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Effects of spree with little history (was: if FICO rounds AAoA up to one year...)

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jamie123
Valued Contributor

Re: if FICO rounds AAoA up to one year...

You are on the right track and have a good long term plan. Your scores will only go up from here. One year out and you will be sitting pretty.

 

I'm not sure your scores will drop that much but am interested to see what happens. Most people would take at least 2 years and more probably 3 years to get to where you are in 8 months. You've really done a great job!


Starting Score: EQ 653 6/21/12
Current Score: EQ 817 3/10/20 - EX 820 3/13/20 - TU 825 3/03/20
Message 11 of 42
Aarvard
Established Contributor

Re: if FICO rounds AAoA up to one year...

Why not double dip PRG with ED Smiley Wink

03/25/2015 TU 08 765, EX 08 747, EQ 08 757, EQ 04 754.
01/30/2016 TU 08 775, EX 08 752, EQ 08 744
Goal: 780+ across all models.
Message 12 of 42
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: if FICO rounds AAoA up to one year...

I'm done for now. I have enough cards and although the apps went through the credit/spend limits I am getting clearly mean I'm hitting a wall now. 

 

I already have the Amex blue cash everyday, which I will use for groceries and department stores. The Amex PRG I plan to use for travel and restaurants but it remains to be seen what limit they will let me charge. I've got my Amazon store card 5% there. And 1.6% on everything else via my BoA travel rewards.

 

The only things I vaguely regret are the FirstTech visa, I'm unlikely to use it, but it's got a $5k limit and they are an eventual potential mortgage lender. I shoudl probably use the card to build trust with them. 

 

I'm going to focus for now on getting the spend limit up on the Amex PRG. I don't know what it is, but I suspect it isn't a lot better than the $400 I got on the Amazon store card.

Message 13 of 42
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: if FICO rounds AAoA up to one year...

Update: myfico Equifax detected the new Amazon store card. Credit score went UP one point. 712 now.

Note the inquiry hit the TU report so there is likely a negative change there I'm not yet seeing, and Amex hit Experian which will hurt since that is where most of my inquiries are.

I will update as things develop.
Message 14 of 42
MarineVietVet
Moderator Emeritus

Re: if FICO rounds AAoA up to one year...

I need to clarify some of the things I've been saying about AAoA.

 

I have been misreading/misinterpreting information I received and that is on my shoulders only. That has led to me providing incorrect advice and I feel awful about it.

 

It's been several days since I realized my mistake and I've struggled how to post an apology. I could have ignored it and let the false information stay out there but I tell my sons all the time that if they know they've made a mistake they need to admit it no matter how embarrassing it might be or how much it might hurt their ego.

 

I can do no less. Here is what I should have said about AAoA:

 

For purposes of the scoring explanations on myFICO, they're rounded upward. Within the actual scoring, however, the actual number of months is used whenever length of history is being measured, i.e. AAoA, age of oldest account, etc.

This is why a file with one TL that is only 5 months old will not get a score. There’s no requirement that every TL be at least six months old for a score to be generated-only one. And AAoA isn’t used to determine whether the minimum scoring criteria has been met.

 

As for how/when rounded numbers are used, the calculations compute actual numbers, but they’re typically applied to ranges of numbers. So there is rounding taking place but how/where it’s applied can vary.

 

The calculation methods vary for different factors within the “length of credit history” category and that sometimes the numbers may be rounded off and sometimes not. I’m simply not able to give any more specifics than that. As for the “Sometimes they may not” portion of the answer my contact regrets any confusion he/she may have caused.

 

Again I apologize to everyone who has read my past comments on this subject and were misled by them. I wil try and do better going forward. Needless to say I will never again give the blanket statement that "You can never have an AAoA of less than a year".

 

Message 15 of 42
vanillabean
Valued Contributor

Re: if FICO rounds AAoA up to one year...

I am thoroughly confused now, lol. Are you saying that AAOAs greater than a year are rounded down?

 

Message 16 of 42
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: if FICO rounds AAoA up to one year...


@Anonymous wrote:
Update: myfico Equifax detected the new Amazon store card. Credit score went UP one point. 712 now.

Note the inquiry hit the TU report so there is likely a negative change there I'm not yet seeing, and Amex hit Experian which will hurt since that is where most of my inquiries are.

I will update as things develop.

I have a very similar profile. I was in the 700s when I started (FAKO I couldn't get FICO). Score dropped almost 100 points after opening several accounts. My util was a little high but even when it dropped I didn't see a significant jump back. I'm sure that in a few months it will all settle back into place. Gardening for the moment. 

Message 17 of 42
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: if FICO rounds AAoA up to one year...

