AAoA

[Want2BDebtFreeNow]

I will soon be turning 29 and in the last year or so I have finally gotten responsible when it comes to paying down credit cards.

While I have a good payment history I have applied for many accounts over the years and when they made me mad I would just close them. I have not opened any new credit cards since 2006. I have one missed payment on a Capital One Credit card back in Nov 2003 that I honestly do not remember being late on.  I got a an auto loan in June of 2008 and all 6 credit inquiries are from that application.

Over all I have a total of 33 accounts Credit cards and loans) on my credit report, most of them are closed paid in full.  How do I go about to to try to get my AAoA and how does having multiple accounts that are closed affect it?

Right now I have a TU score of 677 and a EQ of 685.

Also, I have a credit card with capital one where they don't report the credit limit but do report the balance. How do I get that corrected?

No accounts past due 9 Years 1  Total balance of Your revolving accounts $22,640   Your mortgages None   Your installment loans $36,683   Total number of Accounts 33  Accounts with balances 8   Accounts opened in past year  1   Recent inquiries  6   Collections  0   Public Records  0

Edited to correct typo

Message Edited by Want2BDebtFreeNow on 03-01-2009 06:23 PM

[cobaltnv]

Your AAoA counts all open and closed accounts. To calculate determine the number of months it has been since each account on your CR was opened. Take total number of months for all accounts divide by number of account and by 12 (to put in years). 

[haulingthescoreup]

+1

--and if all three of your reports are pretty much identical, you can pay for a full Equifax report from their website, and it will tell you your AAoA in years and months!

Figuring out AAoA on 33 accounts is pretty tedious...

And you do count the months after an account is closed up to the present. As cobalt said, you count from the month each account was opened.

While you're doing this, you might keep an eye out for accounts that you closed in 1999. They're due to fall off this year, unfortunately.

[Want2BDebtFreeNow]

No kidding I was trying to figure it out. Here are all my open dates.

9/2006

7/1999  
10/2004  
7/2006  
8/2006 
8/2001 
9/2006 
9/2006 
9/2006
11/2004  
11/2004  
8/2001  
4/2003
11/2004  
5/2002  
11/2004 
3/2000  
3/2000
1/2000   
7/2001  
5/2000 
2/2000 
7/2005  
9/2000 
5/2005 
6/2003
12/2003  
3/2002
4/2003 
1/2003  
7/2001 
5/2001  
12/1998  
8/2000    
1/2000    
4/2005  
7/2008    
7/2007  
7/2006  
1/2006

1/2004 
8/2001   
8/1999

[cobaltnv]

Being the geek that I am I set up a spreadsheet to calculate my AAoA. I put in the day/month/year an account was opened and the date I would like to calculate to. This allows me to see how my AAoA will be affected by accounts being added/dropping off, additional age etc. It is great fun 

[haulingthescoreup]

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cobaltnv wrote:

Being the geek that I am I set up a spreadsheet to calculate my AAoA. I put in the day/month/year an account was opened and the date I would like to calculate to. This allows me to see how my AAoA will be affected by accounts being added/dropping off, additional age etc. It is great fun 

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Wow! I am lost in admiration.

Excel makes me break out in a rash. My AAoA calculations all seem to be on the backs of envelopes, with sticky-notes added when I run out of room.

My purse is a mess.

[Want2BDebtFreeNow]

When do they drop off? Also on the late payment that it shows for my Capital One Card, does that change to paid on time or does it always stay on the credit report its just not used for the scoring part of it? 

[haulingthescoreup]

Lates report for 7 years after they occurred. Then they stop showing up.

Accounts report for 10 years (usually) after they were closed. Then they (usually) fall off entirely.

So you can have a late on an account report for 7 years which then stops reporting, resulting in the account switching to positive status and continuing to report for however many more years.

[Want2BDebtFreeNow]

LOL active reading. I just saw the message about 10 years. I have so much to learn. Thank you guys for all your help.

[haulingthescoreup]

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Want2BDebtFreeNow wrote:
LOL active reading. I just saw the message about 10 years. I have so much to learn. Thank you guys for all your help.

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You're at the drinking-from-a-fire-hose stage. It gets better.

If you haven't already, please read Understanding Your FICO ® Score and Credit Scoring 101 (at least the first post.)

These will give you the background knowledge you need to understand what you read here on the forums.