@Anonymous wrote:Ill have credit before 18 then... interesting.
There are some individuals that have "had credit" from before they were born with Amex.
It's a little ludicrous, but enjoy it until they change it 
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@android01 wrote:Although I love backdating, and have been the recipient of its benefits, it really only has value for FICO scoring and computer generated decisions regarding applications. Any credit analyst who does a manual review on someones application will certainly notice that most people (like myself) didn't really open four seperate AMEX accounts in 1986! Furthermore, although EQ seems to fill in the grid with "OK" for payment history to the backdated date, EX and TU don't. They only list payment history since the account started reporting, NOT all the way back to the backdated date. Any analyst who is doing a manual review will certainly be able to see that someone was backdated to a time before they were born.
Back dating is a "mixed" blessing.
Nah, there's no downside to make it a mixed blessing. A manual review is still a manual review, you don't lose anything since you're still going to get evaluated on when you opened it. That's really not a loss (just like any other tradeline you might have opened) if you wanted the card. Also like you said, on many computer generated approvals, if it counts, that's nothing but a good time.
Personally the gain is such that I'll routinely apply for Amex once a year until I get a card that supports backdating 
Sadly I'm desperate enough on my current credit profile that I even took the bait on the "Make Your Move" program 
I was an AU on my sitster's Amex in 07. I recently applied for the Amex PRG and requested for them to backdate me to 07 and they did! It really doesn't hurt to ask
@Blzer wrote:
I was an AU on my sitster's Amex in 07. I recently applied for the Amex PRG and requested for them to backdate me to 07 and they did! It really doesn't hurt to ask
Nice. It appears im backdated without even asking. The cards hasnt reported yet. From what im told this is quit odd since ive had it awhile. My only guess is they were checking their systems to see if I was a mamber. It just updated yesterday.