Oldest Account Fell Off Credit Report?

[4kids4karen]

Now, this is just Credit Karma, not the big three...

But I have been following my score on Credit Karma for the past year and was really happy with the improvement and score increase I was making it. I was using it for my personal progress report. I have paid off major debts this year and consolidated some other debt.

So imagine my surprise yesterday when I saw my credit score dropped 43 points! I haven't opened up any new accounts, haven't had any credit reports pulled, etc. So I see what has changed is my average age of accounts. The account I opened in 1995 (my oldest account) when I first joined the military I got a Military Star card and purchased a washer/dryer for my home. Ugh. I am so annoyed. Most of my other old accounts were closed because I didn't know better and requested most of them to be closed (did this probably more than 10 years ago). So it says my average credit age is 4 years x months. I am annoyed. Is there anyway to change this back?

 

[tvguy]

Up to 10 years for closed accounts according to this. So they do drop off.
https://www.equifax.com/personal/ed...-long-does-information-stay-on-credit-report/

 

[wenrob]

I had this happen a few months ago. It was from my first home loan 23 years ago. You would have thought it would fall off when I sold the house but apparently not. Mine dropped about 11 points and my husband’s about 7. The good news is he has already fully recovered and I’m making steady progress by using and paying off existing cards monthly.

 

[miztressuz]

Unfortunately we can't change the past. If the account is closed, and closed for that long, I don't believe there is any way to get it reinstated. If you close something you may have a chance to reinstate it within 30 days of closure, but that depends on the credit issuer.

AFAIK, Credit Karma uses a VantageScore which was developed by the big 3 (if I take that to mean the 3 credit bureaus). However, most lenders still use scores based on the FICO score. It seems like the VantageScore may place a higher value on the Age and type of credit than the FICO score, so the big jump seems to make sense there. I felt that this article from CK has a good general breakdown on the differences between the two models: https://www.creditkarma.com/advice/i/vantagescore-vs-fico/amp

I would check on your FICO score and see where that is. Without knowing what it was before the change it's not a great barometer of the effect (i.e. maybe it was only a 10 point decrease on FICO? not sure how'd you'd know) But would give you a frame of reference for future changes. Discover uses the FICO 8 score which is still popular. You can get your score from them without being a customer. That's the one I know of off the top of my head, there may be other free places to get it. Some places also give you a calculator so you can estimate what changes to your report will do to your score. Maybe you can find one that let's you change the average age of accounts to see what it could have been before.

Since scores change from lender to lender, even if they are using the same FICO model, the more important thing to focus on is staying within the bands - good, very good, etc. If you stayed within your band I don't think it's as devastating as if you dropped way below it. And given time, the other positive factors of your score will pull it back up.

 

[MomToOne]

It is what it is. The best way to increase your score is to lower your credit utilization percentage. Focus on doing that by paying things down, don't have any late payments and avoid unnecessary inquiries (from opening new accounts - but keep your current accounts open) and it will bounce back in no time!

On a side note - I have a 23+ year credit history (avg age about 5 yrs) with a 847 TU FICO 8 score. And Wells Fargo just turned me down for a credit card that apparently they are approving people with bankruptcies still on their report for LOL So don't stress so much about fluctuations in your score - there are lots of other things at play when it comes to getting or not getting credit.