Im having an issue. please advise..

[ac921ol]

I just need people to point me in the right direction.

I saw hilton is offering 60k points spend $750 in 3 months. NO AF this offer expires 12/31/13

I was looking for this deal in Jan so that I can have the back dating to Jan 2013.

What are the chances this hilton 60k Miles, NO AF card will be back in Jan or something.

Please Advise.

[Anonymous]

If you find the deal valuable because of points, no AF and small spend, that really should outweigh the advantage of a few months of backdating.

[armbenderc]

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@Anonymous wrote:

If you find the deal valuable because of points, no AF and small spend, that really should outweigh the advantage of a few months of backdating.

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If he/she app in Jan '13, he/she will get 1 year of back dating vs completely new account open at 11/2003 since he/she is 2013 member of Amex. 

If he/she is 2012 member of Amex, it will be 11/2012 opening date with 1 year back dating.. and if app'd in Jan 2014, he/she will get 1/2012 opening date with 2 year of back dating.

[Anonymous]

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@armbenderc wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

If you find the deal valuable because of points, no AF and small spend, that really should outweigh the advantage of a few months of backdating.

---

If he/she app in Jan '13, he/she will get 1 year of back dating vs completely new account open at 11/2003 since he/she is 2013 member of Amex. 

If he/she is 2012 member of Amex, it will be 11/2012 opening date with 1 year back dating.. and if app'd in Jan 2014, he/she will get 1/2012 opening date with 2 year of back dating.

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Um, yes, = a few months extra of backdating, as I said.   Those months then need to be divided by the number of open and closed accounts to find the impact on AAoA, so even if it is just two accounts, that is at most a 6 month change, and probably a whole lot less.

And then you need to know the "value" of the slightly enhanced AAoA, and that certainly decreases over time.  It will probably increase the score a little, and might have some impact today on a manual review, but will it help get a card that otherwise wouldn't be approved, or get better terms etc?  IMO probably not, as the impact is small. 

That is what has to balanced against  being sure of getting the offer terms now.

[ac921ol]

right now, my AAOA is 4.2 years of age. (but that does not include my CSP, which I opened 9/27/13) The accounts are below, with Opening Month/Year, Im not sure how to figure out the AAOA tho. (the 4.2 is what was reported on my equifax when I pulled it mid Oct) 

Closed Accounts (Credit Card)

Opened 3/2003 (Dated Reported Last 5/1/2006)

Open Accounts  (All CC's and Mortgage)

1/2008

7/2008

9/2009

6/2010

9/2013

9/2013

9/2013

9/2013

[Anonymous]

This was discussed recently, AAoA is just a straight average.  Take the age of each account in months.  Add them up.  Divide by the number of accounts.

That is the AAoA.

But anyway, it looks like you have 9 accounts, so the new one would make 10.  If you wait for "full" backdating, you would gain 10 months (you would get Jan/13 rather than Nov/13) and this would increase your AAoA by 1 month, which would have very little impact on anything.   If you want the benefit of the card, and there is no guarantee it will be there in Jan, I would get it now.

In general, if there is no immediate need for an Amex, then waiting for Jan makes sense, although, as in your case, the gain is often very small.  But if there is any reason to get it, such as need for a purchase in the near future, or an offer will expire, it usually isn't worth waiting.

Like many things on this forum, the benefit of "apply in Jan for max backdating" is said with little analysis as to why/if it makes sense.

[youngandcreditwrthy]

Yeah, most of us have too many accts for backdating to make much of a difference... LOL at least I do! Lookin' at 50-60 total opened/closed accts for me. Haha