Why is AMEX the only CCC that backdates

[pizzadude]

They just are.

It's their business model, the whole "membership has its privileges" concept.

[twist7d7]

I figured more companies would want to get old customers back.

[pizzadude]

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@twist7d7 wrote:

I figured more companies would want to get old customers back.

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Sure, they'd like to.  But only a very small percantage of customers would recognize a backdated tradeline as a benefit worth taking advantage of.  

[bada_bing]

IIRC, amex was the only card issuer that had backdating as a perk for its members.

The law was changed and amex was allowed to grandfather in its backdating practice,

but no other card issuer is allowed to initiate a similar practice. Amex also plays a

Little loose with rules when it offers CLI with only a sp. Technically I believe there is

Some requirement or agreement between creditors to use HP for CLI. 

Also as an aside, "backdating" is not a good term to use when discussing with amex

Csr,'s. You'll get better response by referring to "correcting a MSD issue" rather than

asking for "backdating".  Backdating has some negative connotations because intentionally

tweaking AAoA isn't the intention of amex maintaining its grandfathered status.

[longtimelurker]

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@bada_bing wrote:

IIRC, amex was the only card issuer that had backdating as a perk for its members.

The law was changed and amex was allowed to grandfather in its backdating practice,

but no other card issuer is allowed to initiate a similar practice. Amex also plays a

Little loose with rules when it offers CLI with only a sp. Technically I believe there is

Some requirement or agreement between creditors to use HP for CLI. 

---

Yes, I have heard this but never seen a reference to a law or regulation.  It would also seem odd to make such a law: the only impact driven by backdating is how various algorithms process them to generate scores, and these algorithms are both private and changing.   And concerns about fair and equal credit access would not be served by legislating in favor of one company, which had apparently practiced economic discrimination in the past

Many companies now do SP CLIs, so Amex isn't alone there, but I agree it seems to defeat the concept of credit reporting.

But if there is no law, I don't know why other companies don't.  Even if, as pizzadude suggests, it won't mean anything to most, they could fairly easily explain it and describe it as a reward for loyalty.

[bada_bing]

It may not be correct that it is a law. It may be a mutual agreement between card issuers.

Card issuers not only use the CRA's to pull data from, they are responsible for a big

percentage of data reported. Besides legal requirements, there are obviously some

mutually agreed practices, some of which probably aren't publicly acknowledged. 

Amex appears to play looser with it's self imposed obligations to full data recording

than other issuers. It would interesting to know exactly what is behind the scenes with

Credit data reporting, but like a lot of other aspects of credit you aren't likely to get open

disclosure.

[JLK93]

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@bada_bing wrote:

IIRC, amex was the only card issuer that had backdating as a perk for its members.

The law was changed and amex was allowed to grandfather in its backdating practice,

but no other card issuer is allowed to initiate a similar practice. Amex also plays a

Little loose with rules when it offers CLI with only a sp. Technically I believe there is

Some requirement or agreement between creditors to use HP for CLI. 

Also as an aside, "backdating" is not a good term to use when discussing with amex

Csr,'s. You'll get better response by referring to "correcting a MSD issue" rather than

asking for "backdating".  Backdating has some negative connotations because intentionally

tweaking AAoA isn't the intention of amex maintaining its grandfathered status.

---

That is correct. Amex was grandfathered in.

Many other issuers do SP CLI's. Issuers that do HP CLI's, do it  because they want to warn other lenders that you are seeking increase credit with them.

A good way of summing up Amex policies would be to say that Amex is interested in what is good for Amex, not what is good for Chase.

[longtimelurker]

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@oilcan12 wrote:

---

@bada_bing wrote:

IIRC, amex was the only card issuer that had backdating as a perk for its members.

The law was changed and amex was allowed to grandfather in its backdating practice,

but no other card issuer is allowed to initiate a similar practice. Amex also plays a

Little loose with rules when it offers CLI with only a sp. Technically I believe there is

Some requirement or agreement between creditors to use HP for CLI. 

Also as an aside, "backdating" is not a good term to use when discussing with amex

Csr,'s. You'll get better response by referring to "correcting a MSD issue" rather than

asking for "backdating".  Backdating has some negative connotations because intentionally

tweaking AAoA isn't the intention of amex maintaining its grandfathered status.

---

That is correct. Amex was grandfathered in.

Many other issuers do SP CLI's. Issuers that do HP CLI's, do it  because they want to warn other lenders that you are seeking increase credit with them.

A good way of summing up Amex policies would be to say that Amex is interested in what is good for Amex, not what is good for Chase.

---

Grandfathered in to what?  Where?

[JLK93]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

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@oilcan12 wrote:

---

@bada_bing wrote:

IIRC, amex was the only card issuer that had backdating as a perk for its members.

The law was changed and amex was allowed to grandfather in its backdating practice,

but no other card issuer is allowed to initiate a similar practice. Amex also plays a

Little loose with rules when it offers CLI with only a sp. Technically I believe there is

Some requirement or agreement between creditors to use HP for CLI. 

Also as an aside, "backdating" is not a good term to use when discussing with amex

Csr,'s. You'll get better response by referring to "correcting a MSD issue" rather than

asking for "backdating".  Backdating has some negative connotations because intentionally

tweaking AAoA isn't the intention of amex maintaining its grandfathered status.

---

That is correct. Amex was grandfathered in.

Many other issuers do SP CLI's. Issuers that do HP CLI's, do it  because they want to warn other lenders that you are seeking increase credit with them.

A good way of summing up Amex policies would be to say that Amex is interested in what is good for Amex, not what is good for Chase.

---

Grandfathered in to what?  Where?

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Read the previous post.

If the details are important to you, you won't have any difficulty finding everything you want to know with google.

You won't have any difficulty at all.