Removing 10 yr old positive closed credit accounts

[BrokeStudent2010]

Oh, and I also have more than 20 accounts reporting mortgages, student loans, car notes, and credit cards. I don't know how the diversity of accounts impacts my credit score, but overall I have developed a good record of on time payment on a variety of accounts. After learning a lot through this community, I cleaned up my bad habits and have zero negatives on my credit report. My score is in the 700s and I sleep soundly at night  

[RobertEG]

If the age of the account is older than your current average age of accounts, then removal of the account will necessarily lower your AAoA.

If your current AAoA is approx 7 years, then removal of any account that is 10+ years of age will negatively affect your AAoA.

[BrokeStudent2010]

Thanks for clarifying. I guess I don't see what the big issue is since I'm not looking for credit any time in the near future.  With over 20 accounts, how bad can removing one or two be to my score? I don't mean to sound flip about it, but I feel like this would be more important if I (1) had fewer accounts and (2) I was actually seeking credit soon. Accounts are constantly aging, so it's not like I will be doing some type of irreparable harm to my score or shutting myself out of opportunites to obtain good credit. My score has been in the high 700s for years now, even though a few years ago my AAoA was shorter. I still got the best rates. 

[Anonymous]

Hi Broke.  People are just trying to supply you with accurate information so you can make the best decisions.

When you said....

My oldest accounts are a little over 15 years old and the average age of my accounts (AAoA) is about 7 years old. So, based off of what you all have said, it seems like my AAoA will not not be impacted by removing these positive accounts.

... that betrayed a deep misunderstanding of what is involved in averaging numbers.  RobertEG wasn't telling you that your score will tank -- he was just trying to make sure you had the right conceptual tools for making the best decisions for yourself.

And it's not just you.  Other newcomers read these threads and if a statement like that wasn't gently corrected, other people would be misled as well.

You should be fine, as long as the accounts in question are not the oldest account on your reports.  If they are, the deletion will affect both Average Age of Accounts and a factor called Age of Oldest, which is used to assign you to something called a scorecard.  Feel free to talk to us further about this if you like.

[BrokeStudent2010]

Yes, my oldest accounts would not be removed and in fact they are still open lines of credit, so a deletion of other accounts would not reduce the Age of Oldest in this case. 

[Anonymous]

Good to hear.  Sounds like you are very much on top of things.  Best of luck.

[Anonymous]

OP, the decision here really is yours.  Ultimately it's not going to majorly impact your score either way and even if it was going to impact it more than slightly, by your own admission you have zero desire to apply for any credit in the next 2 years or longer so it wouldn't matter anyway.

I guess the different perspective I'd offer up though is to consider why in the first place you want to remove them?  You said to "clean up" your report, but when people speak of cleaning up their report it's usually with respect to incorrect items, negative items, or items that in some way are adverse to your profile.  If you closed these accounts between 2003-2006 as stated originally, they are 11-14 year old accounts which aren't much younger than your AoOA and are a good deal older than your 7 year AAoA.  I can only see these accounts as being a positive thing... not just because they're positively impacting your AAoA, but simply because more "positive" accounts really just adds to a thicker, more solid file.  I guess I'm just struggling to see the benefit of having them removed, outside of your report being more aesthetically pleasing to your eyes.  I can assure you it wouldn't be any more pleasing to the eyes of anyone else though.  Obviously the choice is yours here and regardless of what you do it isn't going to matter either way really.