Charge-off vs Length of Credit History

[NOLAboi]

Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone who posts to this forum. Following advice I saw regarding PFDs etc, my scores have gone up an average of 25 pts for all three bureaus in about 3 weeks. I'm sure plenty of you can relate to how I felt when my latest TU score report from myFICO placed me in the "Good" category  - especially after having poor credit for so long. I have one more collection baddie (RJM Acquisistions) pending deletion.

This is my first post to the forum and I appreciate any help I can get. I defaulted on my first credit card (CitiBank) 9/2004 ago and paid in settlement 5/2005 years ago. Currently, its being reported without any lates in the trend lines, but with status/comments of "paid settlement." I am considering a GW removal request, but I'm unsure whether this will help or hurt my scores. If it were to be deleted, my length of credit history would go from 6Y, 2M to approx 5 years. Since this is a closed account, I'm not sure how this affects my AAoA. Basically, my quesiton is whether the benefit of having a charge-off account removed outweighs a slightly shorter credit history? Every score analysis I get says my history is too short already.

Thanks

5/8/2010: TU 670, EX Plus 682, EQ 659

[fused]

Welcome, NOLAboi!

Since your question is about scoring, I'm going to move your post to the understanding FICO scoring forum. Good luck!!!!!!!!

[RobertEG]

Welcome!

When you write a GW letter, you dont want to ask for account deletion.  What you want to ask for is good will deletion of the prior reporting of the derogs under the account.  Totally different.

[Jazzzy]

Robert is correct that the best-case scenario would be to have the derogatory comments removed, leaving a positive tradeline.

If that is not possible, and if they would remove the entire account, I believe you are better off giving up the year of history but having the settled account gone.

Closed accounts still contribute to your AAoA.