Originally Posted by
jn in ca
All that churning sure seems like a lot of work for such a minor change to the FICO score.
In general, this is something I see online a lot: hand wringing about AAoA. Let's look at that facts: Length of Credit History is only 15% of the FICO score, and length of credit history encompasses more than just age of accounts.
This interview with the FICO guy is a little old, but it is still very enlightening:
Does Closing an Old Credit Card Hurt Your Credit Score?
Hey, if you want to churn, that is between you and American Express, but if it actually makes a worthwhile difference to your credit score, come back and tell us. I'll be more than a little surprised.
I can certainly see your point, and I probably should have clarified that I'm planning to get more out of these churns than just an increased score. For example, I just picked up the SPG card, so in addition to increased AAoA, I'll be getting 30k SPG points. The fact that it's Amex just put it a little higher up on my list.
And yes, obviously AAoA is only 15% of your score, but that's still the 3rd most important factor. For me, it's also really the only negative mark on my report. It's really pretty darn weak compared to everything else. Consider this something of an investment - it'll be a little annoying up front, but having extra accounts that are 3-4x older than my AAoA sure isn't going to hurt anything.
It's effectively changing the past. It's like being able to go back in time and open more cards, with higher credit limits, than you ever could have at that point in your life. If you had missed payments when you were younger, and all of a sudden found out that there was a way to erase those from your report, would you not jump at the chance?