AMEX Member Since Date and Credit Report

Anonymous · ‎01-05-2016

I just called today and they backdated my cards to 2009 the date I got my corporate card. Will this also update on my credit report?

UncleB · ‎01-05-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
I just called today and they backdated my cards to 2009 the date I got my corporate card. Will this also update on my credit report?

I'm sorry, that ended last year (back in March).

The "Member Since" date is only good within Amex now... and to possibly impress someone if you're out on a date.

Anonymous · ‎01-05-2016

While everyone has a heart attack over "backdating", does the real date in the credit bureau change? If not, who cares!

SunriseEarth · ‎01-05-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
I just called today and they backdated my cards to 2009 the date I got my corporate card. Will this also update on my credit report?

OP, since you replied to an older thread with outdated information, I started a new thread using your post.

As has been said, AMEX no longer updates your CRs to reflect MSD as of last year. Unfortunately, having your MSD "corrected" with AMEX will no longer help AAoA

Anonymous · ‎01-05-2016

@Spider15 wrote:
While everyone has a heart attack over "backdating", does the real date in the credit bureau change? If not, who cares!

The real date used to change, which is why it was such a big deal. However, now the date accurately reflects when the account is open.

UncleB · ‎01-05-2016

@Spider15 wrote:
While everyone has a heart attack over "backdating", does the real date in the credit bureau change? If not, who cares!

Yeah, I don't call this a 'backdate' anyway...

The Amex "Member" date is the year you got your first Amex card. Any updates to subsequent new accounts is merely a "correction" to what the date should have been anyway. This happens since sometimes when somebody goes a while without an Amex account of any type it takes Amex a little while to 'find' you in their records.

When I got my Green and BCP last April (barely missing the "true" backdating) when I would log in I was greeted with "Member since 2015". After a couple of weeks, this changed to "Member since 1995" - I didn't have to do anything, they "found" my old account automatically.

My cards were embossed with "2015", but if/when I get replacements the new cards will have "1995". I don't bother having them replaced earlier to get the 'real' date since again, the only thing it's good for is impressing a date or a cashier, neither of which are a concern of mine.

longtimelurker · ‎01-05-2016

@UncleB wrote:

My cards were embossed with "2015", but if/when I get replacements the new cards will have "1995". I don't bother having them replaced earlier to get the 'real' date since again, the only thing it's good for is impressing a date or a cashier, neither of which are a concern of mine.

And not even sure if it is good for that! Certainly not cashiers, but even dates, can't quite imagine the scenario "Wow, I thought you were kind of a jerk, but now I see you get your first Amex 25 years ago, I will......."

Anonymous · ‎01-05-2016

@longtimelurker wrote:
@UncleB wrote:

My cards were embossed with "2015", but if/when I get replacements the new cards will have "1995". I don't bother having them replaced earlier to get the 'real' date since again, the only thing it's good for is impressing a date or a cashier, neither of which are a concern of mine.
And not even sure if it is good for that! Certainly not cashiers, but even dates, can't quite imagine the scenario "Wow, I thought you were kind of a jerk, but now I see you get your first Amex 25 years ago, I will......."

Come on longtimelurker didn't you use your high quality/tier cards to impress dates (my old Green and Gold American Express Cards from the '70's)? In the old days (1970's) it seemed such an approach had merit but, in today's world some of the dates have better cards than I do so ... who is impressed?!

takeshi74 · ‎01-05-2016

Yeah, it's not backdating if it isn't reported. It's just an MSD.

I was a bit confused recently because I received a replacement BCP with my MSD of 1998. It turns out that this was a replacement for the card where I'm an AU on my wife's BCP. I was expecting that card to have an MSD of 2014 since that was the year I was added as an AU.

@Spider15 wrote:
While everyone has a heart attack over "backdating", does the real date in the credit bureau change? If not, who cares!

Asking about backdating is not a heart attack.

Anonymous · ‎01-05-2016

@takeshi74 wrote:
Yeah, it's not backdating if it isn't reported. It's just an MSD.

I was a bit confused recently because I received a replacement BCP with my MSD of 1998. It turns out that this was a replacement for the card where I'm an AU on my wife's BCP. I was expecting that card to have an MSD of 2014 since that was the year I was added as an AU.

@Spider15 wrote:
While everyone has a heart attack over "backdating", does the real date in the credit bureau change? If not, who cares!
Asking about backdating is not a heart attack.

Many people were pursuing "back dating" as a way to improve their AoA (can't blame them) last year and they were pushing hard to get their bureau reports and AX to have the same date before the door closed. To them it was a heart attack. Again, if it would improve their AoA I totally get it. For those with thicker credit files it is really a minor issue but for thin files it certainly would help. In my case (do not have any AX Cards today) I would have had a potential back date to 1973 which is quite significant if I really was interested. Also, I did not question asking about "backdating" I made a statement about it.