AAoA vs. age of oldest account.

[DESDallasTX]

Hello Everyone,

I am curious, which of the following factors impact your credit score most, AAoA or the age of your oldest account? 

Though it goes without saying that these items correlate, is one more important than the other when lenders make credit decisions?

Would I be less likely to achieve approval (or receive a less favorable terms) if AAoA is low, but age of oldest account is high? 

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

[dragontears]

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@DESDallasTX wrote:

Hello Everyone,

I am curious, which of the following factors impact your credit score most, AAoA or the age of your oldest account? 

Though it goes without saying that these items correlate, is one more important than the other when lenders make credit decisions?

Would I be less likely to achieve approval (or receive a less favorable terms) if AAoA is low, but age of oldest account is high or vice versa? 

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

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Score and what specific lenders look at can be 2 totally different things. Lenders A might think a higher AAOA is less risk while lender B might view having a long credit file is less risk. I don't believe that there is one answer to your question. In addition, lender's underwriting criteria change all of the time, especially on unsecured "loans".

[BearsCubsOtters]

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@DESDallasTX wrote:

Hello Everyone,

I am curious, which of the following factors impact your credit score most, AAoA or the age of your oldest account? 

Though it goes without saying that these items correlate, is one more important than the other when lenders make credit decisions?

Would I be less likely to achieve approval (or receive a less favorable terms) if AAoA is low, but age of oldest account is high? 

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

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Length of credit, or AAoA is what it scored in FICO.  Keep in mind that this is only 15% of your FICO score. Payment history and amounts owed are more important at 35% and 30%, respectfully. So, paying on time an account that is 3 years-old and keeping the reporting balances low would be more beneficial for your score than having, say, a 15 year-old account on file. 

But as the poster above me said, different lenders may look at more than just AAoA when making a decision. A mortgage company may take into account that you have a 20 year-old account when also looking at several that are between 1 and 5 years-old for example.

[SouthJamaica]

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@DESDallasTX wrote:

Hello Everyone,

I am curious, which of the following factors impact your credit score most, AAoA or the age of your oldest account? 

Though it goes without saying that these items correlate, is one more important than the other when lenders make credit decisions?

Would I be less likely to achieve approval (or receive a less favorable terms) if AAoA is low, but age of oldest account is high? 

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

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It has been stated in this forum by one of the more knowledgeable members that AoOA is not a scoring factor but a scoreboard assignment factor. 

In my personal experience I think AAoA is a bigger scoring factor.

But what real world difference does it make?  We can't really do anything to affect our age of oldest account. And we can't really do anything quickly to affect our average age of accounts; all we can do is cease and desist from adding new accounts