AmEx AMess Backdating questions

[MACFRME]

I know, I know... I really wanted the travel benefits for a trip I am taking soon though. I would have had to wait 13 months to upgrade. Maybe AmEx will start offering the Zync again before I cancel my Green card and I can PC it to that. I might also just do the senior Green option, and continue to use it occasionally until I get a really awesome upgrade offer.

[Jansroom726]

Question: I opened my Amex Gold card on 11/2012. I applied and got approved for the Delta gold skymiles a few days ago. When I get my card, will that be backdated to the date of my Gold card? 

Thanks.

[Revelate]

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@Jansroom726 wrote:

Question: I opened my Amex Gold card on 11/2012. I applied and got approved for the Delta gold skymiles a few days ago. When I get my card, will that be backdated to the date of my Gold card? 

Thanks.

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Pretty much: month of new application approval (November), year of your member since date = 11/2012 by coinkidink.  If you had waited to say January it would've been 01/12 instead.

[09Lexie]

Sometimes they ship cards out with the current year. If this happens just give them a call and request the replacement card. You will have to wait 10 days after receipt of your first card.

[Anonymous]

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@Revelate wrote:

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@MACFRME wrote:
So January is always the best time to do this because you benefit the most from backdating? That makes a lot more sense now. AmEx is so strange, yet very helpful.

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Not always.  There's a lot more to FICO than just tradeline age, and one has to remember with backdating one always gets X years of a backdate regardless of where in that individual year is, but with the way FICO works it's always helpful to get your negatives (and an inquiry is never positive) as early as possible so it's less impactful when you need your credit score for something else.  Also don't discount the payment history on a new tradeline in addition to the extra AAoA: you're way better off in my opinion applying for an Amex in June or before in a given year than waiting till January of the following year.  I'll take a seasoned tradeline and 4.5 years AAoA  over 5 years AAoA on a new tradeline as an example anytime without question.

Personally for me I think the split is right around the September/October timeframe from a FICO break-even perspective; October through December I'll just wait till January.  Note this is just my opinion and doesn't have hard evidence behind it, but anecdotally this is my own strategy after seeing tons of reports on the impact of new tradelines vs. aged ones at different boundaries.

Edit: also from a financial perspective, if it makes sense for you to apply for a credit card right now and you have a good chance of being approved, do it and disregard the backdating altogether.  Age will come with time, but if you can make a solid shift with a new reward set, go do that.  It's always better to make an app on something that's useful right now, rather than waiting unless there's some reason to delay it (like my trying to finagle a mortgage... may wind up with a diamond spade at this rate with how the market is rising).

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+1 (or even 1.2)   Very much agree that waiting for Jan is very often not the best approach, and, within a fairly short amount of time, the difference is unimportant.  The potential extra 11 months of backdating has to be divided by all your open and closed lines of credit, so with 5-6 lines that is ~ 2 months.  And there probably isn't a significant score difference between say AAoA 1.3 and 1.4 years (and even less between 10.1 and 10.2 say).   Whereas if by applying now you can get you bonus earlier, or start getting say the BCP savings earlier, that can really outweigh any benefit from delaying for optimal backdating.   Like a few things here, way overstressed.

That said, I am waiting till Jan to get my Blue!   (Really because of inqs falling off Dec 29, so may as well wait the three days..)

[MACFRME]

My credit history is ridiculously short, as I am only 22. I have some Cap1 cards (one from 2011 and another from 2012), but all of my other cards have been acquired this year. Account age is something I really need to work on. The rest of the stuff is good. I just wish I could get the AmExs backdated even further.

[Anonymous]

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@MACFRME wrote:
My credit history is ridiculously short, as I am only 22. I have some Cap1 cards (one from 2011 and another from 2012), but all of my other cards have been acquired this year. Account age is something I really need to work on. The rest of the stuff is good. I just wish I could get the AmExs backdated even further.

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Yes, but you are laying the ground work for the future, when additional Amex cards can backdate all the way back to 2013!  (In 2012 I backdated to 1987, I had almost forgotten that first Amex).