Why Does “Paid as Agreed” Appear on Your Credit Report?
If “too few accounts paid as agreed” (or sometimes “pay as agreed”) turns up on your credit report, it means one of two things. It may be triggered when you haven’t made payments on time on too many of your credit accounts. Alternatively, it may mean that your credit history has a lower number of accounts (such as credit cards, loans, mortgages or credit lines) demonstrating being paid as agreed. In other words, you don’t have many accounts in your credit file. The message can appear on your report even if you’ve been making payments on your existing credit according to the terms of your current credit account(s), according to Experian. This information is used by lenders to gauge your creditworthiness based on previous repayment activity.
What Might Help Your Credit After “Too Few Accounts Currently Paid as Agreed” Appears on Your Credit Report?
1. Pay Your Bills In Full and On Time
Your FICO® Score (the most widely-used credit scores) considers five categories in its calculation: Payment History, Amounts Owed, Length of Credit History, Credit Mix and New Credit. Payment history typically accounts for about 35 percent of your FICO® Score, so it can be very impactful to pay your credit bills on time and when possible, in full.
2. Reduce Your Credit Utilization Ratio
Amounts owed, which includes your credit utilization ratio, accounts for approximately 30 percent of your FICO® Score. This ratio takes into account your available credit and how much of it you are using. For example, if all your credit lines add up to $10,000 and your total debt across them is $3,000, your credit utilization ratio is 30 percent. It can help your credit score to maintain a low credit utilization ratio.
3. Keep Your Credit Accounts Open
Length of credit history accounts for approximately 15 percent of your FICO® Score, and typically, a longer history of credit usage can contribute to a good credit score. So, even if you’ve paid of a credit card and don’t intend to use it much, it may be beneficial to keep that account open.
4. Maintain a Healthy Mix of Credit
FICO® Scores also take into consideration the mix of different types of credit you have, including credit cards, retail accounts, mortgage loans, car loans, installment loans, etc. It may be helpful to have more than one type of credit, but it’s not necessary to have all of these types of credit.
5. Consider Opening New Credit Lines
New credit contributes around 10 percent toward your FICO® Score, but it should be handled carefully. Opening several credit accounts in a short amount time can be seen as an area of risk, particularly for those with a short credit history. If you’d like to open a new credit account, consider opening just one, which may help improve the way lenders (and credit bureaus) view you overtime.
Ultimately, improving the status of your credit report and credit score will take time. If you’ve only had credit for a short while, you may just have to wait it out. As time passes and you build a longer credit history with a wider mix of credit types, “too few accounts paid as agreed” may eventually stop surfacing as a reason why your credit score is not higher.
Published April 4, 2016.
Updated April 26, 2021.
