How many points can I pick up?

[Anonymous]

In the last 2 months I opened 5 new cc's. They all have started to report and I'm currently down 50(720 to 670) points from where I was. Nothing on my report has changed except the inq and massive drop of AAoA(just over 3 years to 1 year 5 months). I got put on as an AU which I am hoping if it reports will bring my AAoA back to where it had been(actually it'll be a month shy of 4 years) to get those points back. My AoYA prior to app spree was 5 months so I didn't lose anything there that I need to recoup.

As far as the rest, how many points can I expect to get back once all cc's update in the next 2 weeks. I will be going from 4 reporting a balance to AZEO. I will go from 14% total util to 8.2%. And I will go from highest cc util 36% down to 22%.

I am hoping to get to at least 700 without the AU reporting and closer to the 720 once that reports. Is that realistic? I am hoping that once all of the new cards hit 6 months I am higher than I was since I only had 1 loan and 1 cc previously. And now with 6 cc reporting positive will be climbing higher than before.

[Thomas_Thumb]

The damage is done. You won't gain those points back by adding an AU card.

You likely lost 15 points for new inquiries and another 20 points for: "Too many accounts recently opened".  I suspect you can gain 5 points by reducing # cards reporting and 10  points for reducing aggregate utilization to 8.2% and 0 to 5 points by dropping highest card UT to 22%.

The new cards are good for the long run and your scores should be higher than "pre spree" after 12 months. Not sure if you will ge there in 6 months but, you may regain 15 points from new account aging at 3 months or 6 months. It may take 12 months to regain the rest. Either way, getting a few keeper cards early on is a good move.

[Anonymous]

I thought getting put on as an AU could get points by taking AAoA from 1 year plus to almost 4 years. I know I lost a bunch of points when I crosses the 2 year mark. Not really sure at the 3 year mark. So by going back up to over 3 years I was hoping to get those points back.

If I can then getting about 15 points for dropping total and individual util would get me close I would think. 

I did get cards I am planning on keeping and got them all to take the hit now then little by little. Don't really need those points right now, it is just disheartening to see the hit. I am planning on getting a new auto loan soon and then nothing else except one other card I can see myself getting would be a second NFCU card. Looking at a new mortgage in 2020 so I want to get everything knocked out now and that way I will be clean when app'ing for the mortgage. No inq for at least 12-18 months and all lines will be over 12 months. 

Just started working on wife's credit now and getting her 3 keeper cards and SSL from NFCU. In 2020 we hopefully will both be high 700.

[Anonymous]

If all of the following are true, you will get some significant help from the AU card:

*  The card on which you are being added as an AU is much older than your oldest account.  (E.g. AU card is 18 years old and the oldest card in your name is 3 years.)

*  The AU card inherits the full (very old) history when it appears on your report.  (Some issuers will give it a Date Opened of the month you were added, which is not good.)

*  The card on which you are being added as an AU has no lates.

*  The AU card has a small or zero balance.

*  FICO 8 decides to count it (the model has an anti-abuse module that ignores some AU cards -- no way to know in advance if that will be triggered)/

If one or more of those things are not true, it will likely not help you and might hurt you.  You can always get it removed later if it is no help.

Personally I don't think you need to go the AU route since you have no need for credit in the next few years, and you already have several cards you like, but you can certainly try it if you like.

[Anonymous]

My oldest cc in my name is 6 months old and the AU card is over 15 years. Limit of 4700 and balance is currently $97 but most likely will be pif this month. 

The card is a Chase card and on the card they sent me it says cardmember since 2002. So hopefully it reports that way.

It is an account of my mom's and I know she has no lates and barely uses it. She is very ocd about paying bills the day she receives them in the mail. 

We have the same last name and I live at an address she previously lived at so that shouldn't be an issue. It is in the hands of Fico now I suppose. If it doesn't show up on my report/score, can I possibly get put on as an account holder by Chase?

As long as I garden I know that I don't need it, but it would be nice to have the cushion. At the end of the year my AAoA would be over 4 years with AoOA at 15 years. I could get an auto loan and still be over 3 year AAoA and at 5 years when applying for mortgage as opposed to under 3 years when applying for mortgage. My wife and I ought to have good scores when app'ing but I would like for one of us to have a little more history than what we have currently. 

[Anonymous]

You seem to be making a well thought out choice.  Makes sense to me.  You will get substantial help by going from an AoOA of 0.5 years to 15 years.

You say that your oldest card is six months.  Is that also your oldest account?  I assume so, but just checking.

[Anonymous]

I have an old paid off auto loan that goes back just over 7 years and paid off 2 years ago. That’s what has my AAoA as high as it is. My oldest active account is current auto lease that is a year and a half old. Then 1 cc 6 months and 2 more opened in August with 3 open in September. The spree was discover, Amex prg, Uber, penfed power cash, and nfcu platinum. So I plan on keeping all of them.

As I said outside of new auto loan I don’t currently need score coming back. But for so long had poor credit and then it got up there. I’m looking long term but would really like to be 700 for my self esteem I suppose more than anything else.

I’m just worried the AU won’t report. If it does that’ll help a lot. I would like to be added onto the account as an account holder but I don’t think Chase does that unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

I may not have been fully clear.  One of the things I mentioned was this:

*  The card on which you are being added as an AU is much older than your oldest account.  (E.g. AU card is 18 years old and the oldest card in your name is 3 years.)

That's account -- any account, closed or open, revolving or installment.  I didn't know you had any older accounts.

So your Age of Oldest Account is not going from 0.5 years to 15.  Instead it is going from 7 to 15.  You'll get a little help with the AU card, but probably not much.  An AoOA of 7 is already fairly healthy, although a 15 or 20 is better -- just not by a ton.  A really high AoOA is necessary to get into one of the scorecards that lets you hit 850.  But that's just a scorecard assignment issue -- changing the top ceiling of your score.  It's not clear to me that it would affect someone in the low 700s beyond a small boost.

Still, feel free to try it.

[Anonymous]

But doesn't the AAoA going past the 2 year and 3 year marks make a bigger impact than AoOA? I am just looking at it from that perspective. Although it hasn't shown up on my report so at this point I am tihnking it won't show up for me anyway so this won't even matter. 

[Anonymous]

An increased AAoA helps as well, that's certainly true.

But AoOA is the best thing to focus on when trying to decide whether to implement an AU strategy.  If there's a big change there (and the card meets all the other criteria I mentioned) then it is worth doing.

Best of luck regardless...