

[WhirledPeasPlease]

Here's a link with some info about the auto-enhanced score.  I hope this helps!

[Anonymous]

The answer to the original question is no, with an asterisk. Age is not considered in FICO scoring.

* However, the length of time you've had credit, and the average age of your accounts, IS a scoring factor. So you could say that age indirectly figures into FICO scores, since the older you are, the more time you've had to establish and maintain credit. Certainly a 40 year old has a big potential advantage over an 18 year old, since there's no way the whippersnapper can have a twenty-year credit history like the oldster may.

[RobertEG]

The reason that age is not included in your CR is that creditors are barred under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) from basing any credit decision on age, sex, marital status, national origin, or religion.