Accounts opened in the past year?

[Anonymous]

I have a question about my score. I have Suze Orman's Fico kit and it tells me that I have 9 accounts opened in the past year. It has a flag noting this is hurting my score. I have two accounts that were opened in March 2006. When will it update to note these accounts are older than a year? Is there a way to call and have it manually update? Also, how much does it affect the score?

[Barry]

Hi Melinda,

There's no need to do anything to update this 'new account' information as it will update automtically at the credit bureaus.  And in terms of impact to your score, the opening of new accounts will have some affect (10% of your score) but not as much as payment history (35%) or the amount you owe on revolving (credit card) accounts (30%).

Good luck!

-Barry

[Anonymous]

It depends on when the creditors initially reported the accounts and that will reflect the number of months reviewed.  I wouldn't worry about it.  Time and diligence are the kindest factors in credit scoring.

[Anonymous]

hey Melinda-- adding to what the others have said, when you apply for lots of new credit in a relatively short period of time is something that a lender would assign some level of risk to... the assumption being that you are putting yourself in a position to incur debt and have to manage it. So that very well could lower a credit score in the short term. So if you have a decent score, maybe think about not messing with your credit too much if you're about to apply for a car loan or mortgage. If you're trying to manage your credit to buy a house or refinance down the line, it will help in the long run.  In general it's marathon, not a sprint so make your payments on time and don't max out your credit cards (the less credit you use compared to your available credit limits, the better) and your scores will improve with time!