The Master American Express BackDating Thread - *Obsolete info*

[BobWang]

[MDfive21]

not sure how to edit the post but i should have said in the beginning that i have been an AU on my wife's account since 2008.

[ceemee]

I became an AU on my old firms business account in Dec. 2011. I don't think I ever used the card (I might have used it once to order lunch, but I could have used someone else's corporate card, I had access to most).

 

May 2012: I got my personal AMEX.

June 2012: I left the firm (t was not a good place to work).

 

I called AMEX June or July 2012 and requested they BACKDATE. Not a good idea and it was a no go. I still had my old CC and I provided them with the number. They were able to find the account but I was told they couldn't complete my request. I let it go.

 

January 2013: I decide (at midnight no less) to try again. I figured it wouldn't hurt to try again. First, I sent a secured message requesting they change my member since date because I was really a member of AMEX since 2011 and not 2012. A rep replied and requested I call in. When I called in, I told the CR that AMEX requested I call in to have my member since date changed. I spoke to a CR and, she might not have heard me, but she thought I said my Member Since Date was December 2008 (not Dec. 2011). She once again asked me what my previous account number was and I gave it to her but she said she couldn't locate an account from 2008. She said she'd put a request in and I should get a decision in about 8 weeks.

 

The next morning (well really, about 7 hours later) I get an email saying "Your card replacement has been processed." When I got in to work and logged in to the AMEX website I saw: "Thank You for Being a Cardmember Since 2008," and a few days later I received my new card with 05/2008 on it.

 

And in this case, I wasn't trying to "game the system" I would have been happy with 05/2011.

 

 

AMEX is awesome.

Edited March 5, 2013 by ceemee

[BobWang]

I'm assuming you won't be calling to correct the error?

[ceemee]

Uh no. Lol. I just applied and was approved for a PRG today so I get another card backdated to 2008 (and a 50K membership rewards bonus after $1k spend in 3 months). Pretty happy.

 

The funny thing is, CCC's wouldn't even look at me in 2008. I couldn't even get approved for a store card.

[moni08]

I haven't read the thread just yet. So I will just ask my question.

 

I had a corporate card back in 1999. How would I go about getting an Amex backdated when I apply? I will not be ready to apply for another few months but just trying to get my info together.

[BobWang]

Usually, corporate cards will not qualify for backdating.

 

*IF* you find the right sympathetic, or gullible CSR, you MIGHT be able to sweet-talk them into doing it.

[moni08]

Darn it! Thanks! I will still try and post back.

 

Good thing is I did have a personal amex from '06 that was closed and in good standing so if the backdating for the corp fails I still have the personal.

[moni08]

Darn it! Thanks! I will still try and post back.

 

Good thing is I did have a personal amex from '06 that was closed and in good standing so if the backdating for the corp fails I still have the personal.

[MDfive21]

update, my amex is now reporting on all 3 CRAs. date opened: 1988

[hairmetal4ever]

 

my backdating story:

 

my wife has had her own @mex since 2007.

 

in 2009, when she and i started really managing our credit we realized that an old @mex account member since dated from 1988 was lingering on her report. the account had been closed for a while, but apparently her dad had added her as AU in like 1999 or 2000. at the time i thought it was neat and would be good for AAOA, but didn't realize the potential until 2011. about that time, i had graduated from myfico forums to CB and was also consuming FWF voraciously in order to keep current on plans for when my credit finally allowed me to play around and make a few $$. thus i found this thread and others regarding backdating.

 

so in 2011 i convinced my wife to call @mex and ask them to backdate.. i told her to ask for card replacement dept, which she did and she was on the phone with them for about an hour while they tried to find the old account. no luck, but they took the ref # from her credit report and told her they would research it. DW got all worked up because she wanted immediate results, and was really rude by the end of the call, so i thought we were done for. i decided to lay low for a while. a couple months passed with no change on her CR and no letter either way from @amex.

 

i asked her to call again and be NICE this time. she did and the replacement dept sent her call to what i think was the research dept. apparently in the meantime, someone had her file and had researched the account. they had found her dad's old account with her name on it, but were being a bit stubborn about changing her member since date, but she just kept repeating nicely that her date should be what was on that original account, and she wasn't going to take no for an answer. she was transferred to a supervisor who was able to change the date! since they had found the old account and her name was on it, she was eligible. mission accomplished, for her anyway. her CR showed 1988 soon after that.

 

i was hoping my member since date would auto-update after a billing cycle or two, but no change. DW called replacement and told them my date should be the same as hers. front line csr said no way, and it took a few minutes and a transfer to a supervisor, but she got them to agree to look into it and let us know. a week later, my new card arrives with her backdate on it. a couple billing cycles go by and my CR still has me at 2007. i decided i didn't want to rock the boat too often so i let it go. that was mid 2011.

