Quick/easy way to calculate AAoA?

[masscredit]

I'm starting to throughly analyze something that I usually don't pay much attention to. That's my AAoA. I've never sat down to figure out exactly what it is.  I'm thinking about applying for another card or two (Venture and Lowes). But first I want to see what those new accounts will do to my AAoA. I've pulled all of my reports from myFICO since last August so I can quickly look to see the AAoA for each one. I know that I need to add the number of months since the reports were pulled.  So far I'm looking at -

EQ - 88 months (7 years 4 months) as of 2/1/16 - Oldest account - 241 months - 32 accounts 
TU - 74 months (5 years 2 months) as of 2/1/16 - Oldest account - 138 months - 28 accounts
EX - 77 months (5 years 5 months)  as of 2/1/16 - Oldest account - 228 months  - 28 accounts 

The above was easy. It would also be easy if I just had to figure out my current open accounts but AAoA goes way back. I think the time consuming part (unless I'm missing something), is to look at all of the accounts on each report, figure out how old each one is then devide that by the number of accounts. I can then toss in new ones to see how much they would lower it. This is why I'm doing it. 

Am I on the right track? Am um... please tell me if there is an easier way  

[CH-7-Mission-Accomplished]

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@masscredit wrote:

I'm starting to throughly analyze something that I usually don't pay much attention to. That's my AAoA. I've never sat down to figure out exactly what it is.  I'm thinking about applying for another card or two (Venture and Lowes). But first I want to see what those new accounts will do to my AAoA. I've pulled all of my reports from myFICO since last August so I can quickly look to see the AAoA for each one. I know that I need to add the number of months since the reports were pulled.  So far I'm looking at -

EQ - 88 months (7 years 4 months) as of 2/1/16 - Oldest account - 241 months - 32 accounts 
TU - 74 months (5 years 2 months) as of 2/1/16 - Oldest account - 138 months - 28 accounts
EX - 77 months (5 years 5 months)  as of 2/1/16 - Oldest account - 228 months  - 28 accounts 

The above was easy. It would also be easy if I just had to figure out my current open accounts but AAoA goes way back. I think the time consuming part (unless I'm missing something), is to look at all of the accounts on each report, figure out how old each one is then devide that by the number of accounts. I can then toss in new ones to see how much they would lower it. This is why I'm doing it. 

Am I on the right track? Am um... please tell me if there is an easier way  

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Once you start knowing your AAofA it's easy.

If EQ = 88 AAoA with 32 accounts.

If you add one new account it would be 88 X 32 = X.  

Now divide X by 33.

If you have start accounts with AAofA of 88 months, that means each account is on average 88 months old.

Add two new accounts with a zero age it would be X/35 since the two new accounts are worth zero age points.

[masscredit]

I believe I need to know the big number then divide that by the total number of accounts. Actually, I think that is obvious to me now.  88 months x 32 accounts = 2816 months. Now I take that number and divide by 33 (new account added).  That gives me 85 months.  Three new accounts would make that 80. Correct?

[CH-7-Mission-Accomplished]

That's right.   When AAofA has already been calculated for you, let's say it's 60 months, and you have 10 accounts.  So the total points is 600 points.

You add one new account.  You still have 600 age points since nothing has aged yet.  But you now have 11 accounts.

So take 600/11 to get a new AAofA of 54.54 months (versus 60 months before).

[CH-7-Mission-Accomplished]

There are some Excel worksheets floating around where once you enter your accounts with their opened dates, you can just plug in a new account and it will update for you.  It also updates the whole month since Excel will let you subtract dates.

[masscredit]

Good info!  Thanks!  I thought it was going to be a long process of figuring out how old each account is on each report.   If I want to add a few more accounts, I think it might be in my best interest to apply for them soon. I have a lot of closed accounts that will be falling off in 2-4 years. That will give the new ones time to age and keep my average over 60 months once they are all gone.

I believe I saved one of those worksheets. I'll have to take a look. 

[elim]

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@CH-7-Mission-Accomplished wrote:

There are some Excel worksheets floating around where once you enter your accounts with their opened dates, you can just plug in a new account and it will update for you.  It also updates the whole month since Excel will let you subtract dates.

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   this one's pretty good.  charts a bunch of stuff.

  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zG3BGlfgYkfEXeVLIklvS1SpwKrax99s1g1af9Mao_8/edit#gid=8210833...

[masscredit]

I think I have one more question about this. Is AAoA calculated by the month or do they narrow it right down to the day then maybe round off?  I'm wondering if I would gain a month by apping now instead of waiting until Monday (the 1st)? 

[Anonymous]

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@masscredit wrote:

I think I have one more question about this. Is AAoA calculated by the month or do they narrow it right down to the day then maybe round off?  I'm wondering if I would gain a month by apping now instead of waiting until Monday (the 1st)? 

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I don't know the answer to your question, but I'd just point out that the difference is negligible. Using the EQ data from your original post, here's the difference between adding one new account and getting credit for a month of aging and not getting that extra month:

88 (AAOA) x 32 (#ofAccts) / 33 (New#ofAccts) = 85.33

( 88 (AAOA) x 32 (#ofAccts) + 1 (Age of New Acct) ) / 33 (New#ofAccts) = 85.36

Yes, it's something. But the difference in your AAOA would be .03 months or 21 hours and 36 minutes.

(edited to fix a typo)

[CH-7-Mission-Accomplished]

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@masscredit wrote:

I think I have one more question about this. Is AAoA calculated by the month or do they narrow it right down to the day then maybe round off?  I'm wondering if I would gain a month by apping now instead of waiting until Monday (the 1st)? 

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AAofA is displayed to you in years and months, but for FICO scoring it is calculated in whole years only, rounded down.

So an AAofA of 4 years 11 months is calculated as four years.