HAMMERED by transunion on AMEX AAoA BACKDATING

[getrdone1]

Just woke up and checked my credit karma score and my transunion score went down to 827..I know that doesn't sound too bad but i was right at the doors of hitting 850 in the next couple of days according to all of the simulators...thats when my new accounts would have aged and inquiries would be good..instead,  i woke up to find that transunion has nerfed my 40 plus years of  having an account and broughrt it down to a little over 2 years...scored dropped 3 points from where it was...so, it could be that on manual review that the credit reporting agencies are no longer factoring in AMEX back dating...I was quite surprised to see this, but not shocked if it is in fact what happened...So, of course i checked my CCT score and I updated it and GUESS WHAT??  TRANSUNION IS NOW 823 DOWN FROM 844...UPON LOOKING INTO MY CREDIT REPORT I SEE THAT AMEX  IS ONLY A LITTLE OVER 2 YEARS OLD...SO, CHECK YOUR TRANSUNION SCORES IF YOU HAVE BEEN GRANTED THE AMEX BACKDATING.. definitely no a good thing to have happened if you have a lot of AMEX cards...

[newhis]

I was afraid that this could happen. It was fun while it lasted.

Edit: Sorry, I can't check my reports.

[JLK93]

Transunion is doing a manual review of all Amex cards???

As of this morning, no change on any of my Amex cards on TU.

[getrdone1]

I would say that it is possible that very long credit histories that have been back dated may get reviewed..mine was over 39 years when they backdated 2 years ago.. but it does change the scores a bit by lowering the AAoA....I lost about 2 years on a lot of accounts reporting...sadly, i just lost a couple others not too long ago as they aged off, so closing those old accounts will hurt you someday...hopefully this was an isolated incident and others will not be affected like me..hey!! i can still live with being a little over 800...just sayin.....

[Marcos8]

I can confirm via a TU Credit Karma update (which is fine for gaining account opening date info) that my Amex opened in Oct 2013 that was backdated to Oct 1982 is now reporting as being opened in Oct 2013. My EQ report still shows a backdated opening date of Oct 1982. So apparently this is a TU thing right now not an Amex thing. We will see...

[JLK93]

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@Marcos8 wrote:

I can confirm via a TU Credit Karma update (which is fine for gaining account opening date info) that my Amex opened in Oct 2013 that was backdated to Oct 1982 is now reporting as being opened in Oct 2013. My EQ report still shows a backdated opening date of Oct 1982. So apparently this is a TU thing right now not an Amex thing. We will see...

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What does your actual TU report show?

What does you backdoor TU report show?

What does you myFICO TU report show?

What does you WalletHub TU report show?

What does you SavvyMoney TU report show?

Did your TU Fico score change?

Did your TU AAoA change?

[Anonymous]

Hi Marcos.  I wouldn't conclude yet (or even conjecture) that this is confined to TU (assuming it is a real change in Amex policy).

For one thing, it can often take one credit bureau 3, 4, or even 5 more business days than another bureau to update its database, even though the creditor submitted the updated record to all three CRAs on the same day.  So if this was going to eventually effect all three bureaus it wouldn't be strange for it to first feel the effects to bureau X, then at bureau Y, then at bureau Z, each separated by 2-3 business days.

Another reason I'd be a little surprised it this change were being driven by TU is that I think this would mean that TU always had two fields for Date Opened -- one being the "real" date opened and another being the "backdated" date opened.  That seems really unlikely though.  I can believe that Amex had both fields, but my guess is that the CRAs each have one field in their database, and they just use whatever Date Opened that the creditor gives them.  Thus, if Amex is changing the Date Opened it is reporting to TU, its hard to imagine why they would still submitting the altered backdated DO in their reports to Experian and Equifax. 

On the other hand, it's possible that you and the OP are experiencing some strange fluke that won't get replicated with anyone else.

I'll be curious to hear how this unfolds over the next 14 days.

[Revelate]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi Marcos.  I wouldn't conclude yet (or even conjecture) that this is confined to TU (assuming it is a real change in Amex policy).

For one thing, it can often take one credit bureau 3, 4, or even 5 more business days than another bureau to update its database, even though the creditor submitted the updated record to all three CRAs on the same day.  So if this was going to eventually effect all three bureaus it wouldn't be strange for it to first feel the effects to bureau X, then at bureau Y, then at bureau Z, each separated by 2-3 business days.

Another reason I'd be a little surprised it this change were being driven by TU is that I think this would mean that TU always had two fields for Date Opened -- one being the "real" date opened and another being the "backdated" date opened.  That seems really unlikely though.  I can believe that Amex had both fields, but my guess is that the CRAs each have one field in their database, and they just use whatever Date Opened that the creditor gives them.  Thus, if Amex is changing the Date Opened it is reporting to TU, its hard to imagine why they would still submitting the altered backdated DO in their reports to Experian and Equifax. 

On the other hand, it's possible that you and the OP are experiencing some strange fluke that won't get replicated with anyone else.

I'll be curious to hear how this unfolds over the next 14 days.

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Actually the update is probably just the most recent Amex report.

My DOLA is 2/13, verified 2/19 on a bureau pull that the backdating is still in effect.  I'll keep looking at it but if this is a broad-based change it likely will hit my report with Amex's ~3/13 report.  I doubt TU had anything to do with it, or at least I'd be really surprised as they just maintain the data... would be interested to see other bureau reports too.  My EX is still legit at least with a similar DOLA (2/12, February statement at least heh).

That all said, I suspect there's a date in the database (almost assuredly) for "first added to credit report" or similar that simply isn't displayed to us.

[newhis]

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@Revelate wrote:

Actually the update is probably just the most recent Amex report.

My DOLA is 2/13, verified 2/19 on a bureau pull that the backdating is still in effect.  I'll keep looking at it but if this is a broad-based change it likely will hit my report with Amex's ~3/13 report.  I doubt TU had anything to do with it, or at least I'd be really surprised as they just maintain the data... would be interested to see other bureau reports too.  My EX is still legit at least with a similar DOLA (2/12, February statement at least heh).

That all said, I suspect there's a date in the database (almost assuredly) for "first added to credit report" or similar that simply isn't displayed to us.

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+1

Looking at my reports (received by mail), I see EX show 'Date opened' and 'First reported' date. I guess the other 2 have the informarion but they don't show it.

[JLK93]

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@getrdone1 wrote:

Just woke up and checked my credit karma score and my transunion score went down to 827..I know that doesn't sound too bad but i was right at the doors of hitting 850 in the next couple of days according to all of the simulators...thats when my new accounts would have aged and inquiries would be good..instead,  i woke up to find that transunion has nerfed my 40 plus years of  having an account and broughrt it down to a little over 2 years...scored dropped 3 points from where it was...so, it could be that on manual review that the credit reporting agencies are no longer factoring in AMEX back dating...I was quite surprised to see this, but not shocked if it is in fact what happened...So, of course i checked my CCT score and I updated it and GUESS WHAT??  TRANSUNION IS NOW 823 DOWN FROM 844...UPON LOOKING INTO MY CREDIT REPORT I SEE THAT AMEX  IS ONLY A LITTLE OVER 2 YEARS OLD...SO, CHECK YOUR TRANSUNION SCORES IF YOU HAVE BEEN GRANTED THE AMEX BACKDATING.. definitely no a good thing to have happened if you have a lot of AMEX cards...

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getrdone1,

What date did your Amex update to TU?