topic Re: AAoA vs Available Credit in Understanding FICO® Scoring

AAoA vs Available Credit

Red1Blue — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 06:24:36 GMT

How does the relationship between AAoA and Available Credit work? Right now my 18 year old daugthers scores are around 760+ due to being AU on my account. But Fico is complaining about AAoA. I have added her as AU on amex accounts that would add about 30 years to the AAoA. I am thinking if I should remove some of the AU accounts which she has now only 3 years of age. If I do that AAoA will go up but available credit will be lowered. As long as a balance are low it should not matter if her Available Credit is reduced. Am I correct? Which one would you choose more AAoA reported or more Available Credit Reported. What is the best in this case?

Re: AAoA vs Available Credit

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 11:43:33 GMT

@Red1Blue wrote:
How does the relationship between AAoA and Available Credit work? Right now my 18 year old daugthers scores are around 760+ due to being AU on my account. But Fico is complaining about AAoA. I have added her as AU on amex accounts that would add about 30 years to the AAoA. I am thinking if I should remove some of the AU accounts which she has now only 3 years of age. If I do that AAoA will go up but available credit will be lowered. As long as a balance are low it should not matter if her Available Credit is reduced. Am I correct? Which one would you choose more AAoA reported or more Available Credit Reported. What is the best in this case?

When you remove her as an AU, do those accounts completely disappear from her report? If not, Her AAoA would still be calculated as 30 yrs + 3 Yrs + 3 Yrs.....divided by 3(etc.). For non-AU accounts, closed accounts continue to factor into AAoA. Someone else here may know more though. If this is the case and if the younger accounts would still be factored in, I would leave it alone.

Re: AAoA vs Available Credit

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 14:39:30 GMT

@Red1Blue wrote:
How does the relationship between AAoA and Available Credit work? Right now my 18 year old daugthers scores are around 760+ due to being AU on my account. But Fico is complaining about AAoA. I have added her as AU on amex accounts that would add about 30 years to the AAoA. I am thinking if I should remove some of the AU accounts which she has now only 3 years of age. If I do that AAoA will go up but available credit will be lowered. As long as a balance are low it should not matter if her Available Credit is reduced. Am I correct? Which one would you choose more AAoA reported or more Available Credit Reported. What is the best in this case?

RE: Available Credit Reported: As far as FICO is concerned, CL's are not scored - nor is available credit. Utilization is what FICO is looking at.

Since your daughter is new to the credit world, help her understand the joy of keeping it simple. One AU card with a 30 year history, for example, will bump up her AAofA and her length of credit history. No need to overload the report.