Amex No Longer Backdating to Credit Bureaus

[mxp114]

---

@longtimelurker wrote:

I agree in that backdating has never made any real sense, especially the strange formula of month of app + original year (why not use month and year of original)?

But if the change is real, what motivated it?  Cost cutting would be an obvious driver, but does Amex pay extra to backdate?  Maybe they do, as an extra CRA transaction.

---

Not a cost factor but maybe they received some sound legal advice that this practice was unlikely to survive scrutiny by regulators? I have no idea lol It benefits the cardmember but no one else, especially other creditors since it can incorrectly show you to be less risky than you actually are and some even train their reps to make note of the "reported since" date on AmEx tradelines because the opening date isn't always accurate.

[barthooper]

---

@Goro48 wrote:

Just contacted the AMEX Credit Bureau Unit at 800-874-2717 and the rep did inform me that if the card has not reported to any credit bureaus by/on March 21 ,2015 then it will not be backdated to the MSD! So I opened a new AMEX EDP on 4/2 and probably wont get reported 30-60 days later and will not get the MSD of 2013...

Will only affect new cards, and I really wish I knew this policy earlier!

---

There goes the only reason I had considering getting an AMEX pending any new card offerings that have higher cashback for category spend (Barclay's Sallie Mae makes BCE/BCP redundant for me).

[taxi818]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@longtimelurker wrote:

I would expect to hear a lot more noise about it if it was really the case, but maybe it's too soon for many people to realize.

---

Well that's what I thought too, so I searched for anyone else talking about it on here and found nothing. According to this particular CSR, the policy changed less than three weeks ago, so my guess is that it just has not affected too many people yet.

---

here you go. 3 weeks in eternity in credit world. im sure if that has been the case some one else other than this 1 csr would have informed someone. i really don[t know why people take what a csr says as policy. but unless there were multiple reports i would be leary of mis info. or did amex relay this is a company email?.

[travisr0]

And that's the ballgame folks !

[mxp114]

---

@Open123 wrote:

As much as I've benefited and utilized backdating, MXP's observation is correct.  

---

Same here. Thanks to my wonderful mom, I have an AmEx account that shows opened when I was a toddler and has resulted in a little note on my report that says something like "Indicates credit established before age 18."

[Tonya-E]

Well can't get upset on this one...In actuality it is a new account.  The backdating was simply a perk.  Nothing can be done about it now anyway...

[baller4life]

---

@taxi818 wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@longtimelurker wrote:

I would expect to hear a lot more noise about it if it was really the case, but maybe it's too soon for many people to realize.

---

Well that's what I thought too, so I searched for anyone else talking about it on here and found nothing. According to this particular CSR, the policy changed less than three weeks ago, so my guess is that it just has not affected too many people yet.

---

here you go. 3 weeks in eternity in credit world. im sure if that has been the case some one else other than this 1 csr would have informed someone. i really don[t know why people take what a csr says as policy. but unless there were multiple reports i would be leary of mis info. or did amex relay this is a company email?.

---

Unfortunately someone else called the Credit Reporting Dept and verified it is true.

[Anonymous]

This is actually more of a relief. I really only wanted one AmEx but was thinking I had to pick another to apply for in January for backdating purposes. Oh well. No harm, no foul.

[barthooper]

They probably would have seen a ridiculous app influx if they made this publicly known before it happened.

[MidnightVoice]

Glad I got my second one in last year!