TL:DR
There is a well-known credit hack of adding your children or loved ones as authorized users on your credit cards to help boost their credit.
This strategy has given lots of people a leg up in the world of credit and credit scores, and now there is a way to get paid by doing the same thing for other people looking to build their credit profiles.
People trying to improve their credit score will pay you to temporarily add them as an authorized user on your credit card. The older the card and the higher the limit, the more you will get paid since that will have a greater impact on their credit report.
The added authorized user never receives a copy of your credit card, they do not get any of your information, they do not receive any of the account information. They are simply paying for it to show up on their credit report, so they can boost their credit to get better interest rates on loans. The entire transaction is administered by a professional broker and is a legal and incredibly safe transaction. It is commonly referred to as the $1000 an hour job because it takes almost no work on your part and you can make $2,000-$25,000 a year.
Actual post
I recently started selling Tradelines and honestly it has been an absolute dream come true.
What exactly was that dream?
To make money from wherever I want with essentially zero work required.
Sometime during college, I was first introduced to the concept of credit and a credit score. It was soon after this that I realized I had a poor credit score. Every time I was in a group of people and we were talking about credit there was always someone who would say, “Well my parents added me to their credit cards when I was like 13, so now I weirdly have insanely good credit for someone that is 20.” Weird flex, but ok.
Where a parent might add their child as an authorized user to start building up their credit at an early age, Selling Tradelines is a way to make money by doing this for other people who are trying to build up their credit scores to get approved for loans or get better interest rates. This strategy has been around for a while and it does really work.
Why do people buy Tradelines?
There are quite a few reasons someone would buy a Tradeline. Having bad credit can make your life a real drag. A low credit score will cause you to get a higher interest rate on your car loan and your mortgage. Costing you tens of thousands of extra dollars as someone with good credit. It is common for wireless phone companies to charge you a premium for phone plans if you have bad credit. It can be more costly to set-up utilities (electric, gas, water, etc) because companies will require a deposit before servicing you if you have poor credit. If your credit is considered too risky banks won’t even give you a loan. Your credit score and your credit report are like your financial reputation. Missed a few electric bills back in college? That is going on your permanent record. Stop paying the bill on a credit card and it ended up in collections? Have fun trying to explain that to lenders for the next 7-8 years. Now, eventually, we all grow up and get our acts together but sometimes our past still haunts us. Maybe you have settled down, found steady employment, and are ready to buy a house, but your past credit mistakes are still holding you back. You can just keep doing the right things like making on-time payments and lowering your balances, but this can take a long time. Your wife might have found your dream house but the lenders in your town think your credit history is poor and won’t give you a mortgage.
It generally takes seven years for something to come off your credit report. If that seems too long, buying a tradeline could be a much faster option to get a quick boost to someone’s credit. Buying a tradeline allows you to show up as an authorized user on an account that has a high credit limit, is aged well, and is in good credit standing. These are all crucial components to someone’s credit score.
I had loosely heard of tradelines for a while, but I didn’t really understand what it was, and honestly, the little bit I did understand sounded strange. It wasn’t until a financial blogger friend, one of my personal heroes, Ed Mills, mentioned that he was making about $10,000 a year selling tradelines, that I actually took a deep dive to better learn what tradelines are.
Okay so enough clickbait, what exactly is selling tradelines?
I would like to preface this with the fact the there are some things in life that people are just going to never feel comfortable with. Some people are terrified of the stock market and are never going to buy equities that way. Real Estate makes some people nervous and they are not going to ever own a rental property. Honestly, it is a little unfortunate because some of these are incredible vehicles to make some serious dough and some people will never get to experience that at all because of honestly just not understanding something enough to feel confident in it.
Tradelines are probably near the top of that, “I don’t get it, so this sounds too weird for me, no thanks”, list.
Which is a huge bummer because honestly it is the easiest way I have ever found to make a decent amount of money in a side hustle.
Selling tradelines is a fancy way of saying you are adding someone as an authorized user on one of your credit cards to help them raise their credit. Someone is paying so that your high credit limit, credit age, and history of on-time payments shows up on their credit report. They do not have access to your credit card or your credit card account, the card just temporarily shows up on their credit report.
Who is Selling Tradelines FOR?
If you are someone who has accumulated a few credit cards over the years that are paid off selling tradelines could be an awesome side hustle.
If you have multiple credit cards that you feel are expendable. Expendable because the only drawback is sometimes (rare) when credit card companies see too much activity from you constantly adding and dropping Authorized Users they could potentially cancel your credit card. It is rumored this happens occasionally with Bank of America. Now, this occurrence is rare but should be known going in. As for myself, I have quite a few cards, so if one got canceled I would not be heart-broken.
You are able to easily keep track of your credit cards and pay them all off in full at a strategic time.
Selling tradelines becomes EXTREMELY profitable to people who have well-aged credit cards with high limits. Cards that are over 10 years old with credit limits over $20,000 are going to make you a lot of money. A credit card that is at least 2 years old and has a credit limit of $2000 or more can still make you money.
Selling tradelines has not become mainstream because it requires the seller to have a unique combination of well-aged credit cards that have high limits.
Who is Selling Tradelines NOT for?
If you carry a large balance on your credit cards, or if you are struggling to get rid of your credit card debt; tradelines are NOT for you.
If you don’t have any credit cards you are out of luck! Although, I would highly suggest using credit cards, as they can be an incredible tool. My Citi American Airlines card got me four free flights last year.
If you don’t have a credit card over two years old, you’ll have to wait.
Selling tradelines requires some administrative organization as well. You need to carry a small statement on your card, $2.00 is recommended. You also need to be able to quickly respond when it is time to remove or add new users. Customers are paying a premium and delays could hurt your chances of garnering more sales.
In conclusion–
It is difficult for some people to wrap their minds around the fact that the people you are adding do not know you, do not get a copy of your card, and they do not have access to your account in any way. Selling tradelines has been an extremely profitable underground side hustle for a while. It has slowly started to crawl out of the gutter and reveal itself to be the true cash cow it is.
I use Tradeline Supply Company to sell my tradelines and my experience has been great. They are an American business with actual offices in San Diego, CA. Every person I know that also sells tradelines uses them as well as they have been vetted as the industry standard. Their attention to detail for professionalism and safety has definitely caught my eye. They only work with 5-6 banks/credit card companies. They choose these based on the safety features that these companies use. They have good customer service and have gotten back to me quickly with every question I’ve had. There is some latency is the process. You first need to sign up for a credit monitoring service, they prefer Credit Karma, so Tradeline Supply Company can verify your cards and limits. This is also a good time for you to contact your credit card companies and request a limit increase on your cards. A limit increase will raise your personal credit score as well as give you a chance to make higher commissions if you do decide to sell them as tradelines. Okay, that’s all I got! Visit Tradeline Supply Company if you have more questions, they have an awesome FAQ page and will even respond to questions over email for ya. If you do sign up tell em I sent ya! Peace out-