Credit Question

[snowman1035]

We went for a loan the other day and noticed on DH credit report there were several old accounts that have been paid off and have zero balances. My question is will those old accounts bring his credit score down lower? If so, how does one go about getting them removed? Any help from our DIS friends would be appreciated!

 

[BrettS]

All accounts, closed with zero balances or not will stay on his credit reports for at least 7 years. If the accounts were always paid on time and never had any problems then they're not bringing his score down at all and may even be helping it. If they were paid late or show other problems then they probably are affecting his score somewhat, but the older they get the less likely they will be to affect his score. Any late payments or problems from more than 2 or 3 years ago aren't going to have a very significant impact on the score.

 

[gshumaker]

credit score is based on several things - 2 of which are age of credit and credit useage to available credit

so the old accounts bring your score up - if you close them you will lower your score

having the available credit assuming you are not using it brings your score up so again if you close these accounts you lower your available credit and lower your score

all of this is totally backwards to how it should work and the FICO scoring system does not reward what it should