I realize my Topic Title is a bit confusing so I'll try to explain. I have been rebuilding my credit for the last 12 months and have done fairly well (closed on my 1st home in August!). Over this time, I have opened some new credit cards (see below) but my oldest cards have a couple late payments from 2015.
From a FICO standpoint, is it best to keep these old cards active since the late payments are approaching 3 years old or would it be better to just close the cards? Closing the cards would lower my available credit a small amount and would also significantly affect the AAoA. Here are my accounts:
Cards with Negative Information (all currently have a $0 balance and no negative information aside from what is below)
Capital One - $2000 limit (opened July 2008) - (30 Day late in Oct 2015)
Kay Jewelers - $1200 limit (opened July 2016) - (30 Day late in Sep 2016 and Dec 2016)
Continental Finance - $750 limit (opened Aug 2007) - (30 Day late in Jan 2015, Oct 2015)
Tires Plus Credit Card - $1200 limit (opened Mar 2014) - (30 Day late Sep 2014, Dec 2014, 60 Day late in Nov 2015)
Cards with NO Negative Information
NFCU CashRewards - $24,000 limit (opened May 2017) - Never late - $0 Balance
NFCU GoRewards - $10,300 limit (opened January 2018) - Brand new card
Wells Fargo Credit Card - $2,000 limit (opened May 2017) - Never late - $0 Balance
I guess what I'm really asking is if late payments are weighted differently on an Open account vs a Closed account. If I were to close my Tires Plus card (which has multiple 30 Day lates and a 60 day late), would that improve my score if that account is showing closed? Or it doesn't matter and better to leave them open and keep the balances at $0 and make small purchases and immediately pay them off each month?
