The Affect Of Old Credit Accounts On Your Credit Score

READER QUESTION

Will deleting accounts over 7 years old raise my credit score?

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Bills.com Resident Expert
Dec 12, 2011
BILL'S ANSWER

Paying off your debts will certainly have a positive impact your credit score. While no one can tell you precisely how much your score will be changed (the Fair Isaac Company, the producer of FICO scores, doesn't release the algorithm it uses for scoring), a general overview of how your score is determined can be found on Bills.com.

The rules dictating when listings must be removed from your credit report apply only to derogatory items; positive credit items, such as credit card debts which you have kept current, can remain on your credit reports indefinitely. For derogatory items, the date on which an account falls off of your credit report is calculated as seven years from the date of first delinquency; the date on which you opened the account is irrelevant. For example, if you opened an account in 1985, and stopped making payments in 2003, then the account should fall off your credit report sometime in 2010.

The new "reported date" should not affect the date on which the account will be removed from your credit report. Again, the seven year time period runs from the date of first delinquncy. If you think that any item is appearing on your credit report incorrectly, you should consider disputing the items with the major credit reporting agencies.

See the Federal Trade Commission document FTC Facts for Consumers: How to Dispute Credit Report Errors for more information.

Learn more about credit, credit reports, and credit scoring, on Bills.com.

I wish you the best of luck in your efforts to repair your credit report, and hope that the information I have provided helps you Find. Learn. Save.

Best,

Bill

www.bills.com/

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