topic Re: Credit age and Fico in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Credit age and Fico

Grigs34 — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 09:20:46 GMT

I've had car loans, CCs, GSLs etc since I was in my late teens/early 20s. I'm currently in my 50s and my credit history is only showing the last 5 years. Why would that be and how important is it?

Re: Credit age and Fico

Varsity_Lu — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 11:25:25 GMT

@Grigs34 wrote:
I've had car loans, CCs, GSLs etc since I was in my late teens/early 20s. I'm currently in my 50s and my credit history is only showing the last 5 years. Why would that be and how important is it?

Closed accounts don't stay on your report forever, they drop off 7-10 years after they close. For example, I had a mortgage from 2003-2007. It no longer shows up on my credit report. I also have an old Lowe's credit card that was opened in 2003. It closed in 2015, but it still shows up on two of my credit reports and helps me with the age metrics of my credit score. That same closed account doesn't show up on one of my reports which changes my average age and age of oldest account metrics. If you look at my signature, you can probably guess which reports have that account and which one doesn't. There is a 20-30 point difference in my score due to this one factor. Since it's coming up on 10 years since it closed, I am expecting that old account to drop off my other two reports in the next 6 months which will drop them down to the 770-780 range. Might need to get a fake loan like @FicoMike0 to boost my score.

Re: Credit age and Fico

Grigs34 — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 13:38:47 GMT

First of all, thank you I really appreciate the response. I've closed out cards as I've gotten better rates but it sounds like I should keep any existing cards whether I need them or not if I want my history to age. That makes sense. I've always been taught that credit history follows you forever, so the lack of my older accounts was somewhat confusing.

Thank you so much for the info.

Re: Credit age and Fico

FlaDude — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 13:38:48 GMT

Is this for all three bureaus? Where are you getting your reports? If they are not from annualcreditreport.com, I would suggest pulling all three from there.

Re: Credit age and Fico

FlaDude — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 13:42:43 GMT

@Grigs34 wrote:
First of all, thank you I really appreciate the response. I've closed out cards as I've gotten better rates but it sounds like I should keep any existing cards whether I need them or not if I want my history to age. That makes sense. I've always been taught that credit history follows you forever, so the lack of my older accounts was somewhat confusing.
Thank you so much for the info.

Closed cards (and loans) typically stay on your reports for 10 years. Age of oldest account and average age of accounts are two metrics used in FICO scoring, so many people keep credit cards (as long as they don't have an annual fee) even though they aren't their go to cards any more. As long as you pay in full every month, the interest rate really doesn't matter.

Re: Credit age and Fico

Varsity_Lu — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 17:45:11 GMT

@FlaDude wrote:
Is this for all three bureaus? Where are you getting your reports? If they are not from annualcreditreport.com, I would suggest pulling all three from there.

I think you are asking about my situation. It was weird because I had like 3 or 4 old Synchrony cards (Lowe's, Lumber Liquidators, Trek, Amazon) that were like one time used things just for one purchase. All of them are still reporting on Equifax and Experian, but a few months ago they all disappeared from TransUnion. Like, all in one day. My score took a hit that day, my friend. I dont use annual credit report.com. I get my reports directly from the bureau or from MF, AmEx, CreditWise, etc.

Re: Credit age and Fico

Patient957 — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 14:51:46 GMT

@Varsity_Lu wrote:
I dont use annual credit report.com. I get my reports directly from the bureau or from MF, AmEx, CreditWise, etc.

Reports from annualcreditreport.com do come directly from the bureaus. Except the ACR dot com reports are more complete than the ones you can get elsewhere, even more complete than what you can get if you start from the bureau's own website.

What you get if you go to experian.com, for example, is what Expirian chooses to give you. What you get from ACR dot com is what the bureaus are required by law to give you.

Re: Credit age and Fico

marillion — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 16:47:17 GMT

@Patient957 wrote:
@Varsity_Lu wrote:
I dont use annual credit report.com. I get my reports directly from the bureau or from MF, AmEx, CreditWise, etc.
Reports from annualcreditreport.com do come directly from the bureaus. Except the ACR dot com reports are more complete than the ones you can get elsewhere, even more complete than what you can get if you start from the bureau's own website.

What you get if you go to experian.com, for example, is what Expirian chooses to give you. What you get from ACR dot com is what the bureaus are required by law to give you.

What about the report from myFICO?

