How come so many have multiple Amex cards ?

[Scene]

to diversify

[pizzadude]

Backdating. After your initial AMEX card all others will reflect the year opened of your first AMEX.

[webhopper]

Many people have several revolving accounts and several charge accounts with AMEX.  They have been a customer for a long time, and AMEX backdates... So if they have been a customer of AMEX for 10 yrs... they could have 4 accounts with 10 yrs of age each, which equals 40 yrs of good credit history, even though they may have only recently opened up the account.

[Anonymous]

I opted to get the Blue recently in addition to the Gold I've had because I wanted a third prime account, one that I would leave at home.  I went with Amex because I have an established history with them and they would backdate it.

[Anonymous]

Rewards.

[LS2982]

+1 on backdating

[annalog]

Because they're really good at psychological marketing. 

They know if you pay a fee for a credit card, you're more likely to use it.

[Open123]

---

@annalog wrote:

Because they're really good at psychological marketing. 

They know if you pay a fee for a credit card, you're more likely to use it.

---

And, each of their cards excels at a certain kind of reward.

For instance, the Platinum has airport lounges, no forex, and $200 airline credit with instant upgrade to Gold status at Starwoods.  The PR Gold excels at buying airline tickets.  The SPG if used with "cash + redeem" at int'l hotels can yield up to 5-6% cashback equivalent.  The Zync excels at dining and specific categories up to 5k spending.  Delta offers extras for using the airline. The blues offer no fee and accelerated rewards in more everyday categories.

So, if you spend enough to reap the benefits to justify the annual fee, then it makes sense to have several cards to maximize the areas in which one spends.

[Gollum]

FICO gives us aggregate, general information regarding FICO scores, but the specifics are a trade secret.  Surely FICO knows about American Express backdating.  I think FICO scoring algorithms probably take it into account.

It seems to me that American Express backdating does not necessarily increase FICO scores.