FICO 08 - closed accounts?

[Anonymous]

"So you get more points for having open accounts in good standing; conversely, having a higher proportion of closed accounts can hurt you more." 

Having too many closed accounts will hurt me in the 08 update?  I had lots of student loans that I consolidated...  I have 13 closed, zero balance, in good standing SL accounts.  Is this going to be a problem?  If that hurts me, that is totally lame!

Message Edited by rebuilder on 01-15-2008 01:03 PM

[fused]

There is absolutely no truth to what you are saying. You will be just fine...no need to worry!

[Anonymous]

Open or closed does not matter as they all help your credit. Maybe you heard that exceeding 29 accounts total was bad? 29 or less accounts do not hurt credit, open or closed. You can have 24 closed and 5 open and you will still be fine. No idea if they will change the 30 limit on FICO 08 as some people were flagged too many accounts above 29 total.

[Anonymous]

I don't know about that.  My 01/14/08 EQ report says "Your FICO score was hurt because you are carrying balances on too many credit cards at once".

My debt to credit ratio is 3%.  Total debt is $2k.  I have 10 open revolving accounts w/7 having balances.  I have 4 closed revolving accounts, 2 closed mortgage accounts and 1 closed installment account.  Never any lates, CA listings or Public Records.  My score dropped 55 points when I paid off my mortgage.

My 12/13/07 EQ report said nothing about having too many credit cards w/balances and my score was 817 before mortgage payoff.  Now it's 762.  My debt ratio was the same and the total debt was just over $2k.

When someone figures out FICO, they can sell their knowlege on Ebay, become very wealthy and treat us all to lunch!

[haulingthescoreup]

I only have 8 open TL's (well, seven now, I just paid off the student loan.) I found out the hard way that TU especially does not want me to have more than half my open TL's reporting, including loans, meaning 4 total. Since the mortgage and HELOC obviously have balances, and the student loan did, that meant only one CC could report.

I messed up and let an extra card report, and lost 34 points on TU, boom, just like that. And I got the "too many accounts with balances" zing. (This was the only changed.) The other scores didn't change any. This is why I will pick up some cards in March or April, to allow myself some wiggle room.

[smallfry]

---

@Anonymous wrote:
Open or closed does not matter as they all help your credit. Maybe you heard that exceeding 29 accounts total was bad? 29 or less accounts do not hurt credit, open or closed. You can have 24 closed and 5 open and you will still be fine. No idea if they will change the 30 limit on FICO 08 as some people were flagged too many accounts above 29 total.

---

Pizza I got the red flag on my EX when the total number of accounts reached 30. I really do not know how many points they are deducting might just be a couple.

[smallfry]

Mine is a little confusing. I have 7 total open accounts on TU 8 on EX and 9 on EQ. EQ is showing a bogus child support line while both EX and EQ are still showing my closed Penfed card as open even though the last reporting date is October of 2007. It seems as if TU deleted the old card and replaced it with the new including the history. I got a score ding when I only let my car loan and 1 credit card report a balance. My score went back up and then some when I let the car and 3 cards report a balance. I think 3-4 accounts reporting a balance is the sweet spot for me.

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

I don't know about that. My 01/14/08 EQ report says "Your FICO score was hurt because you are carrying balances on too many credit cards at once".

---

Closed and open tradelines, not balances. OP wanted to know if having too many closed accounts would hurt their score.

[Anonymous]

sorry, point was that mortgage was PIF and the account was closed.  It's not so much that you can have too many closed accounts, but when you close an installment or mortgage account your credit mix changes which in turn can lower FICO scores.  Prior to closing the mortgage account, I didn't have "too many accounts with balances", but had no negative factors and no reccomendations for improvement.