Calculating AAoA if I open a new AMEX?

[chan85]

For the love of cheese...... Told ya'll I was bad at math!!

Thanks for catching that too much time!

[Anonymous]

Should have been clearer in my response that the last "you" wasn't aimed at you in particular, just advice to all that if you really want to make financial decisions well, some level of math would be very useful....

So in your case, back-dating doesn't help all that much because of the large number of accounts (and the fact that the age isn't all the great).  Basically you are adding an "extra" less than three years (the 7 year account - the existing average) and spreading it over 42 accounts.   With many less accounts, or a much greater age, you would see more.  But the small increase might be enough to give you some more score....

[chan85]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@chan85 wrote:

Well it doesn't surprise me that this is so simple- I have never been very good at math! lol

Ok so according to credit.com I have 42 accounts (student loans double reporting are killing me).

So

42x52=2184

7x12=84

2184+84=2268

2268/53=42.79

Sheesh, so it dropped my AAoA!!! Crrraaaap.....

---

<offttopic rant>

As math educators complain, it's sad that people who would be ashamed to say "I was never any good at reading" don't see a problem in being bad at math!  They shouldn't be ashamed at not being able to read either, but should not accept failure in either!

Again, math is not magic.   There is no way that adding an account with an age greater the existing average age can lower the average, averages just don't work that way.  Your arithmetic mistake was pointed out, but ideally you would have realized that it must be wrong.

If people really want to make somewhat informed decisions about which card is best, how to compare rewards, what balance transfers make sense and what the cost will be, you need to understand some fairly basic math.  So if you don't, stop reading this board and go and relearn some of this stuff!

<end rant>

---

longtimelurker, i completely understand. while it should be a logical understanding, for me it has never been that way, despite me considering myself very logical. since high school i think i have struggled with math despite tutoring and extra studyig, yet surprisingly did well in and loved science classes. my absolute strong point is writing/reading, thus I was prelaw in undergrad and my masters is in public administration.i took the least amount of math classes as possible and those were by far some of my more challenging classes in college. in part I may have psyched myself out just because I already knew it was my weakest subject. i could see that my answer didn't make sense, and even before posting my original question i spent a good 30 minutes trying to ge the answer on my own, but it wasn't coming out right. but at least i am not afraid to ask for help!

to top it off, my career path has led me primarily into finance/banking!

[chan85]

---

@FocusedAndDetermined wrote:

---

@chan85 wrote:

Well it doesn't surprise me that this is so simple- I have never been very good at math! lol

Ok so according to credit.com I have 42 accounts (student loans double reporting are killing me).

So

42x52=2184

7x12=84

2184+84=2268

2268/53=42.79

Sheesh, so it dropped my AAoA!!! Crrraaaap.....

---

Why are your student loans double reporting?  Were they transferred?  If so,  the old ones should be reporting $0 balances.  If they aren't, file a dispute with the CRAs.  I had to do that when mine were transferred.  Issue was cleared up pretty quickly.

---

Yes they have been sold off several times, and the old ones are reporting zero balances. But they still are included in my AAoA calculations correct?

[09Lexie]

All TLs that are reporting (open/closed/transferred) to your CR's are included in your AAOA