Amex backdating

[cbmcbm]

Had an Amex revolving card back in 1991. I paid it in full after it had been charged off the following year,   That  card  was deleted from the my credit files in 2011 Buut I have old Experian reports from 09 and 2011 that have this account on them. .I just called Amex but they have no records of the card at all. I had wanted to see if my current card i received early this month could be backdated so it shows I have been a member since 91.  Any suggestions myfico family??

[webhopper]

I would call back and ask for the Archive department... they may be able to find the records in their files.

[phillyguy12]

you can try again, but i thought i read somewhere on here that amex will not back date if the org. account was closed due to AA

[firesoul453]

What exactly are the advantages of backdating?

[phillyguy12]

boost to AAOA is the main advantage

[ElCamino]

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@firesoul453 wrote:

What exactly are the advantages of backdating?

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Any new cards from American Express you obtain will be backdated to the date you originally became an American Express member. So if you had a Green Card 20 years ago, and you apply for a new Amex card today, the new card will report as being 20 years old on your credit report due to backdating. It does wonders for your AAoA, and thus your FICO score.

[FocusedAndDetermined]

Wish I could remember who posted, but someone else recenty had the same problem - no record of the old acct.  Perhaps, AMEX experinced some sort of "core dump."

[deelove]

I had a charge off on Amex about 6 years ago. I was finally accepted back into the Amex family last year with a PRG and gold delta. The membership since on the new cards was 2012. I tried twice to backdate. The First Amex rep couldn't find any records. I tried again using the phone number on the back of the card... I even had old credit reports handy in case they couldn't find the account. This rep found the account and backdated my cards to 1997 and sent new cards by FedEx. I think it depends on which department the rep works in because they have access to different records. The new rep found my old records instantly, where the first rep couldn't find it at all. Keep trying until you get the right rep in the right department...I think the option you choose at the phone prompt makes a big difference in getting you to the right person.. Even with my charge off I was backdated to my initial green card date.

[FocusedAndDetermined]

That's good to know.  One has to believe that the internal records still exist. 

If you don't mind sharing, was the charge off ever paid?

[Walt_K]

Certainly the OP should try again, but bear in mind that simply because one person was able to have an old account located does not mean that Amex will always be able to locate old accounts.  There are record retention policies and systems have been migrated to new systems over the years, so things can get lost.  I've also read at least one report on here of an account number being put back into the queue so to speak such that someone's credit card number was assigned to a new person.

I was also told that Amex will not backdate to an account that was closed due to AA, and I have reported that on here.  But I have seen several instances of people getting their accounts backdated to a charged off account.  It's unclear to me whether people getting backdated to charged off accounts are getting lucky, or whether there simply is no such policy prohibiting it and reps who state otherwise are misinformed.  If the account in question is an unpaid charge off, I wouldn't be asking about backdating.  I'd be happy to have been approved for a new card without having to pay the charge off.

If you have an Experian report, there is a full account number listed on the report.  That is not actually your Amex account number (it has the wrong number of digits), it is some sort of scrambled number that is used specifically for the credit report.  I had trouble getting backdated to an old account.  The first rep I spoke with could not locate the account and did not know what to do with the number listed on my EX report.  He offered to escalate the request and I sent in a follow up message through the secure messaging system with the number on my EX report.  They were eventually able to locate my account, but I have no idea whether the number on the EX report was actually instrumental in that.  Couldn't hurt to give them the number though, if you have it available.