What is length of credit history?
Length of credit history measures how long you have used credit: the age of your oldest account, the average age of all accounts, and the age of specific account types. It is a moderate scoring factor. It rewards patience, which is why keeping old accounts open usually helps and closing your oldest card can eventually shorten your average age. Wrong open dates distort it.
What the models measure
Scoring models look at time from several angles: how old your oldest account is, the average age across all your accounts, how old specific accounts are, and how long it has been since accounts were used. Together these signal experience: a file that has handled credit well for fifteen years is statistically less risky than one six months old, even at identical balances.
How it moves in practice
- Opening a new account lowers your average age immediately, which is part of why new credit causes small dips even as it adds capacity.
- Closed accounts in good standing generally remain on your report for years and continue aging, so closing a card does not erase its history right away; the effect arrives later, when the closed account eventually drops off.
- Becoming an authorized user on an old, well-managed account can add its history to your file.
- Nothing accelerates it. Time in good standing is the whole mechanism.
Its real weight
Length of history is a moderate factor: meaningful, but well behind payment history and utilization. A young file with perfect payments and low balances outscores plenty of older, messier files. Treat age as something to protect (avoid unnecessary account closures, keep the oldest card active with small use) rather than something to chase.
The errors that touch this factor
Account-opening dates are data like everything else, and they can be wrong. An oldest account showing a later open date than reality, a closed account that vanished early, or a duplicate account distorting your average age are all reporting errors, and all disputable. CreditRefresh's scan includes date consistency across your tradelines on all three reports.
Related articles
The standard FICO credit score is built from five factors: payment history (35%), credit utilization (30%), length of credit history (15%), credit mix (10%), and new credit (10%). Payment history and utilization together account for two-thirds of the score, which is why disputing inaccurate late payments and incorrect balances tends to move scores the most.
Credit utilization is how much of your available revolving credit you're using — your balances divided by your credit limits. It's one of the biggest factors in your score, usually second only to payment history. Lower is better: many lenders look for under 30%, and under 10% is ideal. High utilization can drop your score fast, but it's also one of the quickest things to fix.
Most credit scores run from 300 to 850. In the common FICO ranges, 800+ is exceptional, 740–799 is very good, 670–739 is good, 580–669 is fair, and below 580 is poor. Lenders generally treat roughly 670 and up as solid, and 740+ usually unlocks the best rates. What counts as 'good' depends on the lender and the score model, but higher always means lower perceived risk.