Effect of Amex re-date

[tiger67]

I'm curios of the effect of opening a new Amex account and having it re-dated to the 1988 issue date of a prior account closed by consumer in good standing. I wonder if the increased length of credit history would outwiegh the extra inquiry and a definite rebucketing.

Current situation: TU 758, EQ 734

11y 2m history (would change to 21y)

6y 4m AAoA Would change to ~ 8y)

1% overall util (only 1 account w/ bal)

2 mortgages

1 installment

only 1 new account in 3 years, 8m old

(1) 30 day late 30 mo ago

EQ 5 inquires (2 fall of next mo)

TU 3 inquires (2 fall off next mo)

[llecs]

Only a shot in the dark.....20-30 pts. Probably won't even be close.

Your AAoA will rocket up. It will also be your oldest account. And another aspect is the length of your revolving history and that would go up. Keep us posted.

[tiger67]

Unfortunately, the CSR couldn't find my acount in the system, even when I gave her the account number. Don't know what else to try. I'm not going to open a new account unless I can get it re-dated.

[hdporter]

That's a bummer.  Last year they looked up my 1982, closed 1988, Amex without a hitch.  I was stunned.  (I actually had my former card at the ready, but they didn't need it.)

 Unfortutunately, word is that if they can't find it, you need your 4 security digits from the front of your former card.  People have reported success with that.  (Or did they fail even with that info?)

I too would stab at 20-30 pt value for you. 

In my case, I picked up 8 pts (744 to 752).  The account added 6 months to my average account age (5y2m to 5y8m) -- I have over 30 reporting accounts.  It didn't extend my overall history, I have have an account from 1981 on my report.

[smallfry]

OP when did you close the account?

[tiger67]

I don't have the old card, so I have no idea what the 4 digit code is. I do however, have copies of credit reports showing the accounts and invoices with the numbers. I wonder if that would be proof enough to re-age?

I actually had two different accounts. My green was opened in 2/88 closed in 7/90 when it was converted to a gold. I closed the gold in 93. Things were tight when I first graduated from college and I didn't want to continue paying the blood AF. Boy wish I had now.

I feel this would be a huge boost if I could just get Amex to cooperate!

[smallfry]

Worth a try I cannot imagine Amex denying you. Well on second thought I can.

[Anonymous]

It didn't work for me.  I had receipts with the old card number, but AMEX couldn't locate them in their system, so no re-dating (which sucks, because it would add about 12 years to my account open date).

[Anonymous]

Turns out, it did work for me when I tried one more time (see other thread here).  Persistence (and some luck,unfortunately) does pay off.

[RobertEG]

There are two factors in length of credit history, and together, they are only 15% of your FICO score.

That being oldest TL, and AAoA.  Your current FICO score is very good, and so is your current oldest TL and AAoA.

If you are thinking of applying for new credit in the next year, the new inq vs any lenght of credit hi8story will probably be about a wash in the short term.

Unless you are assured that the re-opening of the card will fully restore its credit history to your account, I would forget it.