 

Update: Chat raised my Amazon store card limit from $400 to $1000. While still a low number, it's at least not an embarassing number like $400. I will try and CLI it again in 3-6 months and see what happens.  Still don't know what I'm approved to spend on the PRG but I've put about $800 on it so far and the online tool says I would be approved for another $1000 $2000 (edit: just checked again) so whatever the limit is, I'm not there yet. Will be using it as my go-to card for the next few months so maybe I will find out.

 

Checked my score on Experian today, which should be my lowest FICO as it has the most inquiries. It's still sitting just over 700, looks like the Amazon store card did not have a big impact on my score. PRG hasn't shown up on my credit report and I'll update again once it does. 

 

I am done applying for cards for now, but I will continue to CLI them. i will work on my Amex BCE and my BoA TW until they are both over $20k (so one more double, I will try that in July) and I will CLI my Amazon store card until it's over $5000 (probably try again in 3 months). 

 

After that I will garden until I get a mortgage, perhaps a year from now.

Message 18 of 42
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: if FICO rounds AAoA up to one year...

 

MVV: Don't worry about your "wrong" information. I am happy with my situation and think I've made the right choices even though I may have had some wrong information:

 

1. I apped the 2nd Amex, the PRG, and lost out ont the backdating, applied before I saw that thread. My Amex will post as an April 2015 rather than Nov 2014 card, giving me a bigger new credit penalty than I expected. 

 

2. Maybe AAoA doesn't round up to 1 year, but I certainly think it's still valid to say I am getting hit with just about the maximum new credit penalty you can get regardless, it's 10% of the score and I'm willing to bet I'm getting near 0% of that 10% right now

 

In the longe run I don't think that changes my analysis. I've stacked my first 8 months of  credit history with 6 accounts, and while that short-term blows away my AAoA and gives me a lot of inquiries, in a year that stuff will start falling off and then I will have six good tradelines all effectively aging together holding down my AAoA. And really, with only 8 months of history, I don't really have an AAoA yet anyway. How much difference does a 4 month vs a 6 month AAoA make? Probably none.

 

I am also going to heavily use the two most recent cards I apped, the PRG is now my go-to card, and I do buy a lot of stuff on Amazon. So I have applied for credit that I plan on using. The only app I have that I didn't really ever plan on using is the FirstTech CU CC. I should use it though, my goal there is to build a relationship with that local CU in the hopes that it will help me with them when I later apply for a mortgage. I should run some transactions through it, even though it's not a great card otherwise.

 

i really think that's a right place to be, and I'm conscious that I am taking a short-term hit to my credit score in order to put myself in a better place in a year or two.

Message 19 of 42
jamie123
Valued Contributor

Re: if FICO rounds AAoA up to one year...


@Anonymous wrote:

 

MVV: Don't worry about your "wrong" information. I am happy with my situation and think I've made the right choices even though I may have had some wrong information:

 

1. I apped the 2nd Amex, the PRG, and lost out ont the backdating, applied before I saw that thread. My Amex will post as an April 2015 rather than Nov 2014 card, giving me a bigger new credit penalty than I expected. 

 

2. Maybe AAoA doesn't round up to 1 year, but I certainly think it's still valid to say I am getting hit with just about the maximum new credit penalty you can get regardless, it's 10% of the score and I'm willing to bet I'm getting near 0% of that 10% right now

 

In the longe run I don't think that changes my analysis. I've stacked my first 8 months of  credit history with 6 accounts, and while that short-term blows away my AAoA and gives me a lot of inquiries, in a year that stuff will start falling off and then I will have six good tradelines all effectively aging together holding down my AAoA. And really, with only 8 months of history, I don't really have an AAoA yet anyway. How much difference does a 4 month vs a 6 month AAoA make? Probably none.

 

I am also going to heavily use the two most recent cards I apped, the PRG is now my go-to card, and I do buy a lot of stuff on Amazon. So I have applied for credit that I plan on using. The only app I have that I didn't really ever plan on using is the FirstTech CU CC. I should use it though, my goal there is to build a relationship with that local CU in the hopes that it will help me with them when I later apply for a mortgage. I should run some transactions through it, even though it's not a great card otherwise.

 

i really think that's a right place to be, and I'm conscious that I am taking a short-term hit to my credit score in order to put myself in a better place in a year or two.


Thanks for stopping back to keep us updated.

 

You have a really good and sound plan for your future credit building. As each of your cards celebrates their 1 year birthday you will get a score bump. One year from now you will be able to get any credit you need at desirable rates.

 

Keep up the good work and don't forget to turn on autopay for all of your accounts!

 

EDIT: You might consider using the CU card for all your subscriptions like Netflix, MyFICO, Cellphone and Etc. It makes it easy to keep track of your payments that way when you only have one place to look.


Starting Score: EQ 653 6/21/12
Current Score: EQ 817 3/10/20 - EX 820 3/13/20 - TU 825 3/03/20
Message 20 of 42
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