Whenever you have an account that is in good standing, never had any lates and has a history of 7 or more years, these are golden accounts and should be treated like gold. They have the ability to keep your credit score high in spite of the fact that other areas of your credit file may be less than perfect.

For instance, if you had one late on a golden account, then that late really wouldn’t cost you many points at all. The reason is the history and the fact that it is only one late and not multiple lates. One late can be forgiven rather easily, multiples will not. If you have a high debt to credit limit ratio, then the points lost would be minimal because of the long history of the account.

However, don’t get comfortable putting your account in this situation as you can easily destroy the good the history a golden account can create. A second late, keeping a high debt to credit limit ratio can erode your credit score just like anyone else.

Having multiple golden accounts will also increase credit scores as you nurture your accounts into long time good history. Little by little your practice of good financial principles will help you gain credit scores worthy of the best and into the 800’s.