American Express Membership Rewards - credit history on amex cards

hey, this is probably pretty obvious to those that know, but I did some looking and couldn't find a thread on it. I read in a post that amex counts your credit history on all your cards like your oldest card. does that mean that if i have a 10 yr old card and a brand new gold premiere card and i cancel the 10 yr old card, my gold premiere shows as being ten years old? on my credit report it shows up as 10 yr old aged credit? hope i was clear. thanks for the help. another q as well, i know on the new gold premiere card it says the 3 points per dollar on flights is for major us airline carriers... does that exclude intntnl airlines that also fly from the us? (specifically elal)

hey, this is probably pretty obvious to those that know, but I did some looking and couldn't find a thread on it. I read in a post that amex counts your credit history on all your cards like your oldest card. does that mean that if i have a 10 yr old card and a brand new gold premiere card and i cancel the 10 yr old card, my gold premiere shows as being ten years old? on my credit report it shows up as 10 yr old aged credit? hope i was clear. thanks for the help. another q as well, i know on the new gold premiere card it says the 3 points per dollar on flights is for major us airline carriers... does that exclude intntnl airlines that also fly from the us? (specifically elal)

That is correct as I have always understood it. Your "Member Since" date is the date all your accounts report for the opening date. My credit report shows all my amex cards opening on the same month/year. Even though they have been opened years apart.

thanks for the response... any threads on this? I'd love to get something a little more definitive before i go ahead and cancel some old cards.

I dont know of any threads off the top of my head. But the Starwood card I opened a few months ago says on all 3 of my reports that it was opened in 1999, which was the year I opened my first Amex.

Hi metallim,

It’s Beth from Amex Customer Care.

I contacted our Credit Bureau Unit and was advised that we report information to the credit bureau using your initial Member Since date. Because your Member Since date is carried over to new Cards that you acquire, the older date would be reported to the credit bureau on your new account even if you close your older account.

In response to your question regarding points earned on the Premier Rewards Gold Card account, three (3) Membership Rewards points are earned on all airfare – domestic and international.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any additional questions. It is my pleasure to assist you.

...we report information to the credit bureau using your initial Member Since date...

Thank you for researching this ^. Let's use me as an example to clariify exactly how it works. (I'm not asking you to fix anything on my account, just to use these dates as a hypothetical.)

My initial American Express charge card was issued in 1977. Around 1997 I closed the account. In 2003 I opened a new account, this time it was a credit card. Should my Member Since date be 77 or should it be 03? In other words, does Member Since reflect only continuous card membership?

Should Business accounts reflect the same Member Since year as a personal account? I have one Business credit card and one Business charge card, each with a different Member Since date and neither matches my personal Member Since date of 77 or 03.


dennis

Thank you for researching this ^. Let's use me as an example to clariify exactly how it works. (I'm not asking you to fix anything on my account, just to use these dates as a hypothetical.)

My initial American Express charge card was issued in 1977. Around 1997 I closed the account. In 2003 I opened a new account, this time it was a credit card. Should my Member Since date be 77 or should it be 03? In other words, does Member Since reflect only continuous card membership?

Should Business accounts reflect the same Member Since year as a personal account? I have one Business credit card and one Business charge card, each with a different Member Since date and neither matches my personal Member Since date of 77 or 03.

dennis

For me I had to call and have them correct it, but once notified they matched my business and my personal account member since dates. Hope this info helps!

I take it that we are talking credit history here (as reported on credit reports), and not what's printed on the newer card.

For example, my Gold Card, which I have had since 1994, obviously says 'Member Since 94' on the card. My SPG Amex from 2004 says 'Member Since 04' on the card.

Will my additional card holder has the same older credit history, even if I added him/her recently?

Will my additional card holder has the same older credit history, even if I added him/her recently?



Actually your additional card holder credit history starts when they become an American Express card member. For example, I had the Gold card since 1993 and I added my wife as an additional card member in 1999. Her card says Member since 99

Hi metallim,

It’s Beth from Amex Customer Care.

I contacted our Credit Bureau Unit and was advised that we report information to the credit bureau using your initial Member Since date. Because your Member Since date is carried over to new Cards that you acquire, the older date would be reported to the credit bureau on your new account even if you close your older account.

In response to your question regarding points earned on the Premier Rewards Gold Card account, three (3) Membership Rewards points are earned on all airfare – domestic and international.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any additional questions. It is my pleasure to assist you.

Hi
I've a Blue for Student Amex card opened in 2002 with good standing and no late payments. And, now I'm thinking of opening a Gold Premiere Award card. Will Amex pull my credit history again and lower my credit score? Or, shall I close the student card and apply a gold one? Thanks.

Hi
I've a Blue for Student Amex card opened in 2002 with good standing and no late payments. And, now I'm thinking of opening a Gold Premiere Award card. Will Amex pull my credit history again and lower my credit score? Or, shall I close the student card and apply a gold one? Thanks.

Expect them to make an inquiry on your credit when you apply for the new card, but why would you close the older card before applying because of this?

