building credit

Hi, welcome to the forums. When the credit card account defaulted, more than likely AMEX reported it to the credit bureaus, which would give you a negative mark. However, since you've paid it off, it would show that on your report as well, which makes it look a lot better.

Fins is right. you may have sustained a black mark on your credit by your AMEX going into collections, but to your credit, you paid that off within a very reasonable time frame. that takes a lot of discipline to do because monthly payments would have been pretty substantial. Congrats for paying that card off...we learn from our history and sounds like you will be very responsible with future credit which will undoubtedly enhance your credit scores. good luck!