Originally Posted by
AbyssalLoris
I suppose that is the most reasonable course. I will have to ask about closing the old BofA card, though. Will that affect the answer I get?
Just for clarity, the old Amex card was a Blue for students, and the later one was an EDP. The old BofA card is a cash rewards or whatever it is called (never use it) and the new one is a Merrill+. I know the former is better than the latter for spending but I pretty much don't use either. Not a big deal if I cant close one.
AMEX stopped backdating new account openings back in 2015. (This is regarding the date report to credit bureaus - you may still have a meaningless "Member Since [some old date] stamped no your card.) This was normally an automatic thing for AMEX cards, not something one had to request or dependent upon specific cards.
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/ameri...-credit-cards/
https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Cre...s/td-p/3907659
I've never heard of BofA having a similar practice of backdating primary accountholder cards in its credit bureau reporting. Certainly it's never happened with any recent BofA cards of mine or my wife's. They and some other issuers may backdate an authorized user's card reporting to match the opening date of the primary account holder, but that's different from what I believe you're asking.
You can of course call BofA and confirm. In any case, unless you have a very thin credit file, closing your existing BofA card and adding a new AS card (presumably that's what you have in mind) is unlikely to have a substantive impact on your score.