!
smallfry wrote:
Esteban why would you do that?
Agreed! Esteban, when I read your post, it sounded like you had already done it; I thought it was a done deal. But if you haven't, and if you're determined to dump some accounts, you want to look at spreading them out according to their ages, and especially targeting those that are YOUNGER (not older) than your current average age. When they finally stop reporting, this will shift your average age to a higher figure, not a lower figure.
But whatever score ding there is for "too many accounts", I don't think that it's a biggie. You're looking at some possible trouble on down the road.
I guess I've just never know anyone with oodles of accounts of all ages, all of them with clean histories, that appear expendable. Most of us are clinging to any clean account we have!
We can just treat this as a learning process. Yes, I've already made the requests to the 3 bureaus.
IMO, I can't go down any further than the 40+ points I've been dinged by putting a haircut (less than $20) on one inactive Visa and a tank of fuel on another inactive Visa ($50). Both credit limits on these cards are over $15K each. Not sure how much the re-bucket has contributed, but we can all just treat this as an experiment - using my FICO score.
The 10-12 accounts (the actual number depending on which bureau) I've requested to be removed are not the oldest accounts I have. One of the inactive Visas I used is 16 years old, the other is over 10 years old.
The accounts I'm attempting to prune from my reports consist of the following (and most should have fallen off on their own already):
Macy's - June 2001
Macy's - December 2002
GEMB/JCP - April 2001
GEMB/ROBSG - November 2000
HSBC - January 2001
BofA - March 2002
WACH - May 2001
MB Fin. - November 2000
BP/Citi - November 2001
FUSA - July 2001
WAMU/Fannie Mae - April 2001
The accounts I still use (one Visa for business, one Visa for personal and AMEX) have reported balances, but are paid in full each month - and these accounts are 16-18 years old, so I really doubt the pruning of some younger, inactive accounts will have a negative impact....but we shall see. Two of the three bureaus are reporting my HELOC ($10K balance) as a revolving credit account - I've asked them to classify it as Real Estate, which should shed some different light on the scoring of that account.
So, here's where I see the "Silver Lining"....
1. The zero balances on the two Visas will be reported as $0 again in the next 4-8 weeks.
2. The re-bucket should have worked it's magic in the same time frame
3. Total number of accounts should be under the target number of 30
4. The HELOC should be re-classified as real estate as opposed to a standard revolving (cc account) on 2 of the 3 bureaus
5. The HELOC will be paid off by year-end
I'll update this information as time marches on to show what the effects are....
As someone else mentioned (and have confirmed this with my mortgage broker), I still qualify for Tier 1 credit, so if we end up placing a contract on a home - we won't have any trouble.
.....and to think a haircut and a tank of fuel is what started this avalanche...
Message Edited by Esteban5 on 04-15-2008 04:32 AM
Message Edited by Esteban5 on 04-15-2008 04:36 AM
Message Edited by Esteban5 on 04-15-2008 04:37 AM
