Getting creditor to re-report aged off account?

[MostlyAwake]

Any chance at all of getting this done? Had an 11 year old "paid as agrees" account age off about 3 months ago that cut my aaoa from 9 years 8 months to 2 years 4 months.

The old account had 36 on time payments. After that loan I simply went 8 yeats without getting any other credit which is why it was such a drastic impact when it died off.

Lost 90 points. I realize the answer is probably no but I wanted to ask anyway.

[Anonymous]

It's very unlikely.  You'd be talking about the reintroduction of a an account that was legitimately closed 11 years ago -- and when it was removed that was done according to standard procedure too.

What must be the case is that after the loan closed 10+ years ago, you had no open credit cards or charge cards for the bulk of that time.  Only fairly recently have you acquired any revovling accounts.  (Maybe one credit card, say?)  I am trying to make sense of much a huge dive in AAoA and that's all I can imagine doing that.

Here's a possible solution.  See if you can find a trusted friend or relative who has had a credit card for a very long time.  Like an Citibank Visa that is 20 years old, say.  Ask that person if you can become an Authorized User on that card for a set period of time.  Say three years.  The account owner (friend, brother, parent) can keep the card himself -- you can have no access to it.  A small recurring payment can put on it.  Adding this card will cause your score to go way back up, because you will have an old clean account on your profile.

During this three year period, you can add more cards of your own, and possibly a $500 Share Scure Loan.  (I assume you have no installment loans.)  Your goal by the end of the three year period is to have several 4-7 open accounts, must of them credit cards, and an AAoA of 4.0 (considering your accounts only, not the AU).  Early in the three year period you should pay any existing CC debt down so that you are always reporting a small utilization.

If you don't have a friend or relative who is willing and who has an old clean credit card, then you can do the same thing by yourself but just without the benefit of the AU.  Your current score of 728 is reallly more than high enough to slowly beginning one card every six months (and throw in there an SS loan).  It's just easier if you artificially inflate your score with an AU account for a couple years.

[MostlyAwake]

Yeah I just went a long time without seeking any credit. Was financially so close to the edge of my means that I dared not obtain any credit because I knew I would ruin it. Several points where I would have relied on it had it been there so it's good that it wasn't.

My girlfriend has 2 cards that are 6+ years old that I could be added to which would get me to like 3.7ish AAOA but I think she has balances on them so I don't know how if at all her utilization would affect my scores.

And that 728 was from 2012 when i was seeking my auto loan and before cancer stuff. I'm at 598 right now with 4 active accounts, 25% utilization, 168/168 on time payments ( perfect history ) and 24 medical collection derogs and an AAOA of 2.4 I think. I have no other derogs on my files.

I have a $3000 personal line of credit that has a $750ish dollar balance, an auto loan for $22,300 that is currently at $8,000 with all on time payments, an overdraft protection account that reports seperately for whatever reason thats $100 and never has a balance and a Cap1 that I have auto paying netflix and then autopaying itself off in full every month from my checking account. It never has more than a $12 balance at any one time. Started as a $200 unsecured and got up to $800 with CLIs before my scores went south so it's still at $800.

[Anonymous]

So very sorry to hear about your experience with cancer.  I have loved ones in my life with it and know how hard it can be.

Now that I have a fuller picture, I'd say that your AAoA is the least of your worries.  There are two things you can do to improve your score.  One is to steadily pay down your revolving debt.  You mention that you are at 25% utilization though I have it at a little less (770 / 3800 = 21%).  Let me know if I am missing something there.  You will get some benefit by paying everything off and then continuing to make the small charges on the card, let it report, then after the statement posts pay the amount on the statement in full.  You will also stop paying interest, which will make you feel better I think.

The other thing you should do is hop on over to the Rebuilding Forum.  Explain where are your derogs are and see if they can help you get some or all of them removed from your reports.  If they are paid off or if arrangements can be made for payment you may be able to get negotiate their removal, especially given your tragic circumstance of cancer.  The Rebuilding folks know all about it.

Adding 1-2 more cards will help eventually too.

One thing to avoid is paying off the auto loan prematurely.  As the amount you owe on that loan continues to come down, you will experience some help here too.  Just don't hiurry that process.  You ideally want to stretch out the life of that loan for a while especially when you get to a place where a lot of it is paid off -- FICO will like that.  But ironically, you will experience a score hit once ALL of your open installment debt is paid off.

Best wishes!

[MostlyAwake]

I didnt do exact math on my utilization just eyeballed 25% so your 21% is accurate.

I have a post over in the rebuilding section about my derogs but wanted to get some insight specifically about maybe getting that old account reported again.

After I posted this, I did some research and found that the lender was absorbed by citi in 2008 and then sold in a package deal to someone else in 2013 so there would be literally zero chance of them even finding record of the account much less reporting it.

[RobertEG]

The CRAs removed the account based on an algoritm that scanned date closed, and removed based on expiration of the CRA housecleaining criteria.

If the credtior were to re-report, it would then be subject to the same CRA dustpan.

[MostlyAwake]

Thanks for the help and for the encouragement.

[takeshi74]

---

@MostlyAwake wrote:
Any chance at all of getting this done?

---

Nope.  Keep in mind that Length of Credit History is typically ~15%:

http://www.myfico.com/crediteducation/whatsinyourscore.aspx

---

@MostlyAwake wrote:

I think she has balances on them so I don't know how if at all her utilization would affect my scores.

---

While you won't be able to determine scoring imact you can calculate impact to revolving utilization. Just keep in mind that TL's where one is an AU are not always considered.

---

@MostlyAwake wrote:

24 medical collection derogs

There's your real problem.  Derogs tend to have a significant impact and hold one's scores down as long as they are on reports.  Google whychat's HIPAA method and see if it would help.

---

@MostlyAwake wrote:

25% utilization

---

...and here's your next biggest problem.  Consider the link above.  Derogs kill Payment History.  While 25% is under the generally suggested 30% max it is far from ideal.  Revolving Utilization factors into Amounts Owed, the second biggest factor.

You do want to build AAoA but that just takes time and responsible management.  Definitely consider the smaller factors but the big changes will come form addressing the issues impacting the bigger factors.