Tradeline Supply Company offers authorized user credit lines for purchase. This is a relatively new credit-building strategy that is discouraged by credit bureaus and credit card issuers. What are the pros, cons, and risks?
Tradeline Supply Company
Tradeline Supply Company is the industry leader in buying or selling authorized user Tradelines. They offer a wide variety of tradelines and have a good customer satisfaction score.
Pros
No credit check
One-time fee
Credit building tool
Reports to at least 2 of the 3 credit bureaus
Cons
Top tradelines cost $$$
The credit card issuer may close the account
May not improve credit
Tradeline will be active for only a short time.
What Are Tradelines?
What is a tradeline? A tradeline is a record of credit activity that is reported to a credit bureau. If you have a student loan, that’s a tradeline. A credit card is a tradeline. Each loan or credit line you establish is another tradeline.
To generate a credit score, you need to have established tradelines on your credit record.
A tradeline with all payments made on time will help your credit. A credit card tradeline with low credit utilization will help your credit. A tradeline with a late or missed payment or maxed-out cards will hurt your credit.
If you have a thin credit file with very few entries or if your credit has taken some damage, you may be looking to add positive tradelines to your credit report. You may have heard that it’s possible to buy tradelines. But how do you do it? Is it legal? Does it work? Where can you buy tradelines?
Let’s look at the practice of buying tradelines and at one of the leading tradeline providers.
Buying Tradelines: How Does it Work?
Buying tradelines is a variation of the authorized user strategy.
People who are trying to build credit often ask a friend or relative with good credit to add them as an authorized user on a credit card.
As long as the card issuer reports authorized users to the credit bureaus, that will add the original user’s payment record and credit history to the authorized user’s record.
By getting added as an authorized user, you’ll “inherit” the payment history of the credit card, and boost YOUR credit score.
Of course that only works if you have a friend or relative with good credit who’s willing to add you as an authorized user. Not everyone is so lucky.
The practice of selling tradelines works the same way, except that you pay a person you don’t know to add you as an authorized user for a fixed period of time.
Authorized user tradelines for sale can increase your credit score by positively affecting these major scoring categories:
- your credit utilization ratio
- payment history
- length of credit history
Tradeline Supply Company and several other companies offer consumers access to a long list of credit cards. You can pay to be named as an authorized user on one or more of them.
👉 The best credit card tradelines have the largest credit limits and the longest credit history. With one purchase, you can add that credit card’s history and credit utilization to your credit report today.
Is it really that simple?
Buying Tradelines: The Pros and Cons
Is it legal to buy or sell tradelines? So far, yes, though Experian warns that if you use a purchased tradeline to improve your score and subsequently default on a loan, you could be liable for bank fraud.
As of now, we know of no case where a tradeline purchaser has been prosecuted.
At least one company selling tradelines has been prosecuted by the FTC. Credit card companies typically prohibit the practice and may close an account if they believe authorized user status has been sold.
Credit bureaus also advise against the practice. The FICO 8 scoring system has an algorithm designed to detect and exclude purchased tradelines.
So it’s not illegal to buy tradelines, but it is also not approved by credit bureaus or card issuers. Let’s look at the pros and cons.
The Pros
- You can add an established tradeline to your credit history almost overnight.
- You may be able to boost your credit score substantially, especially if you have a thin credit file.
The Cons
- Your credit score might not improve. There are no guarantees, especially as scoring models take steps to detect and disregard purchased tradelines.
- You give your social security number and other personal information to a stranger. You could be at risk for identity theft.
- The premium tradelines that do your score the most good may be quite expensive.
- The primary account holder could miss a payment or run a high credit utilization rate. That could harm your credit.
- The primary cardholder could remove you from the account.
- Some tradeline brokers use completely illegal practices like asking you to misrepresent your address or Social Security number.
Should you consider buying a tradeline? That choice is up to you, but we urge you to read more on the subject and make a fully informed choice.
Who Is Tradeline Supply Company?