Re: Credit age and Fico

marillion — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 16:50:09 GMT

@Varsity_Lu wrote:
@Grigs34 wrote:
I've had car loans, CCs, GSLs etc since I was in my late teens/early 20s. I'm currently in my 50s and my credit history is only showing the last 5 years. Why would that be and how important is it?
Closed accounts don't stay on your report forever, they drop off 7-10 years after they close. For example, I had a mortgage from 2003-2007. It no longer shows up on my credit report. I also have an old Lowe's credit card that was opened in 2003. It closed in 2015, but it still shows up on two of my credit reports and helps me with the age metrics of my credit score. That same closed account doesn't show up on one of my reports which changes my average age and age of oldest account metrics. If you look at my signature, you can probably guess which reports have that account and which one doesn't. There is a 20-30 point difference in my score due to this one factor. Since it's coming up on 10 years since it closed, I am expecting that old account to drop off my other two reports in the next 6 months which will drop them down to the 770-780 range. Might need to get a fake loan like @FicoMike0 to boost my score.

Can you please explain the "fake loan" comment?

Re: Credit age and Fico

Kforce — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 17:33:25 GMT

@marillion wrote:
Can you please explain the "fake loan" comment?

I believe he is talking about what they call a "SSL" (Shared Secured loan).

You put money is a savings or checking and take a loan against that, then next week pay back 90+%.

That frees up the savings and then you make super small payments for years.

A loan that reports with low utilization and cost you almost nothing.

Only a couple of institutions have this type of loan.

Search SSL or Secured Loan for post.

Re: Credit age and Fico

Varsity_Lu — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 17:59:08 GMT

@marillion wrote:

Can you please explain the "fake loan" comment?

@Kforce already mentioned it, an SSL. You put $3,000 into an account, then immediately borrow $3,000 from the same bank for a 10 year term. You then withdraw the $3,000 you originally put in and use it to pay off $2,800 of the loan right away, leaving your loan balance at $200. That $200 gets paid off over the next 10 years. It's essentially just shuffling your own money around, but the bank structures it to look like a real loan that you are paying off over 10 years. You don't actually borrow money, but it looks like you do on your credit report. This product is only for those of us who don't have any real loans (car, mortgage, etc). Currently I am loosing about 30 points for only having credit cards. Essentially the highest FICO score I can get is 820 unless I get a loan of some sort. This is why we call them fake loans.

Re: Credit age and Fico

marillion — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 18:10:58 GMT

@Varsity_Lu wrote:
@marillion wrote:

Can you please explain the "fake loan" comment?
@Kforce already mentioned it, an SSL. You put $3,000 into an account, then immediately borrow $3,000 from the same bank for a 10 year term. You then withdraw the $3,000 you originally put in and use it to pay off $2,800 of the loan right away, leaving your loan balance at $200. That $200 gets paid off over the next 10 years. It's essentially just shuffling your own money around, but the bank structures it to look like a real loan that you are paying off over 10 years. You don't actually borrow money, but it looks like you do on your credit report. This product is only for those of us who don't have any real loans (car, mortgage, etc). Currently I am loosing about 30 points for only having credit cards. Essentially the highest FICO score I can get is 820 unless I get a loan of some sort. This is why we call them fake loans.

I might need one of those once everything in my credit report "resets" next month, because the two "loans" I have right now don't show up on my FICO credit at all. One is eBay Seller Capital which is a straight fee on the loan amount and then leveraged as a percentage of my sales there...and the other is from Lending Point, which I get charged interest on and have a monthly payment for yet inexplicably isn't reported to any of the 3 credit bureaus. I don't have a car loan (won't ever need one) nor do I have a mortgage (won't ever need one).

Re: Credit age and Fico

Varsity_Lu — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 18:18:07 GMT

@marillion

Here is a thread you'll want to read for more details: Successful PenFed SSL Loan

Re: Credit age and Fico

Patient957 — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 18:36:36 GMT

@marillion wrote:
@Patient957 wrote:
@Varsity_Lu wrote:
I dont use annual credit report.com. I get my reports directly from the bureau or from MF, AmEx, CreditWise, etc.
Reports from annualcreditreport.com do come directly from the bureaus. Except the ACR dot com reports are more complete than the ones you can get elsewhere, even more complete than what you can get if you start from the bureau's own website.

What you get if you go to experian.com, for example, is what Expirian chooses to give you. What you get from ACR dot com is what the bureaus are required by law to give you.
What about the report from myFICO?

The report from MyFico is fine, but it's not complete and it's Fico-centric.

For example: (1) You won't find your soft inquiries on the MF credit report; (2) You also won't find hard inquiries older than 1 year. Why? Because Fico scores don't count inquiries older than 1 year, even though they remain on your credit report for 2 years. So MF just omits them altogether from their version of your credit report.

This is why people in the know on this board recommend annualcreditreport.com. We're not just shilling for a random website.

Re: Credit age and Fico

Varsity_Lu — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 19:30:12 GMT

@Patient957 wrote:

The report from MyFico is fine, but it's not complete and it's Fico-centric.

