What I did was to compute the age of all my cards, total the months opened, then divide by the amount of cards to get my average age. Then, I would remove the card from the mix, adjust the total months and divide by one less to see exactly what the impact was on my average age. I got rid of several less than desireable cards that way, and actually raised the average age of my accounts.
YMMV
@Remedios wrote:
@MarkintheHV wrote:What I did was to compute the age of all my cards, total the months opened, then divide by the amount of cards to get my average age. Then, I would remove the card from the mix, adjust the total months and divide by one less to see exactly what the impact was on my average age. I got rid of several less than desireable cards that way, and actually raised the average age of my accounts.
YMMV
Well, you computed it wrong.
Closed cards are still included in AAoA calculations, and mileage doesn't vary on that.
Unless you somehow managed to remove card from your credit report, it's counting.
+1. The additional issue I have found is that there is no universal standard among lenders on how long a closed card will continue to report. When we have members considering the impact of a card closure, it's often suggested that closed cards won't immediately lower credit age. That is generally true and the guideline is that closed cards may continue to report for about 10 years. However, I've had some disappear within a year or two (without my doing anything to remove them) and others continue to report much longer than 10 years. YMMV, so making assumptions can be misleading. But yes, closed accounts will normally continue to report for years after they are closed.
