topic Re: Amex has no record of my old card in Credit Cards

Amex has no record of my old card

Cdnewmanpac — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 17:18:21 GMT

I've wanted a costco amex for some time, as we shop there frequently and it is essentially a free amex. Didn't think I had a prayer getting it with my scores/bads, but thought maybe getting a zync, using responsibly and trying in a year might work. Got approved for the zync this morning, but in discussions with the rep, they have no record of me being a previous cardholder. I had a green card in college that got closed after I was late a few times (closed with zero balance, not co). Closed in 1989. Has anyone ever gotten amex to backdate a card they no longer have records of? Any clue how I could prove such a thing? If they can't, I'll be kinda bummed, as I was hoping not to get so nailed on aaoa.

Re: Amex has no record of my old card

pizzadude — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 17:48:11 GMT

Do you have any old credit reports, records, or anything that might have the account listed ? Some people have had success calling the AMEX credit bureau and getting them to do a search for the old account.

Do a search on backdating and you should see several posts about this.

Re: Amex has no record of my old card

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 17:51:51 GMT

I believe you will have to prove that you have been with them. PizzaDude above outlined many sources of proof you can use. Also if you have/could find an old card that would be your best proof.

Otherwise I do not think they will backdate you. YMMV

Re: Amex has no record of my old card

GregB — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 17:53:51 GMT

Show them a copy of your last statement.

Re: Amex has no record of my old card

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 18:23:23 GMT

I've heard stories of a poster finding an old 20 year old receipt for an expensive camera and Amex was able to re-establish their membership date.

Re: Amex has no record of my old card

Walt_K — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 19:03:16 GMT

I had a full EX report that showed my account number on the report, and they were able to use that to find the card. It isn't your Amex account number, it is some sort of scrambled identifier used for the EX report. I've heard from others though that have had no luck using that number.

When they were looking for my accuont though, they told me they would not backdate if the card wasn't closed in good standing. Again, I've seen people have success getting charged off accounts backdated, but I don't know if you'll be able to do it if they closed the account down due to late payments. YMMV.

Re: Amex has no record of my old card

lrdwilder — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 21:43:09 GMT

I too had a card back in 1998, they could not locate it and told me the only thing they would accept is either a statement or a copy of the card.

I looked and looked everywhere but I unfortunately could find neither. I called at least 6 times trying different departments and different people ect...

Re: Amex has no record of my old card

LS2982 — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 21:43:58 GMT

@Cdnewmanpac wrote:
I've wanted a costco amex for some time, as we shop there frequently and it is essentially a free amex. Didn't think I had a prayer getting it with my scores/bads, but thought maybe getting a zync, using responsibly and trying in a year might work. Got approved for the zync this morning, but in discussions with the rep, they have no record of me being a previous cardholder. I had a green card in college that got closed after I was late a few times (closed with zero balance, not co). Closed in 1989. Has anyone ever gotten amex to backdate a card they no longer have records of? Any clue how I could prove such a thing? If they can't, I'll be kinda bummed, as I was hoping not to get so nailed on aaoa.

Congrats!!!!

Re: Amex has no record of my old card

bichonmom — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 21:55:59 GMT

It's not unusual for the CSR to not have that info. I would wait until you get the card and set up your online account. Then once you log in, see what it says for "Member Since" date. My card came and had '12 on it, but when I logged it, it had member since '87 on the account online. I didn't do anything to get them to do this. It was all automatic in their system.

If your member since date isn't the original date, then here's some info I had copied from posts when I thought I might need help backdating: (If you have an old CR w/the Amex info, that will help, even though the number isn't your Amex acct. number.)

Also, my old Amex hasn't been on my CR in years, but they did automatically backdate.

PREVIOUS POSTS:

So if you have the account number that's listed on your EX report, call AmEx's internal credit bureau dept 1-800-874-2717, and you will be able to get your cards backdated.

****

If it is not reporting any longer, I do not believe AmEx's internal credit bureau dept will be able to pull it up, but if you do have old reports with the AmEx TL's reporting, they will give you a fax number to send a copy to.

Re: Amex has no record of my old card

bakalao2k — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 23:55:44 GMT

@Cdnewmanpac wrote:
I've wanted a costco amex for some time, as we shop there frequently and it is essentially a free amex. Didn't think I had a prayer getting it with my scores/bads, but thought maybe getting a zync, using responsibly and trying in a year might work. Got approved for the zync this morning, but in discussions with the rep, they have no record of me being a previous cardholder. I had a green card in college that got closed after I was late a few times (closed with zero balance, not co). Closed in 1989. Has anyone ever gotten amex to backdate a card they no longer have records of? Any clue how I could prove such a thing? If they can't, I'll be kinda bummed, as I was hoping not to get so nailed on aaoa.

OP, I believe the database CSRs use can't find accounts that old. I imagine charged off/closed accounts from way back are exported into some archive database(s). Can you imagine how large some AMEX database instances are?

You have to contact the collections or Oasis dept (if they still exist) to find the account number. AMEX has a memory like an elephant...most of the time.

Re: Amex has no record of my old card

Cdnewmanpac — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 00:30:21 GMT

Thanks for all the tips. I have a few boxes of "critical documents" in storage and will go through them, but I doubt I kept a statement from a card I had for a year. I kept a bunch of random stuff from college in a box, so might actually still have the card. If not, I will wait and see what happens when I activate, then try their collections and credit bureau #s. If that fails, I'll just take the pain on the AAoA and hope it isn't too much. Kind of a bummer, since I was just about to go over 6 years on experian and 7 on tu/eq. Considering that 4 months ago I had 2 secured cards with a total limit of 1450 and now I have an Amex NPSL, a Chase Southwest RR visa sig, a USAA world mc and (counting my lovely wife's AU wells card) a total cl of just <30k, I shouldn't cry for too long. Next up, Citi Simplicity in 6 months. Thanks again...

Re: Amex has no record of my old card

JRomulus — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 04:52:38 GMT

No bookstore receipts or any others ?

I hadn't thought of receipts.

I actually found a 25 year old credit report from 1985 I used to get my card backdated. Back then they didn't scramble the numbers, it was right there and helped me get some serious backdating... X3 Amex cards.

Good luck.

Re: Amex has no record of my old card

cashnocredit — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 05:31:33 GMT

I had a gold card back in the 70's. I actually have a canceled check with the card number on it for the AF. Amex looked up the card # but it has since been reassigned to another member. After a certain period of time they recycle account numbers. Turns out banks do that on checking accounts too. Sigh.

Re: Amex has no record of my old card

scottwagnon — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 06:52:36 GMT

my au must have gotten very lucky because i was able to get blue cash e. backdated to 1971 with just one call.

Re: Amex has no record of my old card

LS2982 — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 10:56:58 GMT

@JRomulus wrote:
No bookstore receipts or any others ?

I hadn't thought of receipts.

I actually found a 25 year old credit report from 1985 I used to get my card backdated. Back then they didn't scramble the numbers, it was right there and helped me get some serious backdating... X3 Amex cards.

Good luck.

That is awesome!!! Congrats on finding that old report!