Questions about Length of Credit History and Closed accounts

[Anonymous]

In 2010, I had something like 50k of credit card debt.  I was able to settle several accounts and work out payment plans on a few others.

So, to this day I don't have any 'open' accounts - just a few that show as closed that I'm still paying off.

I pulled my credit report last week, and it shows an average account age of 11.5 years (see below).

I'm planning to open a secured card through my credit union to start reestablishing some credit (hoping to buy a home as soon as it makes sense).

From my credit report:

Length of Credit History 21 Years, 1 Months
Average Account Age 11 Years, 6 Months
Oldest Account CITICARDS CBNA  (Opened 11/01/1993)
Most Recent Account THD/CBNA (Opened 02/17/2007)

Questions:

I guess the "average account age" doesn't just describe active accounts, but the average of all my accounts historically?  Because the average age of my current open accounts would be, like 0 months.

Will paying off my already closed accounts affect anything?

Will opening a new secured card change things much?

Thanks in advance!

-InFLforNow

[NRB525]

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@Anonymous wrote:

In 2010, I had something like 50k of credit card debt.  I was able to settle several accounts and work out payment plans on a few others.

So, to this day I don't have any 'open' accounts - just a few that show as closed that I'm still paying off.

I pulled my credit report last week, and it shows an average account age of 11.5 years (see below).

I'm planning to open a secured card through my credit union to start reestablishing some credit (hoping to buy a home as soon as it makes sense).

From my credit report:

Length of Credit History 21 Years, 1 Months
Average Account Age 11 Years, 6 Months
Oldest Account CITICARDS CBNA  (Opened 11/01/1993)
Most Recent Account THD/CBNA (Opened 02/17/2007)

Questions:

I guess the "average account age" doesn't just describe active accounts, but the average of all my accounts historically?  Because the average age of my current open accounts would be, like 0 months.

Will paying off my already closed accounts affect anything?

Will opening a new secured card change things much?

Thanks in advance!

-InFLforNow

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Are these closed accounts derogitory on your file? Is any amount owed still showing?

What are your MyFICO scores?

[Anonymous]

To answe your questions,

I just found myFICO.com and haven't pulled my scores yet.  Discover Card is one of the cards that I'm on a payment plan with, so according to my Discover statement, my FICO is currently 592.

My Equifax statement shows the following accounts under Negative Accounts:

Credit Cards:

1.) BofA#1 - Pays As Agreed -  $0 Balance  - Account paid for less than full balance.

2.) BofA#2 - Pays 91-120  -  $0 Balance  - Account paid for less than full balance.

3.) BofA#3 - Pays 31-60 - $0 Balance  - Account paid for less than full balance.

4.) Citi#1 - Pays As Agreed -  $0 Balance  - Account paid for less than full balance.

5.) Citi#2 - Pays As Agreed -  $0 Balance  - Account paid for less than full balance.

6.) THD/CBNA - Pays As Agreed -  $0 Balance  - Account paid for less than full balance.

Credit Cards (these are the ones I'm still paying off):

7.) Discover - Pays 31-60 - $763 Balance - 

8.) Credit Union - Pays As Agreed - $2,312 Balance

Mortgages:

1.) CitiMortgage - 120+ Days Past Due - $0 Balance - Freddie Mac account, Foreclosure

2.) Webster Bank - Charge off - Charged off account, Fixed rate

[MarineVietVet]

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@Anonymous wrote:

In 2010, I had something like 50k of credit card debt.  I was able to settle several accounts and work out payment plans on a few others.

So, to this day I don't have any 'open' accounts - just a few that show as closed that I'm still paying off.

I pulled my credit report last week, and it shows an average account age of 11.5 years (see below).

I'm planning to open a secured card through my credit union to start reestablishing some credit (hoping to buy a home as soon as it makes sense).

From my credit report:

Length of Credit History 21 Years, 1 Months
Average Account Age 11 Years, 6 Months
Oldest Account CITICARDS CBNA  (Opened 11/01/1993)
Most Recent Account THD/CBNA (Opened 02/17/2007)

Questions:

I guess the "average account age" doesn't just describe active accounts, but the average of all my accounts historically?  Because the average age of my current open accounts would be, like 0 months.

Will paying off my already closed accounts affect anything?

Will opening a new secured card change things much?

Thanks in advance!

-InFLforNow

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Hello and welcome.

Your AAoA is the sum of the ages of every account (except CA collections and public records) on your report, whether open or closed, calculated in months, divided by the number of accounts and then divided by 12. I use the division by 12 to make it easier to convert into years. This is measured from the time each account was opened until present.

You can never have an AAoA of less than one year. This is built into the system.

You’ll need to figure the age of each account, open or closed, on each report. If all three reports are identical (very unlikely), you're in luck; otherwise, you'll need to run this for each report.

[takeshi74]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Will paying off my already closed accounts affect anything?

Will opening a new secured card change things much? 

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Depending on how your closed accounts are reporting they may be maxing out your utilization.  If so, paying them down will help with utilization.  Even if they're not you'll want to pay off your outstanding debt.

No idea if a new secured card will boost your score but you want at least 2-3 active cards reporting for scoring purposes.