Amex AU

[Anonymous]

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@pizzadude wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@josie wrote:
M aunt card says member from 1978. She just added me as an AU in may 2012. I have other cards tu and eq has my utility at 44%.

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Well it really isn't doing any good having the card since it's not reporting 1978.  Maybe the next step is to work on getting your reports to say 1978, too.  But you may want to wait a few months and send them an email requesting to backdate your member since date to 1978. 

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This is a YMMV situation, sometimes AMEX will not back an additional cardmember to the original cardmember's member since date.    You received your own member since date when you were added in May 2012 so that it what is being reported..

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Ah I see.  My AUs all got really lucky then. 

[josie]

It took about a month to start reporting

[Tonya-E]

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@josie wrote:
It took about a month to start reporting

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Ok. Thanks a bunch.

[Anonymous]

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@josie wrote:
It took about a month to start reporting

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They report new AUs when the next statement generates.  I  just checked my brother's credit karma report, and it's showing my same membership date. 

[Crashem]

If you had done this last year, you might have been able to get AMEX to backdate to 1978.  But they have officially closed backdating back to original cardholder member date for AUs.  Now some people have had luck getting it done, but pretty hard at the moment.  On the positive side, you now have a 2012 member date so future AMEXs for you will be 2012.  I would however recommend creating an online ID with AMEX on the AU card to lock in the 2012 date.

[tntexans72]

This is a YMMV situation, sometimes AMEX will not back an additional cardmember to the original cardmember's member since date.    You received your own member since date when you were added in May 2012 so that it what is being reported..

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You don't know til you ask. I would call into Amex and ask them to backdate. Bofa does it, Chase does it and Amex should do it too. AND if they won't do it, have the original card holder call in. I am sure they will do it since she's a member since 1978. GL.

[pizzadude]

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@tntexans72 wrote:

This is a YMMV situation, sometimes AMEX will not back an additional cardmember to the original cardmember's member since date.    You received your own member since date when you were added in May 2012 so that it what is being reported..

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You don't know til you ask. I would call into Amex and ask them to backdate. Bofa does it, Chase does it and Amex should do it too. AND if they won't do it, have the original card holder call in. I am sure they will do it since she's a member since 1978. GL.

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I agree that it's worth a call to ask.   But no other creditor backdates on credit reports like AMEX does.   BofA and Chase certainly do not.

[OhioCPA]

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@pizzadude wrote:

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  But no other creditor backdates on credit reports like AMEX does.   BofA and Chase certainly do not.

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I thought the point was that they do show the original open date for the account for the AU. Since Amex doesn't have AU, they are additional card members with different account numbers YMMV. My son who lives at the same address as I do has his Amex card reporting as open five years before he was born. This account was opened around this time last year. There is some evidence that Amex no longer date the ACM with the same open date as the CM. Thus, the benefit of being an AU isn't the same for ACM.

[tntexans72]

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@pizzadude wrote:

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@tntexans72 wrote:

This is a YMMV situation, sometimes AMEX will not back an additional cardmember to the original cardmember's member since date.    You received your own member since date when you were added in May 2012 so that it what is being reported..

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You don't know til you ask. I would call into Amex and ask them to backdate. Bofa does it, Chase does it and Amex should do it too. AND if they won't do it, have the original card holder call in. I am sure they will do it since she's a member since 1978. GL.

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I agree that it's worth a call to ask.   But no other creditor backdates on credit reports like AMEX does.   BofA and Chase certainly do not.

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I have a Chase card opened since 2002 and added my wife 3yrs ago as AU. Chase backdate her new card to 2002. Now, I understand if one closes a Chase CC and open up a new one, Chase will not backdate. Only Amex does...but my assumption of this topic is the OP was added as an AU on a Amex that was opened in 1978. Once Amex send her the new card and it report, it should have the same history as the original card holder which starts in 1978. If it doesn't, then I would call in and request them to do so. I am sure Amex will comply.

[Crashem]

There are some misconceptions and misunderstanding in this thread.  First off, with all credit cards aside from AMEX, when you add someone as an AU, they will gain a duplicate of the entire tradeline on their credit report with the exception of an AU designation.  This includes when the card was originally opened, payment history, utilization, and even account number.  This is not backdating, but just duping the tradeline.

AMEX however is different.  They don't have authorized users per say.  They call them ACM (Additional Card Member).  When you add someone as ACM, they get a new tradeline on their credit report with their own individual account number.  Current policy is that the open date on the card will be month of card opening and member year (the year the person had any AMEX).  They do not gain the open date of the orginal cardholder.  However, before Nov 2011, Amex used to automatically or upon request backdate ACM to the original card holder's member date.  This is no longer the case, but people have sneaked in.

The initial benefit from an old VISA/MC/DISCOVER compared to an AMEX similar history will be much greater since you gain a duplicate of the tradeline.  However, the benefit of AMEX is that the ACM can set their member date so future AMEXs will backdate.  There are other ways to use AMEX backdating.  For example, my wife and I each have at least two AMEXs with my member date being 1989 and my wife's being 1995.  Both these dates are older than our AAoA.  So if my wife added me as ACM on her cards, it would report my ACM Amex as 1989 (which is obviously before her, as original card holder, shows).

Given AMEXs policy of backdating cards to member year, my guess they had to change the rules to comply with various card laws around truth in reporting.  With VISA/MC/etc, you may have a card that shows an open date before your born, but it shows as AU card.  Think about someone who gets AU card backdated to before they were born.  When those people get AMEXs of their own, it will show they have their own credit card that was opened before they were born.  Huh?