@Anonymous wrote:
@pauper66 wrote:
I've seen conflicting info on calculating AAoA, but the most consistent answer I've seen is open accounts only. My experience matches that.
Mostly.
This is all based on Experian info.
21 accounts total. 17 open. 1 closed earlier this year (Discover)
I experienced a signifigant increase in August. My AAoA was shown at exactly 4 years. I know months don't count, but Exp app shows incremental.
September, I opened a new account. So now, 22 total, 18 open. I lost 15 points on Exp. They showed my AAoA as 3 years, 10 months. I decided to do calculations to see what I can come up with.
The ONLY way I can match their numbers on both 4 years and 3 years, 10 months is to factor in the ACTIVE months for my Discover card, but NOT use the account in the other side of the eqation.
Open accounts = 780 months. divide by 17 gives me 3 y, 10m
Factor in the 39 months that Discover was open but not included the accounts is 719 months/17 accounts = 4 years.
Adding the one month, plus the one new account 781/18 = 3y, 7m. BUT, add just the 39 months from Discover, but not the account: 820/18= 3y 10 months. And that is what Exp is showing me now.
It appears to me that only open accounts are counted, and the history from accounts closed within a year are counted, but not the actual account for purposes of calculating. Am I missing something here?
I closed on recent account this week, (insignifigant CL, won't affect my UTIL), and if my theory/calculations/speculation is right, Exp should show me as 4y, 1m on my next report.
782 months for open accounts. 39m +15m for the open/active months of the newly closed accounts divided by 17 accounts = 49.17m avg.
@pauper66 as far as aging goes, closed accounts do count in the calculation. I don't know where you got the information about it being only open accounts, but there's no controversy that I know of, as far as fico scores go. Now if you're talking about vantage scores then yeah it's open accounts.
The exception is possibly authorized user accounts in version 8 and forward, sometimes they count and sometimes they do not there. Likewise Experian shows your average age in two separate places one with and one without authorized user accounts.
AAoA (average age of account) thresholds are in months and seem to be at multiples of six. Also keep an eye out for average age of revolving accounts and age of oldest revolving account metrics.
Read the Scoring Primer linked at the top of my signature to learn more.
I did a web search and forum search and varying answers to whether open, or cloesd, etc...counts.
I'm only tracking/looking at FICO 8 on experian.
In any case, the only way I can match their numbers for before and after the new account is to use open accounts and their history, and the 39 months from Discover that closed 5 months ago. No other combinations even come close.
All accounts were reported before the new account reported. Adjusting by 1 or 2 months did not change the end result. My youngest revolver account prior had 14 months reporting, my oldest 44 months. I have no AU accounts of any kind.
I'm more curious than anything. Just assuming going from 4 years to 3.x years caused the drop, but also thinking the weight of a new account may be a bigger factor?
Utilization was around 30% at start of 2020. At start of pandemic, Amex cut 9000 from my CL. That caused util to go up, and two other cards cut about 5000 total from my CL citing scores (which dropped to utilization increase, domino effect). Discover then closed my account ($5500) for inactivity. This all drove my utilization to nearly 50%.
In all of 2020 so far, the only things that have changed in my report was utilization dropping, age hitting 4 years, the new account, and one other card increased CL. That, plus payments brought my UTIL down to 36% from 46. Waiting for a couple more payments to report, and I should be around 31%. I'm only looking at Experian data, and the inquiry is not even on there as I had Experian locked when I applied. So the points drop was quite a surprise. My payment histories on all accounts are exceptional, and my auto loan even dropped below 65% during this time. I have no mortgage. No derogs, no public records, nothing negative.
So, a lot going on.
One other thing that may affect my calclations...oldest account is a student loan. It was in default, ignored unti about a year and a half ago when I wen into a rehab program with it. My credit age was about two years+, and when that landed on my reports, I jumped to over 3, and I got about a 50 point increase. Age lists as 31 years, two months, and has active payment history as I've been paying over the last year and a half.
