Amex Back Dating - weird

[mitchblue]

I'm thrilled this morning..I got a AMEX Green in June, never heard about backdating and forgot I even had a card back in 2000. Not much history before so my average account jumped from 11 months to 5 years. I got over a 40 point jump. Yes!

[s_haliz]

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@mitchblue wrote:

I'm thrilled this morning..I got a AMEX Green in June, never heard about backdating and forgot I even had a card back in 2000. Not much history before so my average account jumped from 11 months to 5 years. I got over a 40 point jump. Yes!

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That's great. 

[ExplicitElicit]

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@mitchblue wrote:

I'm thrilled this morning..I got a AMEX Green in June, never heard about backdating and forgot I even had a card back in 2000. Not much history before so my average account jumped from 11 months to 5 years. I got over a 40 point jump. Yes!

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How long did it take to backdate on your CRA's? 

[sponge_gto]

Well given that the Amex Prepaid has been replaced by Serve which doesn't seem to backdate, I think this story is gonna stay one-of-a-kind..

[ezdoesit]

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@SunriseEarth wrote:

The backdate uses your month (and day, on some CRs) of application for the new card and the year of the original credit card.

For example, I got my AMEX on March 4th, 2014.   I had an AMEX back in 1998 when I was in college.   So my new CC reports as March 4th, 1998 on my CRs, even though my original card was not opened in March of 1998. 

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Exactly I opened a PRG 8/13 got a EDP on 4/14 so the new open date for the second account is 4/13.  Month of second card and year of original card.  That is why people say to apply in January to maximize you AAoA with Amex.

[Open123]

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@ezdoesit wrote:

Exactly I opened a PRG 8/13 got a EDP on 4/14 so the new open date for the second account is 4/13.  Month of second card and year of original card.  That is why people say to apply in January to maximize you AAoA with Amex.

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+1

Right, which is why it's customary for many older membership dates to apply for a couple of new Amex cards every Jan, especially to mitigate the adverse AAOA effects of churning.  For older members, a new Amex account is really only an HP, and not an "official" new account since it's backdated, unlike any other issuer.