For example: (1) You won't find your soft inquiries on the MF credit report; (2) You also won't find hard inquiries older than 1 year. Why? Because Fico scores don't count inquiries older than 1 year, even though they remain on your credit report for 2 years. So MF just omits them altogether from their version of your credit report.

This is why people in the know on this board recommend annualcreditreport.com. We're not just shilling for a random website.

Well, inqs that are more than a year old and soft inq are irrelevant to anything other than VantageScore and giggles. Sure, your full report may have other things there, but that data is superfluous. (my 20 previous addresses, 15 variations of my name, etc.) MF, Experian, AmEx, CreditWise, etc. all provide the essential, critical data that you actually need, even if it is technically incomplete.

Re: Credit age and Fico

Thomas_Thumb — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 20:35:35 GMT

@marillion wrote:
@Varsity_Lu wrote:
@marillion wrote:

Can you please explain the "fake loan" comment?
@Kforce already mentioned it, an SSL. You put $3,000 into an account, then immediately borrow $3,000 from the same bank for a 10 year term. This product is only for those of us who don't have any real loans (car, mortgage, etc). Currently I am losing about 30 points for only having credit cards. Essentially the highest FICO score I can get is 820 unless I get a loan of some sort. This is why we call them fake loans.
I might need one of those once everything in my credit report "resets" next month, because the two "loans" I have right now don't show up on my FICO credit at all. One is eBay Seller Capital which is a straight fee on the loan amount and then leveraged as a percentage of my sales there...and the other is from Lending Point, which I get charged interest on and have a monthly payment for yet inexplicably isn't reported to any of the 3 credit bureaus. I don't have a car loan (won't ever need one) nor do I have a mortgage (won't ever need one).

It is useful to have a loan on file open or closed. Both are considered the same from a credit mix perspective. Fico 8/9 and likely 10 will bump score for an open loan but, that is not mix related.

You should get copies of your official credit reports. Then you will get a full picture of all your accounts and how they are reporting.

BTW - it is not necessary to have an open loan on file for top tier scores. My Fico 8 EQ and TU scores fluctuate 835-845 and Fico 8/9 EX 845-850 with no open loans and just one closed loan on file (since 12/2020).

The fluctuations are mainly due to allowing all cards to report balances without progress payments to lower statement totals.

Re: Credit age and Fico

marillion — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 21:03:48 GMT

So if I have 5 loans on my report that are closed and date back to 2016 then I wouldn't even need an open loan?

Re: Credit age and Fico

Thomas_Thumb — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 22:11:45 GMT

The QTY is not important. The presence of atleast one on file is what counts most.

Typically loans remain on file for 10 years from date of close but could come off earlier.

My loan that closed 11/2020 will supposedly fall off in 2030. Before that time I might purchase something using Affirm's 0% interest, 4 installment payment plan just to get one or two fresh loans on file. They use SPs for these loans. Since they are not revolving accounts, the new account impact on my score should be minimal.

Let us know if and how each of your loans are reporting on each CRA report including close dates. Are the listed ones classified as installment loans?

A SSL can be a better option due to its 10 year open status vs 8 weeks for an Affirm 4. However, I don't care about having prolonged open status for score boosting and don't need the added complexity.

Re: Credit age and Fico

Patient957 — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 22:25:11 GMT

@Varsity_Lu wrote:
@Patient957 wrote:

The report from MyFico is fine, but it's not complete and it's Fico-centric.

For example: (1) You won't find your soft inquiries on the MF credit report; (2) You also won't find hard inquiries older than 1 year. Why? Because Fico scores don't count inquiries older than 1 year, even though they remain on your credit report for 2 years. So MF just omits them altogether from their version of your credit report.

This is why people in the know on this board recommend annualcreditreport.com. We're not just shilling for a random website.
Well, inqs that are more than a year old and soft inq are irrelevant to anything other than VantageScore and giggles.

And potentially underwriting. The banks see them all. Plus VS4 is becoming more relevant, especially for mortgages.

From time to time, I find myself wanting to know about the soft pulls.

But I agree that for day to day purposes the others work fine. But people should know the difference.

Re: Credit age and Fico

Varsity_Lu — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 22:31:59 GMT

@Patient957 wrote:
@Varsity_Lu wrote:

Well, inqs that are more than a year old and soft inq are irrelevant to anything other than VantageScore and giggles.
And potentially underwriting. The banks see them all. Plus VS4 is becoming more relevant, especially for mortgages.

From time to time, I find myself wanting to know about the soft pulls.

But I agree that for day to day purposes the others work fine. But people should know the difference.

Ok, I see your point. I don't do loans, so maybe that's why I have less cares to give about the minutia. Just give me the nitty gritty.