Can someone confirm my AAoA math? :)

[tonsers]

I have 7 accounts on my report - 1 paid off car loan, 1 open car loan, and 5 credit cards. 

I believe that the closed car loan still counts into AAoA as if it's an open account (ie, it still ages) - but that's what I'm mostly confused about???

Here is what I came up with:

Account/Date Opened

Auto        5/05   Paid off Dec 2007

BofA        5/03

BofA        2/08

Auto        4/09

Discover  3/08

Chevron  3/04

Macys     7/04

So (71 + 95 + 38 + 24 + 37 + 85 + 81) / 7 = 61.6 or just a hair over 5 years.

And if I were to open a new account, my AAoA would drop to 53.9 months. Would this drop me into a different bucket?  It seems as though I had quite a score jump last month which I am guessing came from a new 5 year AAoA bucket.   If that is what happened, then I probably don't want to apply for a new account till my AAoA would stay past 5.

Thanks in advance for checking my math! 

[haulingthescoreup]

I didn't check your conversion of age into months, but if those numbers are correct, then yes, your current AAoA is correct, and your new one would be correct as well. (Remember that FICO always rounds down on these, so your 61.5714285 blah blah would be 61.5, rather than 61.6; not that it matters in this case.)

And as long as the closed auto loan, or any kind of closed account, reports, it is factored into your AAoA. And if it were your oldest account, it would continue to count for that, too.

Yes, I think that by going under 5 years AAoA you'd change buckets. If you don't want this to happen, wait until your total number of months hits 480, so that 480 / 8 cards = 60 months = 5 years. I think that will be 7 more months (431 months + 49 months.) *squints*

OK, I think that's right, but it seems too simple.

[llecs]

Yep, your AAoA will drop from 5 yrs to 4 yrs if you add a new account, assuming these are ALL of your OC accounts. AAoA is the avg. of all OC accounts, opened or closed, good or bad, charged-off or non-charged-off.

New bucket? Who knows. THere''s no way to be certain. It may and it may not. Now adding a new TL could drop your score alone because of the new TL. So if you add a new one, and see a drop, then account that you may lose a few there. Also, in about 4-5 months, your AAoA will bounce back to 5 yrs, so any damage would be temporary...all else being equal.

ETA...slow typer syndrome is incurable. Support your local STS charity today.

[tonsers]

Hauling and Ilecs, thanks for the replys!  I was a little confused by the aging of the closed account but now understand.

I've been gardening for the last 3 years (well, one car loan cosign for my dad about 2 years ago) so I'm becoming rather bored!    I've had the Costco Amex on my radar for that entire time but have been holding off.   They just keep sending me invitations and it's so darn enticing! 

Waiting for a few months to apply seems like a good decision... that way my history will be over 8 years and my AAoA will be at 5.  My credit history is at 7 years and 11 months now - and I have a 799 on Equifax!  Since I've been gardening, things like getting to 800 become more interesting to me.    Simple pleasures    

Once again, thanks for responding.  I learn so much from this site everyday!