topic Re: Received my AMEX Green!!! in Credit Cards

Received my AMEX Green!!!

Anonymous — Tue, 24 May 2011 19:00:04 GMT

That was fast! I was supposed to have it in 7-10 days, but it's been 6!

So, I went online to activate and set up online access, and all went well. The first thing that I noticed was that the card has "11" embossed on it for Member Since. BUT... on the website under the Summary of Accounts section, it says: " Welcome xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx, member since 1987."

So, is it true? Is the account indeed backdated???

*** Jumping up and down... ***

Re: Received my AMEX Green!!!

Anonymous — Tue, 24 May 2011 19:01:15 GMT

Looks like backdated - yes!

I would call them and ask them to issue you a new card reflecting this date - they will do this for you.

Ray

Re: Received my AMEX Green!!!

Anonymous — Tue, 24 May 2011 19:05:36 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Looks like backdated - yes!

I would call them and ask them to issue you a new card reflecting this date - they will do this for you.

Ray

I'm afraid of rocking the boat. I had an unpaid CO with them from 20 years ago, and I feel unbelievably lucky that they went ahead and approved me for a new card. I don't care what is printed on the card, I care about how it reports to the CRAs. Thoughts?

Re: Received my AMEX Green!!!

Walt_K — Tue, 24 May 2011 19:20:09 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Looks like backdated - yes!

I would call them and ask them to issue you a new card reflecting this date - they will do this for you.

Ray
I'm afraid of rocking the boat. I had an unpaid CO with them from 20 years ago, and I feel unbelievably lucky that they went ahead and approved me for a new card. I don't care what is printed on the card, I care about how it reports to the CRAs. Thoughts?

It should report the way it is listed when you log on. You don't need a new card. Congrats!

Re: Received my AMEX Green!!!

Anonymous — Tue, 24 May 2011 19:21:27 GMT

I fully understand your position on this.

It will report the backdated date - and - they just might automatically send you a new card.

I backdated from 2011 to 1979 and they report correctly, the 1979 date.

Ray

Re: Received my AMEX Green!!!

Anonymous — Tue, 24 May 2011 19:37:24 GMT

Thanks to both of you for the info. That's fantastic!!! This will mean 24 years -- almost a quarter of a century! -- worth of history to add to my AAoA!!! I'm beside myself!

Now, I want to treat the account very gently. I will need to PIF, of course, but I would like to do so at least once a week, just like I do with my Cap1 card. This way, I never have to let a large amount accrue. I guess I've simply become somewhat allergic to watching balances grow. So, Amex won't mind if I pay online more than once a month?

Also, I really like their web portal! What a nicely laid out and feature rich site!

Re: Received my AMEX Green!!!

Anonymous — Tue, 24 May 2011 19:39:48 GMT

I pay them once per week for previous weeks charges - never a problem!

Ray

Re: Received my AMEX Green!!!

tengtengvn — Tue, 24 May 2011 21:14:16 GMT

I got my Blue cash preferred card yesterday (after 5 business days). And it shows Member since 11.

I called AMEX, told the CSR the issue. Gave him my Closed Blue Card number. He changed the record in the system and I'm getting a new card next week.

I think the problem was on my Blue card app, I didn't put my middle initial. I asked him to remove my middle initial on the new card also.

Re: Received my AMEX Green!!!

Walt_K — Tue, 24 May 2011 21:37:18 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks to both of you for the info. That's fantastic!!! This will mean 24 years -- almost a quarter of a century! -- worth of history to add to my AAoA!!! I'm beside myself!

Now, I want to treat the account very gently. I will need to PIF, of course, but I would like to do so at least once a week, just like I do with my Cap1 card. This way, I never have to let a large amount accrue. I guess I've simply become somewhat allergic to watching balances grow. So, Amex won't mind if I pay online more than once a month?

Also, I really like their web portal! What a nicely laid out and feature rich site!

I don't pay once per week, but I've read about a lot of others doing that. I do find that it is helpful budgeting wise to get the money out of my checking account though. At the end of the week, I transfer an amount equal to my purchases into my Amex savings account. Then I make one transfer at the end of the month back to my checking account to pay the bill. I at least earn some interest on the money (though it's pretty minimal). I'm mainly doing it for budgeting reasons as opposed to the interest earnings. And I guess I had the opposite worry, I didn't want Amex to get used to weekly payments and then think something was up if I forgot to place one at the end of the week. This probably isn't a big concern. I haven't found Amex to be the hysterical lunatic lender that is sometimes portrayed here.

Re: Received my AMEX Green!!!

