Score changes and keeping BofA happy

[cobaltnv]

After my recent CLD by BofA ($24500 down to $12500) I got to thinking. My BofA card is by far my oldest card at 16years (my next oldest card is 9 years old). Over the next 12 months I have 18 accounts 12-18 years old which are going ot fall off my credit report . This will drop my AAoA from ~9 years down to 6 years. My oldest account will go from 18 years to my 16 year old BofA card.

 I am worried that this loss of age is going to drastically hurt my scores (not much I can do about it of course). I am guessing I will undergo a bucket change with the drop in age? 

My main concern comes from BofA. I do not like that card very much (poor rewards), but it is so much older than my other cars I have to keep them happy. I dread that they will decide to close my account dropping my average age further and lowering my oldest account age from 16 to 9 years. I have a recurring charge ($15) on the card to keep it active.

Sorry about all the rambling. I guess my question from all this is: How do I keep BofA happy? Has anyone had BofA close their account recently?  

[smallfry]

I doubt one small recurring charge will keep BofA happy with a 12K limit but who knows? Closing the account if that's what you end up doing will not drop it from the reports. 

[Anonymous]

With your scores I highly doubt they would close the account outright.  So, even if you got additional CLD, as long as the account is open, it continues to age and remains on your CR without any scheduled drop.

If you are carrying balances, then CLD hurts utilization.  But I doubt that the 24k to 12k CLD affected you much, unless you were carrying balances.

The BoA rewards program is not the best for swipe transactions, but some of the bonus rewards by shopping their preferred vendors are as good as or better than my CapOne Ultra, Chase Freedom or Discover Escape.  So, if you do any online shopping, look at their preferred vendors and the bonus rewards offered.

Going from a 9 year AAoA to 6 will be okay (high achievers average 6 to 12) so you are still in the right range.  Going from 18 to 16 as oldest may hurt a little, especially had that 18 stayed on, being only a year from high achiever average of 19 year oldest.

Other than than, the normal basics and you should be just fine...few balances, low utilization, timely payments, more than minimums, low debt, rinse and repeat.  In a couple years you will have recovered all of the lost aging.

[cobaltnv]

txjohn (and smallfry),

   THanks for the comments. I do not carry a balance and usually less then 1% of my credit limit reports. So the loss of credit limit should not hurt. I was mainly worried about what will happen when my AAoA drops and you helped calm my concerns by reminding me that >6 years is the average for high achievers.

   I will keep using my BofA for a small purchase each month and will look at their online shopping rewards. Maybe I will increase the amount I am pushing through this account to try to keep them happier.

Cheers