Aging accounts.

[MontegoMack]

I have an NFCU share and credit card (and inquiry) that'll be a year old at the end of July.

I have 2 AMEX cards (and the inquiry) that'll be a year old in August. 

My only two baddies (late payments) are 19 months old. 

How will each of these play a role in my scores as anniversaries come up? Right now my FICO scores are all in the 700s, but I'm really more concerned about my mortgage scores 715, 739, 760. I realize that the late payments aging will probably give me the biggest boost, but please tell me that the other accounts aging will do at least a little something to bump up my score. 

Thoughts?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

One of the age-related scoring factors is Age of Youngest (AoY) Account.  There's some anecdotal evidence that people can get some significant help when AoY crosses the 1-year mark.

You mention three different credit cards that will be turning one year old in the next few months.  Does this mean that all of your accounts will be at least 1 year old at that point?

Would you mind tell us how many credit cards total you have?  If you get all of your cards reporting zero except one (AZEO), with the remaining card reporting a small positive balance, that can help your mortgage scores a good amount.  If you were to get a boost of two points that would raise your middle score to > 740 which puts you in a nice spot for a mortgage.

Have you explored working with the folks in the Rebuilding forum on getting your derogs removed from your reports altogether?  There are ways to do that.

[MontegoMack]

I have 7 open CCs, and yes, AZEO. Unfortunately, it's a balance of over 50%. The oldest is from '07. The 3 cards that I mentioned turning 1 yo in the next month or two are the newest accounts that I've opened. 

I was told that the baddies that I have are so new that getting them legitimately removed would be difficult. 

[SouthJamaica]

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@MontegoMack wrote:

I have an NFCU share and credit card (and inquiry) that'll be a year old at the end of July.

I have 2 AMEX cards (and the inquiry) that'll be a year old in August. 

My only two baddies (late payments) are 19 months old. 

How will each of these play a role in my scores as anniversaries come up? Right now my FICO scores are all in the 700s, but I'm really more concerned about my mortgage scores 715, 739, 760. I realize that the late payments aging will probably give me the biggest boost, but please tell me that the other accounts aging will do at least a little something to bump up my score. 

Thoughts?

Thanks!

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Definitely.

The passage of time is the best thing for your scores in numerous additional ways.

E.g., it

-increases average age of account

-increases age of oldest account

-increases age of newest account

-removes inquiries

[Anonymous]

Well the good news is that getting a better score is totally within your reach.  You just need to pay down the credit card that currently is over 50%.  The minimal thing I would do is get it paid down to < 47%.  Strictly speaking the conjectured breakpoint is 49% but since you are probably paying interest as well I'd get it paid down to 47% just so you can be confident that the amount that reports is < 49%. 

That right there could easily get you the two points we talked about.  The next step would be getting it paid down to < 29%, but < 49% might be a solid step forward.

While you are waiting, can you confirm that the other $0 balance cards are ones that you use at least every four months?  It's ok if you pay them off immediately, but using the cards is important.  For one thing, it prevents them from being closed due to inactivity.

Do you know what your AAoA is for each of the three bureaus?  When your AAoA crosses an integer year value you may get some help there too (as SothJ mentions).

[Anonymous]

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@SouthJamaica wrote:

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The passage of time is the best thing for your scores in numerous additional ways.

E.g., it

-increases average age of account

-increases age of oldest account

-increases age of newest account

-removes inquiries

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Very true.  The passage of time also results in the aging and eventual removal of all negative items, which are the #1 criteria for holding a score back.