Closed account still factor into AAoA for FICO?

[merlinflex]

Quick question, just to clarify.  If I close a few older cards, 2008 & 2010 after paying the balance to $0 (moving those credit lines to another credit card), while I know that the positive credit history will be there for 10 years, I assume once they are reporting closed, they are removed from the Average Age of Accounts (AAoA) equation, yes?

Given that both are are 8yrs and 6 yrs pefect payments, I am wondering how closing them will affect my AAoA and thus my overall FICO.  I rarely use them and can transfer those two lines of credit to another card that I use frequently, so keeping the CLs but losing the age of those two.

Thoughts?

TIA!

[barthooper]

They're factored into AAoA for FICO for 10 years after closing, but stop aging when you close them. So they would fall off in 10 years but at that time still be on there as 8 and 6 year old accounts. Credit Karma and similar FAKO sites don't count closed accounts in AAoA, though.

Edit: Accounts continue to age after closing. See newhis's reply below.

[Creditplz]

No it will not affect your AAoA, like you said it will report for 10 more years, so after you close it it will still be factored into AAoA for 10 years

[newhis]

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@barthooper wrote:

They're factored into AAoA for FICO for 10 years after closing, but stop aging when you close them. So they would fall off in 10 years but at that time still be on there as 8 and 6 year old accounts. Credit Karma and similar FAKO sites don't count closed accounts in AAoA, though.

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I have read many many posts that say closed acounts do age for FICO, until they drop from reports. In that case the 8 and 6 year old accounts will grow to 18 and 16 before they get removed.

Other posts say that closing a card will not affect the FICO score until it gets removed in 10 years.

Let's say I have 2 cards, both 1 year old. I close 1 card and only use 1 for 10 years. My AAoA will be only 6 years? (11 for open account and 1 for closed account), and the AAoA will jump to 11 years as soon as the card is no longer present on the reports. I guess that will affect the score if the closed accounts didn't age. Imagine a case with 2, 3 or more closed cards.

[Anonymous]

Yes they continue to contribute to your AAoA for 10 years and they *do* age. So when they fall off they will be 18 and 16 years old, respectively.

[merlinflex]

Thanks all, I thought as much, but wanted to clarify and ask the greater group of SMEs!

As my father says "there are no dumb questions, just dumb people who don't ask questions."

Off to starting triming 3 cards off my portfolio, paid off some smaller ones and in the process of moving those CLIs over to other cards.

Thanks again!

[barthooper]

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@newhis wrote:

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@barthooper wrote:

They're factored into AAoA for FICO for 10 years after closing, but stop aging when you close them. So they would fall off in 10 years but at that time still be on there as 8 and 6 year old accounts. Credit Karma and similar FAKO sites don't count closed accounts in AAoA, though.

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I have read many many posts that say closed acounts do age for FICO, until they drop from reports. In that case the 8 and 6 year old accounts will grow to 18 and 16 before they get removed.

Other posts say that closing a card will not affect the FICO score until it gets removed in 10 years.

Let's say I have 2 cards, both 1 year old. I close 1 card and only use 1 for 10 years. My AAoA will be only 6 years? (11 for open account and 1 for closed account), and the AAoA will jump to 11 years as soon as the card is no longer present on the reports. I guess that will affect the score if the closed accounts didn't age. Imagine a case with 2, 3 or more closed cards.

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I had no idea. In that case, I apologize for the misinformation. That's great news though!

[Anonymous]

Under FICO scoring, the youngest account that will ever drop off of your report is 10 years.  That would be if you opened an account today and closed it within the first month.  10 years from now, that 10 year old account (even though it was closed the entire time) will fall off of your report and that 10 year account will not be factored into your AAoA any longer.

[Anonymous]

I fully support the way folks here are giving the OP the language about "ten years", because in practice that's what will almost certainly happen. 

But....

... as myFICO veteran RobertEG has pointed out many times, it is possible for a closed account to vanish from one's report much sooner than 10 years.  If that happens it will be because the creditor decided to remove it.  That's uncommon but it can happen.  If it does happen, then of course that account will no longer be included in any of the age-based calculations.

[Thomas_Thumb]

Quite true,

As mentioned in a couple other threads I had a closed credit card removed 6 years after closure (by the card issuer). There is no 10 year requirement although the CRAs typically will show CC accounts for the standard 10 years - if the card issuer doesnot remove the account.