topic AAoA - How much should I care? in Credit Cards

AAoA - How much should I care?

lolabelle — Mon, 31 Mar 2014 02:10:42 GMT

I have a few accounts where I would like to consolidate the credit lines: Two BofA credit cards that I'd like to merge into one and two AMEX cards where I would like to do the same. (So, I would transfer most of the available credit line from one to the other and close the first with the small residual credit line.)

My credit history is almost 18 years, and my average age of accounts according to Equifax is almost 8 years. I haven't opened any new lines of credit in almost 2 years (car lease) and don't foresee doing so.

The bottom line is that I'm just finding I have more credit cards than I want to keep up with and am figuring that the hassle of remembering to charge on them every once in a while mentally offsets any benefit I might be getting from keeping them open. I know I would lose a bit of age by closing these two accounts but am wondering - does it really matter all that much?

Probably overthinking this, but would be interested to see if there's anything else I should be considering, anyway.

Re: AAoA - How much should I care?

Kenny — Mon, 31 Mar 2014 02:10:19 GMT

You won't lose it. It stays on your report for around 10 years afterwards.

Re: AAoA - How much should I care?

lolabelle — Mon, 31 Mar 2014 02:12:09 GMT

@KennyS2006 wrote:
You won't lose it. It stays on your report for around 10 years afterwards.

See - these are the things I always forget about! So, as long as I don't go on a a new account opening spree, I should be okay, right?

Re: AAoA - How much should I care?

Kenny — Mon, 31 Mar 2014 02:25:10 GMT

@lolabelle wrote:
@KennyS2006 wrote:
You won't lose it. It stays on your report for around 10 years afterwards.
See - these are the things I always forget about! So, as long as I don't go on a a new account opening spree, I should be okay, right?

Exactly. You'll be totally fine either way though I'm sure with 8 years as your average.