There is no set answer to this (no one knows what lies inside those millions of lines of long complex programs churning the sphagetti code in those ever-so indecipherable scoring algorithms), but I would like to hear your experience or your opinion regarding this. How does the duration of the accounts impact your cr. There are two separate things: - duration of Credit File with the CRA's - duration of each account on CR Obviously, as a general rule, the older your file is the better it is. Else it would be a case of no/insufficient credit history which can be more hurting that bad credit history. In addition to an old file you need aged accounts to get a better report. So, the point of discussion is how would you weigh old bad (or dented) accounts vs. new good accounts. Let us take an example: Acct2: 4-5 years old - paid - charged off Acct3: 4-5 years old - paid - closed by credit grantor Acct4: 2 years old - credit line - current/never late Acct5: 1 month old - CC - current/never late So, in this case, the interesting thing is that if you dispute and get the Acct2 and Acct3 deleted, there is only one aged account left. And all other accounts to be opened will obviously be new. So, how would CRA's view your report if there were very few old accounts? Also, I am assuming, if there are no old accounts, the age of credit file still remain the same. I would like to hear your comments. Thanks.
When a consumer has a relatively short credit history, one of the "reason" codes for why your credit score is not higher will be something like: "insufficient history" or something along those lines, this could also be a reason code when/if you're denied credit. Good question. If someone who has alot of credit history (10 years +) answer this, it would help. Because once those old closed out paid/never late accounts age to 10 years from the DOLA, they're deleted, and then the question would be, if this happened to be your oldest tradeline, and you now no longer have a tradeline that corresponds with the "you've been in our files since..19xx", does that file date change to the next oldest tradeline being reported, or does it always stay the same?
Thanks for the response mindgame. I agree with that. So the question is how would an old dented account weigh as compared to new good account. Right on. 1. The question is just as you phrase it. 2. In the example that I quoted earlier, if Acct2 and Acct3 are deleted, does the credit file now show up as only 2 years old? That would mean it is probably better to have at least one old bad account on your file to make sure that the lenders see that you have a long history. Thanks.
Sorry mindcrime, I called you mindgame. I hope I did not offend you - at least I was round about there...
Answering number 2 here: Even though a consumers length of history is a factor when a creditor is in the process of deciding whether or not to extend credit, I do believe that a consumer would have a greater chance of being denied due to a derog, regardless of age, than due to a short(er) credit history. Yes, we all know creditors can/will deny a consumer using the "length of history too short" reason code, however, a history, or lackthereof, does not determine character (whether a consumer will pay back on time, etc.) while a derog account, regardless of age, does (to an extent) determine character, and therefore a creditor would be basing their denial on solid evidence (history) rather than just an educated guess (since there's little or no history to make a decision on). Anyway, that's just the way I see it. Oh, BTW, it's okay about the name mixup
