Impact of card churning on credit score?

[as02]

Hi everyone. I was recently looking through my Experian report and one of the metrics it had was around Credit Age or something similar – which effectively considered the age of your longest credit source.
That made me think whether card churning has any impact on credit score? Is it beneficial to have a single long-standing card?
As someone with plans to do a first-time house purchase in next couple of years, I’d like to optimise in whichever way possible!

[Gary_Dexter]

Your “credit score” isn’t a real thing that lenders see or use – they look at the raw data on your credit file and match you (or not) with the product you’re applying for based on that data and the history.

[ChrisBCN]

See section 2 here – https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/boost-mortgage-chances/

Each lender will credit score you differently, but here are some generalisations –

Positives:
– your oldest credit line is many years ago (having an old credit card is a good thing)
– being on the electoral register at your address for some time
– no CCJs
– no missed payments
– having a reasonable amount of credit available to you for some time (‘reasonable’ will depend on your income, what the bank thinks is reasonable, and other factors)

Negatives:
– applying for other credit in the 6 months before you apply for your mortgage (so don’t apply for loans, credit cards. I would even avoid changing mobile phone contract in this period)
– having too high a credit limit available to you (if your total credit card limit is very high vs your income, I would close some accounts or reduce the limits, and have it all sorted 6 months before your mortgage application)

The ‘right’ amount of credit available to you is a bit Goldilocks – you want some to show you can be trusted, but you don’t want so much that you scare the bank.