AMEX pulling your credit before they issue you a new card might lower your score, but closing a 7 year old card with a good history would be more likely to do so (and to a much greater degree). If you were a student when you applied for the card, I'm going to assume that it's one of your older credit accounts. If that's the case, you certainly wouldn't want to close it.

Someone more familiar with this process than I can feel free to correct me.

Will Amex pull my credit history again...

Yes. Closing versus keeping your existing card has no bearing on the process, a credit report will be pulled to open the new account. There's no reason to close the old account unless it carries an annual fee.

Thanks for the advice, guys. I never use my old card anymore. I applied it when I was still a student back in 2002 and ended up keeping it for emergency usage. Now, I would like to get a new gold one to get the 15k miles and triple points awards. At the same time, I'm buying a place soon so I don't want my credit score to go lower.

Thanks for the advice, guys. I never use my old card anymore. I applied it when I was still a student back in 2002 and ended up keeping it for emergency usage. Now, I would like to get a new gold one to get the 15k miles and triple points awards. At the same time, I'm buying a place soon so I don't want my credit score to go lower.

An additional credit card isn't likely to lower your score. Since AMEX reports all accounts as open from the date that you first have an account with them, now you'll have two accounts that are seven years old! If that's older than your average credit account, it could be raising your score.

Utilization is important, as well, and the Blue card might help you more than the charge card there. I believe (though I don't know) that the Blue card has a credit limit that would be reported to the credit bureaus. They will then use that (and the amount of debt you have) to see how much you're using. The charge card doesn't have a limit, strictly speaking, so there's no limit to report to the credit bureaus. Closing the Blue account and replacing it with a charge card could raise the utilization % on your report.

Bottom line, I wouldn't close the Blue account.

The hard pull on your account, however, could knock your credit a bit. In general, though, if you have good credit, it shouldn't affect your ability to get a mortgage (provided you don't have a bunch of other inquiries, in addition to this one). Your mortgage banker might ask you why you applied for a new credit card, but they're not likely to hold one inquiry against you (again, assuming you have good credit overall).

An additional credit card isn't likely to lower your score. Since AMEX reports all accounts as open from the date that you first have an account with them, now you'll have two accounts that are seven years old! If that's older than your average credit account, it could be raising your score.

Utilization is important, as well, and the Blue card might help you more than the charge card there. I believe (though I don't know) that the Blue card has a credit limit that would be reported to the credit bureaus. They will then use that (and the amount of debt you have) to see how much you're using. The charge card doesn't have a limit, strictly speaking, so there's no limit to report to the credit bureaus. Closing the Blue account and replacing it with a charge card could raise the utilization % on your report.

Bottom line, I wouldn't close the Blue account.

The hard pull on your account, however, could knock your credit a bit. In general, though, if you have good credit, it shouldn't affect your ability to get a mortgage (provided you don't have a bunch of other inquiries, in addition to this one). Your mortgage banker might ask you why you applied for a new credit card, but they're not likely to hold one inquiry against you (again, assuming you have good credit overall).

Thanks for the advice. Guess I'll keep the blue card even though I don't use it anymore. My lowest score few months ago was 738 and highest was 750 something so I think I'm above average but not excellent. But, since the gold card has unlimited line of credit, I was curious whether it'll lower my score a lot more than usual when they pull my credit. I don't have a mortgage banker yet but will find one soon.

Recently bought a first class flights from IAD to SIN using miles I've been saving for awhile so I'm just hungry for more miles right now. :D That's why I wanna open a gold card but guess that has to wait little longer.

...since the gold card has unlimited line of credit...

It doesn't. Charge cards have no preset spending limit, but that is very different from "unlimited". American Express will not report a limit to the credit bureaux, but they will report the closing balance. Provided there is no change in the limits of your other cards this should not affect your credit score. Some credit agencies may track your highest reported balance and use it in lieu of a credit limit in calculating the "credit utilization" factor of your FICO score.

Hi mia,

As long as the cancelled account is a non-derogatory closed account, we will recognize the oldest Member Since date on any small business (OPEN) and/or consumer account. Corporate Card accounts are viewed as the company’s Card and not an individual Card.

Hi Kan148:

Applications are subject to a credit check and verification prior to final approval. Also, it is not necessary for you to close your Blue from American Express account prior to applying for the Premier Rewards Gold account.
For specific questions about credit bureau reports, I kindly ask you to contact our Credit Bureau Unit directly at 1- 800-874-2717, Monday - Friday 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Eastern Time (EST).

Beth
Amex Customer Care

Hi mia,

As long as the cancelled account is a non-derogatory closed account, we will recognize the oldest Member Since date on any small business (OPEN) and/or consumer account. Corporate Card accounts are viewed as the company’s Card and not an individual Card.


Beth
Amex Customer Care

And what are the practical implications of any "Member Since" date, other than those 2 digits on your card?
I once asked Customer Service what the difference was if they changed my member since date to reflect a card I had (and since closed).
They said "nothing really - just when we pull your account details up on the screen we know to say 'thank you for being a member since xxxx' but nothing else which I know about".

Can you enlighten us whether the "Member Since" date matters and how?

Thanks Beth.