I *just* hit 800 this month! My oldest tradeline was opened in 1991. No history of ANY lates, good mix of credit. My current CC utilization is at 3%. I may have been there in the past, but only started to monitor credit as recently as 2 years ago.
I've learned alot from this board. Back in 2006, I checked my Fico scores, and saw that I was at 680. I freaked. I had assumed that since I paid everything on time, that my credit was perfect. 
I learned a BIG lesson about utilization!!
Hmm.. Not sure major old age is the issue.
Exp-I just hit 805 with Experian this round of ficos. I have 7 accounts on my experian report. Four are open (2 credit cards, 2 student loans that are almost done),three are closed (credit card (oh crappyone),another student loan, car loan). Oldest account is 11 years, average age is 6 years. Those student loans boost my score mostly. One account I have, a new credit card, was in the last year. All in good standing, no lates. My Experian was lowest until the new account hit. I think my new card improved my utilization, as it reported a $7000 limit in addition to my other card with a high balance ($4500) reporting (good old Chase sig, sigh).
TU-768-One 30 day late from a paid off and closed student loan still with a year to go for it to fall. Everything else is the same as my Exp.
Equ-774. Complaints about my new account. And my inquiries show up here. I unfortunately have two.. one from the credit card (expected) one from the bank (WHAT!! It was for a checking account
) Everything else is the same as the exp report.
So I think to get to 800.. mix of credit, no recent inquiries and no lates, and low utilization. Long age doesn't seem so necessary, which makes me happy.
Exp-I just hit 805 with Experian this round of ficos. I have 7 accounts on my experian report. Four are open (2 credit cards, 2 student loans that are almost done),three are closed (credit card (oh crappyone),another student loan, car loan). Oldest account is 11 years, average age is 6 years. Those student loans boost my score mostly. One account I have, a new credit card, was in the last year. All in good standing, no lates. My Experian was lowest until the new account hit. I think my new card improved my utilization, as it reported a $7000 limit in addition to my other card with a high balance ($4500) reporting (good old Chase sig, sigh).
TU-768-One 30 day late from a paid off and closed student loan still with a year to go for it to fall. Everything else is the same as my Exp.
Equ-774. Complaints about my new account. And my inquiries show up here. I unfortunately have two.. one from the credit card (expected) one from the bank (WHAT!! It was for a checking account
) Everything else is the same as the exp report.So I think to get to 800.. mix of credit, no recent inquiries and no lates, and low utilization. Long age doesn't seem so necessary, which makes me happy.
Tell me about it!Physicist wrote:Well, I'm not born in the States and nobody cares about my 20 years excellent European credit history :-(
@Anonymous wrote:There MUST be a minimum age somewhere to get to 800, as it only makes sense.
Depends on your bucket. If in a bucket where age is not a factor, age won't really hold you back.
I think someone can do it with less, but pretty sure it can be done with oldest account 4 years and avg age 2.5 years for 800. But I think it can be down with as little as 2.5 years for oldest account if someone sets it up just right from the start. But for 2.5 years that's more like professional drag racing. Everything must be perfect right from the start with many trade lines all open with in the first 6 months, then no more inqs, no more new apps to let avg age get up to 2 years. With scores being so high in the first 2-4 years for some people I don't think history needs to be that old. Gotta love the newbie bucket!