How Length of Credit History Affects Your Credit Score
- Length of credit history reflects how long you’ve been using credit.
- A longer, well-managed credit history helps boost your score and shows lenders you’re creditworthy.
- Both FICO and VantageScore consider the age of your oldest account, newest account and the average age of all accounts.
Think your ancient store card from college doesn’t impact your credit score? Think again.
When it comes to your credit score, age is more than just a number. The longer the length of your credit history is, the better it is for your score — assuming you’ve handled your accounts responsibly. Lenders want to see a track record, not a highlight reel.
In this guide, we’ll break down how length of credit history impacts your credit score and what you can do to strengthen it over time.
What is your length of credit history?
Your credit history starts when you open your first credit account, whether it’s a student credit card, store card or auto loan. Length of credit history generally refers to how long your current credit accounts have been open.
However, it may also include closed accounts – closed accounts can remain on your credit history for up to 10 years after you close an account, depending on the credit scoring model and your financial history.
Closing your old credit card might hurt your credit score. Instead of closing the card, you might want to put a recurring payment, like a streaming subscription or utility bill, on one of your old cards.
This way, you can keep it open and maintain that long-term positive credit history.
Credit scoring models like FICO and VantageScore look at a few things: the age of your oldest account, the age of your newest account and the average age of all your accounts. A longer, well-managed credit history signals reliability to lenders and contributes positively to your credit score.
What is a good length of credit history?
While there’s no magic number, a credit history of 10 years or more is generally considered strong by most scoring models.
In 2012, FICO released the results of a study on U.S. consumers with the highest credit scores, specifically those with credit scores greater than 785 on a scale of 300 to 850. This group had an average credit length of 11 years, with the oldest credit account on file opened an average of 25 years prior. They also don’t open new accounts often, as their most recent credit account is an average of 28 months old.
That doesn’t mean you need to wait a decade to see results if you’re trying to improve your credit score. But time does play a role: The longer you have open accounts in good standing, the more creditworthy you’ll appear to lenders.
How does your length of credit history affect your credit score?
Length of credit is only one component of your credit score.
The FICO scoring model weights it at 15%. It’s one of five factors that go into your FICO Score, the others being payment history (35%), amounts owed (30%), credit mix (10%) and new credit (10%).
The VantageScore model emphasizes the length of credit (which it calls “depth of credit”) a bit more, making up 20% of the VantageScore 4.0 model. The other factors that contribute to your VantageScore are payment history (41%), credit utilization (20%), recent credit activity (11%), outstanding balances (6%) and available credit (2%).
In both models, a longer history with on-time payments signals stability and reduces the perceived risk of extending credit to you. On the other hand, a short or recently established credit file makes you look less experienced at managing credit.
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How is your length of credit history calculated?
The FICO and VantageScore models calculate your length of credit history by looking at several time-based factors in your credit file. These include the age of your oldest open account, the age of your newest open account and the average age of all your accounts.
You might hear the terms “length of credit history” and “credit age” used interchangeably, but length of credit history is a broader term that includes all three elements. Credit age usually just refers to the average age of your accounts.
For example, say you have the following open accounts in your credit report:
- A store card opened 10 years ago
- A cash-back credit card opened 7 years ago
- A balance transfer card opened 3 years ago
- A travel rewards card opened 1 year ago
The average age of your accounts is just over five years:(10 years + 7 years + 3 years + 1 year) = 21 years / 4 cards = 5.25 years.
If you open a new card, it would have an age of zero years, so your average age of accounts would drop to just over 4 years: 21 years / 5 cards = 4.2 years.
Keeping older accounts open and in good standing helps maintain a healthy average. On the other hand, frequently opening new accounts can lower your credit age, which can negatively affect your score.
How to check credit history
You can check your credit history for free at AnnualCreditReport.com, the official site authorized by federal law. Through this site, you can access your credit reports from the three major credit reporting bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
Your free credit report shows the date you opened each account and whether the account is open or closed.
And while your credit report won’t include your exact credit score, many credit card issuers and other lenders offer free credit scores to help you monitor your credit health.
How can you build credit history?
Building a strong credit history takes time, but everyday financial habits make a big difference. Here’s how to get started:
- Pay your bills on time. Payment history makes up 35% of your FICO Score, so it’s the single most important factor. Every on-time payment adds positive history to your credit report, helping you avoid late payment marks that drag down your score.
- Keep your credit utilization low. Your credit utilization ratio is the amount you owe compared to your total available revolving credit limits. It accounts for 30% of your FICO Score, so keeping this ratio low — below 30% is often recommended, but going even lower is better — shows you know how to manage credit and aren’t overextended.
- Apply for mixed types of credit. Credit scoring models like to see that you can handle different types of credit, like revolving lines of credit (credit cards) and installment loans (car loans and student loans). Credit mix accounts for 10% of your FICO Score, so using different types of credit helps you build a more well-rounded credit history.
- Keep old accounts open. Avoid closing your oldest accounts, even if you no longer use them. As long as there’s no annual fee and the account is in good standing, keeping it open improves your average account age.
How to build credit with no credit history
Here are a few ways to start building credit when you don’t have a credit history yet.
- Apply for a secured credit card: A secured credit card requires an upfront deposit, which will act as your credit limit. Using it to pay for small purchases and paying on time helps you build a positive payment history and length of credit.
- Take out a credit builder loan: Credit builder loans help people establish and improve their credit. You make fixed payments into a locked savings account — once you repay the loan, you’ll get access to the funds. Meanwhile, the lender reports your payments to the credit bureaus, which helps build your credit file over time.
- Become an authorized user: Ask a family member or close friend with good credit to add you as an authorized user on their credit card. You may benefit from their positive payment history and account age, even if you don’t use the card yourself. However, not all issuers report authorized users to the credit bureaus, so check before signing on.
Frequently asked questions
Three years is a solid start, especially if you’ve made on-time payments and kept balances low.
While three years might not be considered “long” by the FICO or VantageScore models, using credit responsibly over this time can still lead to a good credit score and an easier time getting approved for credit.
Negative items, like late payments or collection accounts, generally fall off your credit report after seven years. This “rule” helps ensure your score reflects more recent credit behavior over time.
It’s possible, but not easy, given that the average credit score for ages 18 to 26 was 680 in 2023. However, with well-managed accounts, on-time payments and low balances, a 20-year-old can build and maintain a credit score of 700.
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