Anonymous — Tue, 24 May 2011 21:48:42 GMT

@Walt_K wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks to both of you for the info. That's fantastic!!! This will mean 24 years -- almost a quarter of a century! -- worth of history to add to my AAoA!!! I'm beside myself!

Now, I want to treat the account very gently. I will need to PIF, of course, but I would like to do so at least once a week, just like I do with my Cap1 card. This way, I never have to let a large amount accrue. I guess I've simply become somewhat allergic to watching balances grow. So, Amex won't mind if I pay online more than once a month?

Also, I really like their web portal! What a nicely laid out and feature rich site!
I don't pay once per week, but I've read about a lot of others doing that. I do find that it is helpful budgeting wise to get the money out of my checking account though. At the end of the week, I transfer an amount equal to my purchases into my Amex savings account. Then I make one transfer at the end of the month back to my checking account to pay the bill. I at least earn some interest on the money (though it's pretty minimal). I'm mainly doing it for budgeting reasons as opposed to the interest earnings. And I guess I had the opposite worry, I didn't want Amex to get used to weekly payments and then think something was up if I forgot to place one at the end of the week. This probably isn't a big concern. I haven't found Amex to be the hysterical lunatic lender that is sometimes portrayed here.

Thanks for the reply. It's just important to me that I maintain a good relationship with Amex from this point forward, and I want to avoid doing anything that might ruffle their feathers. Since I don't have any recent experience with them, I'm trying to find out what sort of behaviors (other than the obvious!) to avoid.

For instance, I've noticed the Check Your Spending Ability link. I've read that this is not to be used as a toy, constantly trying out huge amounts just to see how large an approval one can get. But, I am planning on going out to dinner this Friday, and I'd like to make certain that everything is good to go before using the card. So, if I were to try it for an approval of a couple of hundred (waaaaaay more than I'm planning on spending for dinner!!!), would this do anything to upset them? I would think that they have the link there for a reason and expect people to use it. And, I don't think that the amount I'd be trying would be in any way out of line for an approval, even for a new account. Thoughts???

Re: Received my AMEX Green!!!

Walt_K — Tue, 24 May 2011 22:01:48 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks for the reply. It's just important to me that I maintain a good relationship with Amex from this point forward, and I want to avoid doing anything that might ruffle their feathers. Since I don't have any recent experience with them, I'm trying to find out what sort of behaviors (other than the obvious!) to avoid.

For instance, I've noticed the Check Your Spending Ability link. I've read that this is not to be used as a toy, constantly trying out huge amounts just to see how large an approval one can get. But, I am planning on going out to dinner this Friday, and I'd like to make certain that everything is good to go before using the card. So, if I were to try it for an approval of a couple of hundred (waaaaaay more than I'm planning on spending for dinner!!!), would this do anything to upset them? I would think that they have the link there for a reason and expect people to use it. And, I don't think that the amount I'd be trying would be in any way out of line for an approval, even for a new account. Thoughts???

I hear what you are saying. I also didn't want to ruffle their feathers after I got my card. And based on what I read here, I completely avoided using that link. But I think I was being overcautious. I have called a couple times to ask them to run a test transaction when I was unsure. I can't imagine using the link once, especially after you just got the card, to see if a couple hundred dollar transaction would go through would be a problem. Like you said, just don't go crazy with it.

Re: Received my AMEX Green!!!

Anonymous — Tue, 24 May 2011 23:12:27 GMT

@Walt_K wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks for the reply. It's just important to me that I maintain a good relationship with Amex from this point forward, and I want to avoid doing anything that might ruffle their feathers. Since I don't have any recent experience with them, I'm trying to find out what sort of behaviors (other than the obvious!) to avoid.

For instance, I've noticed the Check Your Spending Ability link. I've read that this is not to be used as a toy, constantly trying out huge amounts just to see how large an approval one can get. But, I am planning on going out to dinner this Friday, and I'd like to make certain that everything is good to go before using the card. So, if I were to try it for an approval of a couple of hundred (waaaaaay more than I'm planning on spending for dinner!!!), would this do anything to upset them? I would think that they have the link there for a reason and expect people to use it. And, I don't think that the amount I'd be trying would be in any way out of line for an approval, even for a new account. Thoughts???

I hear what you are saying. I also didn't want to ruffle their feathers after I got my card. And based on what I read here, I completely avoided using that link. But I think I was being overcautious. I have called a couple times to ask them to run a test transaction when I was unsure. I can't imagine using the link once, especially after you just got the card, to see if a couple hundred dollar transaction would go through would be a problem. Like you said, just don't go crazy with it.

