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oldest account vs. oldest active account - any difference?

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Mailak
Frequent Contributor

oldest account vs. oldest active account - any difference?

Is there any benefit or interest from creditors in seeing longest currently active credit card? I'll probably want to close my high-fee low-limit CapOne real soon but when I do that, it would mean that my oldest active CC will only be a couple of months old (and a Macy's which is 9 months old). I know the CapOne would continue to be on my report for ten years but I was just wondering if there was any effect I should be aware of as a result of all the currently active accounts being mostly new.

 

 

PenFed Platinum Cash Rewards (19.5k), Amex BCE (9k), Chase Sapphire Reserve (30k), Chase Freedom Unlimited (14.5k), Chase Marriott Premier (19k), Discover More (10k)
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Revelate
Moderator Emeritus

Re: oldest account vs. oldest active account - any difference?

Hard to say for lender underwriting.

 

I know FICO doesn't care as far as AAoA goes, shouldn't care as far as mix of credit goes, and if there's something comparitively minor beyond that it's probably mostly irrelevant, but individual lenders have their own internal polcies: some may consider it a good thing, some may consider it a bad thing.

 

I do think there's something to be said though for closing high AF / low limit cards both for the financial reasons, the maintenance reasons (one less active card is one less card that can get lost or stolen, and fraudulently used) and some lenders may look at low limits (Amex / Chase possibly) and shake their heads.  If you're not using it for anything at all, it's probably not worth it; however, I'm sorta thinking I'm going to keep my silly C1-nee-Orchard card for a while and just suck up the AF.

 

Do what makes the most sense for you I think, if your first inclination is to close it as you intimate, I'd do that.

 




        
Message 2 of 4
Mailak
Frequent Contributor

Re: oldest account vs. oldest active account - any difference?


@Revelate wrote:

Hard to say for lender underwriting.

 

I know FICO doesn't care as far as AAoA goes, shouldn't care as far as mix of credit goes, and if there's something comparitively minor beyond that it's probably mostly irrelevant, but individual lenders have their own internal polcies: some may consider it a good thing, some may consider it a bad thing.

 

I do think there's something to be said though for closing high AF / low limit cards both for the financial reasons, the maintenance reasons (one less active card is one less card that can get lost or stolen, and fraudulently used) and some lenders may look at low limits (Amex / Chase possibly) and shake their heads.  If you're not using it for anything at all, it's probably not worth it; however, I'm sorta thinking I'm going to keep my silly C1-nee-Orchard card for a while and just suck up the AF.

 

Do what makes the most sense for you I think, if your first inclination is to close it as you intimate, I'd do that.

 



I already have an Amex Green and BCP, and a Discover as well, so any reservations they might have had were offset by other considerations. I just want to get out of paying $59 for a $300 CL although I'll do it for one more year if I need to, for some reason, have my 3 other new cards age to 1 year first.

 

The ideal scenario would really be a PC to something nice but there's a low chance of that, so I'll ask but if they don't do it, I'll just want to shut it down. I imagine I'll apply for one more card summer of 2013 since this Amex/Discover are sometimes not accepted and I then need to go to my debit card. I'm not interesting in getting 1 or more HPs by CapOne either!

 

One thing I like, however, about the low limit card is that I feel a little better using it on various websites. And I know CapOne is also watching it like a hawk and will shut things down the moment something is fishy. But still not worth the AF I pay.

PenFed Platinum Cash Rewards (19.5k), Amex BCE (9k), Chase Sapphire Reserve (30k), Chase Freedom Unlimited (14.5k), Chase Marriott Premier (19k), Discover More (10k)
Message 3 of 4
Revelate
Moderator Emeritus

Re: oldest account vs. oldest active account - any difference?

Strangely enough I actually paid for my AF this year on my Orchard now Cap One in that it doesn't have a forex fee associated with it.

 

Then again this is a really oddball year for me when I did a wholesale upgrade of my clothing (hasn't happened in a decade) and a non-trivial number of my purchases were from overseas.

 

That said, if I can eventually get my secured card with BOFA into one of their travel cards, or get approved for a CSP (could happen next year), Orchard/C1 is going to be kicked to the curb.

 




        
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