Understanding FICO® Scoring

[lesscryptic]

For instance: My dad hasn't opened a credit card in probably 20 years.  Is his credit score going to be markedly different than someone who has an AAoA of 10 years? Seems hard to believe.  What about 5 years?  At what point is your AAoA good enough that it simply doesn't help you much to age your cards?

[Scene]

Your posed question is a rather logical one and is similiar to asking if time will ever reach a stopping point? While an individual might expire in x amount of years, there are still others that will continue the flow of time. AAoA is only maxed out by whatever percentage FICO designates. If I recall correctly, it was about 10-15% of your actual score. You can only have a max of 10-15% of your score affected by AAoA, whether it be 100 AAoA or a 10 AAoA, it will always be the same 10-15%.

So to answer your rather tautological question it is simply no.

[RobertEG]

My two cents....

First, and foremost, since the FICO algorithm is a proprietary trade secret, no one can put numbers on any one scoring criteria.

That also applies to category weightings.  While the standard pie chart shows length of credit at 15% of total scoring, all indications are that the category percentage itself is not always 15%, but varies by the consumer's scoring "bucket."  A consumer, for example, with perfect payment history may have increased emphasis placed on other categories, such as length of credit.

Throw on top of that the fact that all of the length of credit history is not based only on AAoA.  Oldest TL also counts.  I additionally believe that new accounts under 6-12 months or so are also part of the length of credit category.  What is included and the relative weights of each are simply speculative.

It would appear that reaching a high level in any one scoring criteria would have some kind of cutoff benefit, but it most likely slides around.  I think it is safe to assume the extreme... that a 50 year credit history wont give one an 850 FICO score.

[my-own-fico]

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lesscryptic wrote:

At what point is your AAoA good enough that it simply doesn't help you much to age your cards?

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There was a recent post indicating 12 years to be that point.

[my-own-fico]

I was referring to "Per Experian, the AAoA buckets are ... 12+ yrs" in Age of credit history questions? post 9, but see now that hauling says "As best as we can tell, 19 is the magic year" in New AMEX card but no score ding post 28.

[smallfry]

My AAofA just flipped to 6 years on my Experian report. My most recent score from PSECU was 824 and this with not my best utilization % and reported balances. I think that the score will be 830 by mid year.

I would say there isn't much left for me even if my AAofA reaches 25 years.