Other Lenders and Amex Backdating

[bs6054]

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@Bay_Area_Joe wrote:

What is interesting to me is that on a report directly from Equifax, my backdated Amex which I got Jan 2013, but original member date of Jan 1991, shows 81 months of payment history on that report. Showing payments made since Jun of 2006.

But, the Equifax MyFico report does not indicate that 81 month payment history, but only two months.

Regardless I feel fortunate to have been a member that long, I got my original green card when I was just 23 years old.  Fast forward all these years later and thanks to Amex my oldest account is now over 22 years old.

I am going for a revolver here in next day or two.

Thanks to the forum.

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That is interesting!  So you have 81 months of "OK" recorded, for payments you didn't make on an account that wasn't open!

Do you know why 81 months (or why Jun 2006?)

[jamesdwi]

The power of backdating is that it makes manual reviews a lot less unlikely. A person with 10 year old AMEX card and 5 year AAoA and no baddies will be granted just about any card they want because there score will be in the high 700's if not 800's and it will be automatic approved based on score even if the card is only reporting 4 montha most systems won't check. The only thing left in doubt is how high the CL will be and that that will be linked to income and score.

[RyVision]

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@bs6054 wrote:

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@RyVision wrote:

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@bs6054 wrote:

Just looking at my Citi Forward card (not the most prestigious card!).  It says "Member Since 12"   (So I guess Amex weren't able to trademark this!).   Which suggests the "Member" distinction isn't that critical, especially as I really AM a member of say Penfed, which I actually had to pay a special, identified fee to "join", and people really are members of other credit unions, many of which also issue cards.

So, I am still not sure why Amex (and apparently Macy's) seem to be the sole backdaters, whether this is by some sort of law, policies by the CRAs, or just decisions by the issuers not to do this (although it would be surprising if at least one or two wouldn't choose to do this if they easily could).

Edit: Hadn't even seem this before!  On my Penfed card, it says "Cardholder since .." which really seems the wrong way round (I am a member of Penfed in some sense, and not a member of Citi at all, just a cardholder)

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Neither Citi nor PenFed (both of which I have as well) have the history, in finance or travel services (let alone combined) that AMEX has (that I mentioned earlier).  I also never said AMEX "trademarked" the term "Member"....   How is this going over anyone's head?  My discover also says "Member Since"  though the law doesn't allow them (or any other lender) to back date the account to the original date of issue.  No one else has ever stated "Membership" privilege the way AMEX did. You will also notice not a single lender ever calls you a "Card Member"....

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Sorry, I never meant to imply that you said about tradmarking, just my observation.  But your earlier post suggested that being a Member of Amex (as compared to  a cardholder) was an important distinction, and the fact that other vendors use these terms makes that argument less strong (IMO opinion of course).  But back to the central point:

My discover also says "Member Since"  though the law doesn't allow them (or any other lender) to back date the account to the original date of issue.

What law is this?  A Federal credit reporting law?

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After checking a few of your other responses and opinions on the subject of AAoA and back dating, it would appear your a bit OCD to near condemnation on the subject yet more than happy to take advantage of "gaming the system" (as you say) yourself. 

I've given you the reasoning behind the privilege, if you want a full legal explanation along with a copy of the rules and regs (laws) that make it possible, seeing you must not be into digging into the subject extensively with Google (hint;  you can start with the FCRA of 1970 and FCBA of 1975); I would suggest contacting an attorney specializing in credit and finance regulation law and getting the answer you're happy with.  It should only cost about $175 an hour.