Originally Posted by
Dr_wanderlust
In short, as long as the cards are backdated adding Amex issued cards (not cards by other issuers on the amex network) will help your AAoA. The only cost, credit score wise, is the temporary effect of the inquiry.
Thank you very much for the confirmation. That helps a lot. I knew I wasn't crazy.
For clarification for others who are interested in this, it looks like all the cards you can apply for on americanexpress.com (
http://www304.americanexpress.com/ge...c_viewallcards - click "View All Cards") are Amex issued cards. The Amex network cards are those issued by the companies on this page (minus American Express, of course):
http://www1.amexnetwork.com/cardresources/
This is definitely one of the most useful bits of information for those of us who are fairly young. Getting an Amex early on (and then a few more once your credit is good enough) could really do wonders for your credit score. I know it's going to increase my AAoA by about 2 years by the time all is said & done. At this point in my life, that's pretty big, especially with all the card churns trying to drag that number down instead.