 

fast forward to mid 2012.. we upgraded her blue cash everyday to blue cash preferred, and added me as AU. so now i have 2 identical tradelines on my CR, one 2007, one 2012. great, so i'm thinking my strategy is to call and tell them to get it together and my date should be 1988 like it 'should be'. but i never really needed to have the backdate since our scores are fairly decent now anyway, so i just let it go. fwiw, my date on the @mex website was 2007 til the blue cash conversion, then it was 2012 even with both tradelines reporting.

 

3 weeks ago i had to apply for the gold card with 50K MR bonus for only $1K spend. backdating be damned i applied and was approved. the card arrived with member since 2013, and on the website it says 2013 also. crap! so now i have 3 different member since dates and my own (not AU) account is 2013. i'm waiting for the tradeline to report so i can call in with reference #s and good info for the replacement dept.

 

i logged in to my account online today and guess what i see??

 

 

THANK YOU FOR BEING A CARDMEMBER SINCE 1988

 

 

 

wow! apparently the electronic system refreshed and auto updated me with the oldest known date.

 

this is my longest forum post ever, so if you didn't make it to the end, that's fine but i wanted to give back to CB. thanks everyone!

 

 

Here's the money question:

 

What year were you BORN?

 

I saw a credit report last year for a guy born in ~ 1989, with an Amex reporting (his own, not an AU) an open date of 03/1980. Also an AU amex w/the same date...was kinda cool to see a credit history older than the person.

[hairmetal4ever]

 

Usually, corporate cards will not qualify for backdating.

 

*IF* you find the right sympathetic, or gullible CSR, you MIGHT be able to sweet-talk them into doing it.

 

 

It sounds like there's one "field" in Amex's software that they enter that date in, the "member since" date, and that is the same thing that ports to the website login AND the "open" date on the reported TL.

[patz2009]

Here's the money question:

 

What year were you BORN?

 

I saw a credit report last year for a guy born in ~ 1989, with an Amex reporting (his own, not an AU) an open date of 03/1980. Also an AU amex w/the same date...was kinda cool to see a credit history older than the person.

I wish that would happen to me. I was born in '91, but I established my Membership Since date in '12.

[hairmetal4ever]

Any manual underwriter (which is what I do for a living) will "catch" that (opened before date of birth) but its effect on FICO is unchangeable.

[BobWang]

You don't need to have an active account to keep your 'member since' date. I had no AMEX account from 2004-2011 and they had no problem finding my 2002 account and issuing a new card. The rules for authorized users have changed recently, but they still backdate for actual members, and actual former members.

[12punch]

 

You don't need to have an active account to keep your 'member since' date. I had no AMEX account from 2004-2011 and they had no problem finding my 2002 account and issuing a new card. The rules for authorized users have changed recently, but they still backdate for actual members, and actual former members.

 

What rules have changed recently for AU's? Did they make it tougher to backdate AU?

[BobWang]

Yes, VEWY VEWY tough.

[12punch]

Oh, thats not good! I was hoping to backdate my AU card..

[BobWang]

Maybe AmEx felt some people were abusing the AU thingee.

[patz2009]

 

Maybe AmEx felt some people were abusing the AU thingee.

Some people... *cough*

[hairmetal4ever]

So even if my "member since" date is 2007 (I have my own login on my wife's card that I am AU on), I still wouldn't get any backdating action?

[NNWalking]

Lets say i still have My original amex card opened in 2007, second card also backdated to 2007. Any harm in closing original card? Will closing original card and second card result in losing the 2007 date? Just wondering since 2007 carries fee and i really dont use it, just afraid i will lose amex "age"

[hairmetal4ever]

Can someone who is an AU already, and gets their own card, backdate to at least the date they became an AU, if not the date of the primary of the card they're AU on?

 

I ask because I DO have a "member since" date when I log into my Amex acct - which is only an AU on my DW's acct, and it does say "member since 2007", which is, consequently, the year she opened the card. She made me an AU on day 1.

 

 

[BobWang]

Lets say i still have My original amex card opened in 2007, second card also backdated to 2007. Any harm in closing original card? Will closing original card and second card result in losing the 2007 date? Just wondering since 2007 carries fee and i really dont use it, just afraid i will lose amex "age"

 

You can close the original card.

 

AmEx closed all my original cards, but I still got backdated to 1982 when I re-applied in January.

[BobWang]

Can someone who is an AU already, and gets their own card, backdate to at least the date they became an AU, if not the date of the primary of the card they're AU on? I ask because I DO have a "member since" date when I log into my Amex acct - which is only an AU on my DW's acct, and it does say "member since 2007", which is, consequently, the year she opened the card. She made me an AU on day 1.

 

If your AmEx login says "Member Since 2007", that's your Member Since Year.

.

Any AmExes you get on your own may not be automatically backdated, but should be eligible for 2007 if you call