I just tried it for $200 just to make certain that everything is in order and that I'm good to go; it came back that it would have been approved. I'll now leave the link alone unless I need to make a purchase that is a little out of the ordinary. I'd like to avoid that, however, especially while the account is still new. A nice, ho hum, boring spending pattern would be just fine for me. Now if I go on vacation or something, I'll give them the heads up.

Re: Received my AMEX Green!!!

eparker — Wed, 25 May 2011 02:22:01 GMT

I hoping to app with Amex again as well. I had a card back in 1986, I was in the military and decided I was to young to deal with that card at the time. But I have som baddies I need to get off. More on Experian than my other reports. How did ur report look when you apped.

Re: Received my AMEX Green!!!

Anonymous — Wed, 25 May 2011 02:53:30 GMT

@eparker wrote:
I hoping to app with Amex again as well. I had a card back in 1986, I was in the military and decided I was to young to deal with that card at the time. But I have som baddies I need to get off. More on Experian than my other reports. How did ur report look when you apped.

Not so great, which I one of the reasons that I was shocked by receiving the offer and subsequent approval. A couple of old COs and CAs that will age off between this year and next, and a few scattered lates from over a year ago.

But, upon reflection, I DO have a few things that I believe work in my favor, and might have mitigated the baddies. I own my home and have lived here for the last 17 years, and I've had the same employment for 15 years. I know that they look at these things to indicate stability. Also, I've had my Cap1 Visa since 1999, another (formerly Providian) Visa from 2001 that is reporting as open and in good standing, and I very recently closed a FP that I've had since 1999, all of which demonstrate that I can maintain a credit relationship over the course of a good number of years. Also, a paid off auto loan that was never late. All of my recently opened accounts (last year and this) are squeaky clean, and I'm determined to keep it that way.

Your scores are a little bit higher than mine. Would you mind sharing the details of your reports? What baddies do you have, and are they old?

Re: Received my AMEX Green!!!

Anonymous — Tue, 31 May 2011 19:17:24 GMT

I'm in the same boat as you. I've spent several years getting my credit back in shape. My big baddy, a student loan default, rehabs in July. A few months ago I got an offer for an Amex green and figured, what the hell, see what they say? I did, and sure enough I got it.

Like you, I treated it carefully the first month and just charged up a couple hundred dollars in everyday expenses and then paid them online the next week (they don't seem to mind this actually.) The next month I bought an iPad 2 that I'd been saving for and paid it off immediately after the transaction posted.

Just a few weeks ago I figured, "Let's see what this thing will do!" and bought a MacBook Pro for $2300 for work on it. After years of low limit cards I was frankly shocked it went through. Of course, as soon as I got the expense check back from my employer I paid it off.

It is so nice to see the years of meticulous work paying off.

Re: Received my AMEX Green!!!

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 19:41:31 GMT

I was in a similar situation as the OP (Member since 2000 for me) and recently got my Amex; embossed with 11.

I went with RayRocks comment and called ............ I'll have my 'revised' Amex in 9-12 days lol.

Re: Received my AMEX Green!!!

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 19:52:50 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I was in a similar situation as the OP (Member since 2000 for me) and recently got my Amex; embossed with 11.

I went with RayRocks comment and called ............ I'll have my 'revised' Amex in 9-12 days lol.

You stated that you were in a similar situation to mine, so I hope that you don't mind my asking -- did you have an unpaid CO with them? If so, how did you go about requesting that and avoiding raising any raised flags? (I still can't figure out how I avoided the blacklist.)

ETA: Welcome to the forums!

Re: Received my AMEX Green!!!

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 20:15:33 GMT

I had an unpaid somethingorother from 2001.

Several years later I had called to pay the charge but they had already paid it/charged it off and they actually didn't want payment. So that was that.

I applied online last year, rejected.

I again applied online last month (two weeks ago) and got it (back)!

Re: Received my AMEX Green!!!

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 20:18:04 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I had an unpaid somethingorother from 2001.

Several years later I had called to pay the charge but they had already paid it/charged it off and they actually didn't want payment. So that was that.

I applied online last year, rejected.

I again applied online last month (two weeks ago) and got it (back)!

Well, congratulations to you! It seems that you applied about the same time that I did. They must have been in a forgiving mood.

If I may ask once more... how did you approach them about changing the date on your card?

Re: Received my AMEX Green!!!

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 20:25:48 GMT

I did just like RayRocks mentioned. I called and asked for a card that matched my online profile and they said sure. It was really that simple lol