Tradeline Supply Company (TSC) may be the new face in town, but David Melnicoe, the CEO, has quickly become the new sheriff for the Tradeline Industry.
👉 Seeing an industry dogged by bad reviews and questionable business practices, he set out with the goal of treating customers professionally.
This simple business model has taken David from selling his own personal five Tradelines for sale on Craigslist to an office employing seven people in only four years.
They are no longer accredited by the Better Business Bureau, which is a business watchdog that requires its members to abide by a strict code of business ethics.
According to the Tradeline Supply Co. CEO, when he started the company, you couldn’t find a Tradeline for sale anywhere below $300. Now, he regularly sells cheap Tradelines for as little as $262.50, which has understandably tweaked some of his competitors.
What Makes Them Different?
Tradeline Supply Company (TSC) offers the cheapest Tradelines for sale on the market.
How much does it cost to buy Tradelines?
The available tradelines and their prices vary from day to day. You can sometimes find tradelines starting at $262.50, but the price is usually much higher.
Premium tradelines with high limits and long histories can sell for as much as $1700.
Tradeline Supply Company (TSC) offers the cheapest Tradelines for sale on the market.
One of the ways they keep their costs down is by only selling Authorized Users for specific banks and credit card companies that report authorized users to the credit bureaus.
This is because many of the banks do not properly report authorized users. “I refuse to sell Tradelines for Citi Bank, Wells Fargo, and US Bank,” David said because they only have a, “50-75% success rate of posting to credit reports.”
👉 The reason many of these banks do not report accurately is that the address of the authorized user does not match the address of the primary tradeline owner.
TSC Avoids the Shady “Merging-Address” Request
Many of Tradeline Supply Company’s competitors use an illegal technique called merging addresses to avoid this problem.
They ask their customers to add the primary Tradeline owner’s address to their credit file addresses.
This is an illegal practice that TSC does not use. They recommend that Tradeline buyers avoid sellers who request you to add an address that is not yours to your credit file.
Visit Tradeline Supply Company
Quick & Easy To Apply Credit Building Tool
How To Choose A Tradeline
There are two categories to choose from. Both will affect the cost of buying a Tradeline:
- Credit limit: The maximum amount of money someone can charge on their credit card.
- Length of credit history: How long the credit card account has been open.
They both have positive effects on credit scores.
Tradeline Supply Company lists a wide range of tradelines for sale. For example:
- A Discover card with a $7200 limit, opened in Jan 2020, can be reported for 8 days for $299.25.
- A Barclay’s card with a $15,000 limit, opened in March 2017, can be reported for 8 days for $525.
- A Chase card with a $30,000 limit, opened in Sept 2008, can be reported for 8 days for $1,207.50
Those prices are as of March 2023. The tradelines available and the prices will vary from day to day, but tradelines with higher credit limits and longer credit histories will always be more expensive.
There are two types of consumers that consider purchasing a Tradeline. They may have different requirements.
People with Limited or No Credit
Have you heard the stories of people’s credit scores increasing 100 or 200+ points from purchasing a Tradeline?
Every story of huge credit score jumps of 100 to 200+ points occurred to people who had no credit or limited credit.
This is because people with bad credit have a lot more negative reports to overcome than someone who has just started building credit.
👉 If you have no credit or limited credit then choosing a tradeline with a long credit history will make the biggest impact on your credit score.
People with Bad Credit
Someone with bad credit can see a credit score increase from purchasing a tradeline. However, it will depend on the history in your credit file and the tradelines that you choose.
Sometimes this is referred to as diluting your payment history.
Even if you dilute your payment history, those late payments, collection accounts, and other black marks will still be there, and it will take more work to improve your credit than it will for a person with a thin credit record to establish credit.
Why Does Tradeline Supply Company Have Negative Reviews?
Update: 3/13/2020
Tradeline Supply now reports that the negative reviews suddenly stopped when the Federal Government shut down the company they suspected was behind the campaign.
All of the negative reviews have been removed from Trust Pilot but not from Google Reviews.
