Account Age vs Damage From Account

[Anonymous]

Let's say your oldest account is 20 years old.  Next oldest account is 9 years old.  Let's say the credit file is not thick (adequate, but not thick).  Active accounts include 4 credit cards - one less than a year old, one less than 2 years old, one 5 years old, and one 9 years old, an auto loan, tires loan, and 2 (unfortunately) Affirm loans...I didn't know until recently that they're bad for your credit. That's all that's currently open.  Auto loan and tires loan still considered new.  

Now let's say that oldest account, 20 years old, has a foreclosure.

Would the scores be better keeping the 20 year account or getting rid of the foreclosure account (if possible)?

[AllZero]

In general, you want to be on a clean score card. Any derogatory or delinquency will suppress your scores.

I would recommend reading the below from Birdman7

General Scoring Primer and Version 8 Master Thread rev.5.17.20

[Anonymous]

Wow.  Thanks much for the info.  Quick follow-up.  What does segmentation factor really mean in this context?

[AllZero]

In general, it means get rid of the foreclosure account (if possible).

[Anonymous]

Oh, I got that part when it said oldest account was not a factor.  Just wondered about what the rest meant then as far as what it is used for then and why sites, even MyFICO, make it look like it's a factor..

[AllZero]

Age of accounts, e.g. AAoA, AoOA, AoYRA, etc. are important factors. 9 year old account should be sufficient to get one into the 800s.

As noted in the link, see post 4, some are scoring factors, some are segmentation (score card reassignment) factors.

It's when one is reaching for 850s is when age factors is very important if thresholds are met. Same could be said with 800s, 760s, etc.

[M_Smart007]

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@AllZero wrote:
In general, it means get rid of the foreclosure account (if possible).

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I would agree on getting rid of the foreclosure, even if that means getting rid of the account as a whole.

[Anonymous]

Thanks much for the feedback.  Appreciate it!