topic Re: Pulling a PinkandGrey - closing cards and AAoOA in Credit Cards

Pulling a PinkandGrey - closing cards and AAoOA

VanderSnoot — Sat, 15 May 2021 18:11:11 GMT

I would like to pull a pinkandgrey and close most of my cards. As I've shifted my spending to travel cards, I don't need the range of cashback cards in my wallet and I value the peace of mind of knowing they're closed over sitting in a SD. Although my oldest card is 15 years old, my Average Age of Open Accounts (AAoOA) is young because of a glut of cards opened two years ago when I joined MyFico. If I were to close the unwanted cards (which includes my oldest card), my AAoOA would drop from 2.7 years to 1.6 years. Is there value in waiting to close these cards until the AAoOA of the remaining cards meets a minimum age?

Other info: No AF, no significant loss to TCL because I keep my spending low.

Re: Pulling a PinkandGrey

digitek — Sat, 15 May 2021 17:33:52 GMT

Your average age won't actually drop at all until the accounts fall off your credit report, which can vary from immediately (rare) to ~7-10 years (typical). Unless you open a whole bunch of new cards between then and now your average age will have matured as well.

As for your other question, no, there isn't really a reason to keep the cards open to pass a time threshold. The only time this can apply is if the cards are less than a year and then it only matters for some lenders who might see that as Sign-Up Bonus chasing.

I close unused cards, too. There are pros and cons to both closing them and keeping them open if not really needed. I just like it simple as possible.

All of my closed cards still report except FNBO NRA card, which completely disappeared from all 3 credit reports not long after closing it myself. It had stopped being supported by FNBO around the same time and I suspect that is related to the disappearance from my credit reports.

Re: Pulling a PinkandGrey

VanderSnoot — Sat, 15 May 2021 18:18:13 GMT

@digitek wrote:
Your average age won't actually drop at all until the accounts fall off your credit report, which can vary from immediately (rare) to ~7-10 years (typical). Unless you open a whole bunch of new cards between then and now your average age will have matured as well.

My understanding is that there are two metrics: (1) Average Age of Accounts, which includes open and closed accounts (for the 7-10 years you mentioned), and (2) Average Age of Open Accounts, which includes only open accounts. While closing accounts does not immediately affect AAoA, it does affect AAoOA.

Is my understanding incorrect? If there are two metrics, I'm not sure how bureaus value AAoOA: whether it's significant or whether there are hurdles (2 yrs, 5 yrs, etc.).

Re: Pulling a PinkandGrey

Remedios — Sat, 15 May 2021 18:20:14 GMT

That is a conversation for scoring forum

Re: Pulling a PinkandGrey

Anonymous — Sat, 15 May 2021 18:47:34 GMT

@VanderSnoot wrote:
@digitek wrote:
Your average age won't actually drop at all until the accounts fall off your credit report, which can vary from immediately (rare) to ~7-10 years (typical). Unless you open a whole bunch of new cards between then and now your average age will have matured as well.
My understanding is that there are two metrics: (1) Average Age of Accounts, which includes open and closed accounts (for the 7-10 years you mentioned), and (2) Average Age of Open Accounts, which includes only open accounts. While closing accounts does not immediately affect AAoA, it does affect AAoOA.

Is my understanding incorrect? If there are two metrics, I'm not sure how bureaus value AAoOA: whether it's significant or whether there are hurdles (2 yrs, 5 yrs, etc.).

AAoOA is a Vantage thing, not a FICO thing, and there has been much debate on whether that's even a Vantage thing rather than something Credit Karma and other front ends got wrong. The only real immediate impact will be from increased utilization if applicable.

Re: Pulling a PinkandGrey

HeavenOhio — Sat, 15 May 2021 18:49:14 GMT

While Credit Karma displays one's average age of open accounts in its fluff software, I don't believe that any scoring model considers it. And I don't recall ever reading anything here that would indicate that anyone uses it as an underwriting criterion.

Re: Pulling a PinkandGrey - closing cards and AAoOA

notmyrealname23 — Sat, 15 May 2021 19:39:47 GMT

What's a "PinkandGrey"?

Re: Pulling a PinkandGrey - closing cards and AAoOA

Kforce — Sat, 15 May 2021 19:58:33 GMT

@notmyrealname23 wrote:
What's a "PinkandGrey"?

Member who closed cards, and only kept I believe 5

I am almost down to six

Re: Pulling a PinkandGrey

VanderSnoot — Sat, 15 May 2021 20:34:47 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
AAoOA is a Vantage thing, not a FICO thing, and there has been much debate on whether that's even a Vantage thing rather than something Credit Karma and other front ends got wrong. The only real immediate impact will be from increased utilization if applicable.

Thanks for the summary, Saeren. That explains the discussions I've seen here.

Re: Pulling a PinkandGrey

pinkandgrey — Sat, 15 May 2021 21:40:33 GMT

Congrats, @VanderSnoot Breathe in that simple air.

Re: Pulling a PinkandGrey - closing cards and AAoOA

IntegerIntrovert — Sun, 16 May 2021 05:05:17 GMT

I'm in the process of doing the same thing. I've closed the following cards in the last 30 days. Cap 1 QS Cap 1 Plat Amex Gold, planning on closing USB Platinum, CITI Costco, but I need to wait on those two till next year. My average age is going to go to under 2yrs as a result of these closures because the USB and CITI are my two oldest, but have the worst limits also, so they get the axe.

Re: Pulling a PinkandGrey - closing cards and AAoOA

Jnbmom — Sun, 16 May 2021 05:21:26 GMT

@Kforce wrote:
@notmyrealname23 wrote:
What's a "PinkandGrey"?
Member who closed cards, and only kept I believe 5
I am almost down to six

My hero

Re: Pulling a PinkandGrey - closing cards and AAoOA

Slabenstein — Sun, 16 May 2021 06:09:37 GMT

@IntegerIntrovert wrote:
I'm in the process of doing the same thing. I've closed the following cards in the last 30 days. Cap 1 QS Cap 1 Plat Amex Gold, planning on closing USB Platinum, CITI Costco, but I need to wait on those two till next year. My average age is going to go to under 2yrs as a result of these closures because the USB and CITI are my two oldest, but have the worst limits also, so they get the axe.

Closed accounts are included in AAoA so closing your cards won't cause it to drop. At some point in the next ten years or so they will fall off of your reports and you'll lose their age contrib at that time, but for now you're fine.