In my talk with Mr. Melnicoe, I asked about some of the negative reviews his company has online.
He explained that in 2019, someone (most likely in the industry) started a sustained negative fake review campaign against Tradeline Supply Company.
David says, “It seems like we get one or two negative fake reviews almost every day on sites like Google, Site Jabber, and Trust Pilot.”
This orchestrated spam campaign has required Melnicoe and his company to shut down reviews on their Facebook page and to take regular action against the fraudulent reviews.
You can read more of the details about his ongoing war against the ‘Fake Negative Reviews’ on the Tradeline Supply Company website.
How Do I Cancel My Tradeline Order?
At this time, Tradeline Supply Company does not have an official ‘Cancellation Policy’ posted.
David Melnicoe, CEO of Tradeline Supply Company, and he told me, “if anyone wants to cancel their order, so long as we have not added them to the credit card, it’s no problem to issue a refund.”
This means that there is a short window, a few hours to possibly a day or two, from the time when you order to the time when you can cancel your order.
Alternatives To Tradelines
While Tradelines can give a quick credit score boost or add payment history to your credit file, they do not help you continue to build credit after they are purchased. They also present real risks and drawbacks.
You may want to consider other credit-building tools, like secured credit cards and credit builder loans.
Secured Credit Cards
If you have bad credit, no credit, or limited credit, you probably will not qualify for a traditional credit card.
You may want to purchase a Tradeline so that you can qualify for a traditional credit card.
You can get a Secured Credit Card with no credit check by making a deposit and getting a secured card. Your deposit will become your credit limit.
They will then issue you a regular-looking credit card that will work as a traditional credit card and start to build your credit.
Best Secured Credit Cards in 2023
Compare multiple secured credit cards at one time and pick the best option for you.
Credit Builder Loans
Credit Builder Loans are an effective credit builder for people with no credit or limited credit.
Unlike a traditional loan where you’d receive the money upfront, the lender holds your payments in a CD or bank account until you make all of your payments.
When your loan is paid the proceeds of the loan are available to you in one lump sum.
They are great for building credit because there is no credit check and the loan type will add to your credit mix to help increase your credit score.
Wanna Know the Easy Way to Build Credit?
Credit builder loans are an excellent way to start building credit because they are low cost and there is no credit check.
👉 Fun Fact: Credit Builder Loans have been available for many years. But only recently have they become available online nationwide.
Should You Buy a Tradeline?
Buying tradelines has received a great deal of publicity. Some people have used purchased tradelines to improve their credit.
At the same time, buying tradelines has significant disadvantages that you will have to consider before making a deal.
If you do decide to buy a tradeline, Tradeline Supply Company is worth considering as a provider. As always, do your own research and consider all options!
Tradeline Supply Company is a pioneer in making it possible for consumers to purchase tradelines 100% online.
FAQ:
Tradeline Supply Company acts as an intermediary between people buying and selling tradelines. If you want to be added as an authorized user on someone else’s credit card in order to boost your credit score, Tradeline Supply Company can connect you with sellers for a fee.
Tradeline Supply Company was founded in 2017 and quickly became the industry leader in buying and selling authorized user tradelines.
While tradelines usually help people boost their credit score, there’s the risk of hurting their score if the primary account holder misses payments or removes the authorized user from the account.
A tradeline is a record of credit activity that is reported to a credit bureau. Tradelines include mortgages, auto loans, student loans, furniture loans, jewelry loans, installment loans, and of course, credit cards of all types.
I’m ready to purchase some Tradelines. However, I’m confused about the timeline. You say it can take up to 6 weeks for the Tradeline to appear on my credit report. You also state that the Tradeline stays on my credit report for 2 months from the time of purchase. So does this mean it will actually only be there for 2 weeks if it takes 6 weeks to show up? Also, how will I know when the window to apply for a loan is at its optimum?
I love this website, you guys have helped me with so much. My credit has gone up 130 points in the last 8 months- Thank You!