How To Sell Tradelines


Updated on : March 11th, 2022
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Did you know that you could get paid for having a good credit score? If you are the primary owner of a healthy tradeline, you could make some extra money by allowing others to become authorized users on your account.
This process is called selling tradelines. In this article, we’ll explain the entire process of selling tradelines, what you need to get started, and other commonly asked questions.
Is It Legal to Buy and Sell Tradelines?
Yes, it’s 100% legal to buy and sell tradelines. Adding an authorized user to a tradeline is a form of “credit piggybacking,” where the authorized user gets to enjoy the full benefits of the tradeline when it comes to their credit score. Credit piggybacking is entirely legal.
In fact, credit card companies and other creditors actually support credit piggybacking. If you own a credit card, you may have come across marketing material encouraging you to add family members as authorized users to the card.
In this type of arrangement, credit card companies benefit because more authorized users means more spending on your account, leading to higher profits. Thus, it makes sense why they like to actively promote this.
So why do the same creditors tend to frown upon tradelines? When you sell a tradeline to someone, you typically don’t give them permissions to actually use the account for any expenses. In other words, credit card companies don’t get any benefits.
While this means certain creditors dislike the practice of selling tradelines, it doesn’t make it illegal. There are no laws explicitly prohibiting the sale of tradelines.
What Do I Need to Start Selling Tradelines?
To start selling tradelines, you obviously need to be the primary owner of at least one good tradeline. What exactly does that mean? In order to figure that out, consider what someone looking to get a tradeline would want from it:
- A high credit limit. A higher credit limit can help someone lower their overall credit utilization. This can improve the “amounts owed” category of their credit score.
- An old, longstanding account. The longer your account has been open, the better. This can help someone increase the average age of their credit, improving the “credit age” category of their score.
- Perfect payment history. Last, but certainly not least, the account should not have any missed payments. “Payment history” accounts for the largest category (35%) of your credit score.
- Your account is with a popular issuer. Any credit card from a major US bank such as Chase, Capital One, or Bank of America are good candidates for tradelines. One notable exception is that American Express cards won’t work as tradelines because they’re technically considered charge cards instead of credit cards.
Once you satisfy all the above criteria, you can then reach out to companies such as Tradeline Supply Company to list your tradeline for sale.
How Much Money Can You Make Selling Tradelines?
The quality of your tradeline will determine how much money you can make from it. However, as a general rule, each sale at Tradeline Supply Company could earn you between $50 to $350.
Note that you will not earn this money right away. Because you typically have to keep an authorized user on your account for two months, the sale usually isn’t considered finalized until that two month period is up.
Still, if you have a very desirable tradeline, a few sales could eventually earn you $1,000 or more per month with just a few hours of work. If you have multiple tradelines for sale, this could turn into a very profitable side gig.
What Is The Best Company To Sell Tradelines?
Among our list of the 5 best tradeline companies, Tradeline Supply Company is our top choice if you’re looking to sell your tradeline. They are widely considered the most reputable online broker for buying and selling tradelines.
For buyers, Tradeline Supply Company’s easy online interface makes it easy to compare tradelines and checkout in minutes. For sellers, Tradeline Supply Company handles all the hard work of listing your tradeline and paying you a commission for every sale. Check out our full Tradeline Supply Company review for more details.
How Does Selling Tradelines Work?
Another benefit of selling with Tradeline Supply Company is that they will guide you through the entire process step-by-step. As a general overview, here’s what you’ll be expected to do:
- Add the authorized user. When a user wants to buy your tradeline, you’ll have to contact your credit card company and add them as an authorized user.
- Confirm the authorized user. When you add an authorized user, the credit card company will usually send you a confirmation and another copy of your credit card via mail. The company may request this confirmation. Most people also destroy the extra card so the buyer cannot make transactions with it.
- After two months, remove the authorized user. At the end of two months, contact the credit card company again to remove the authorized user from your account. Once you confirm this with the company, you’ll get your commission.
What Are The Risks To Selling Tradelines?
Selling tradelines comes with inherent risks. Perhaps the biggest is that you risk getting your account closed. Many credit card companies consider it a red flag if you add too many authorized users to your account in a short time frame. Luckily, Tradeline Supply Company only allows you to sell two authorized user spots on a single credit card at any time.
You shouldn’t have to ever worry about one of your authorized users getting a copy of your credit card, since banks only send these to the primary account owner. However, it’s always a good idea to monitor charges on all of your credit cards just in case. In general, you can lower your risk by always using secure, two-factor authentication on your account.
Conclusion and Next Steps
Selling tradelines can be a practical way for some people with good credit to make a little extra money. However, it’s important that you only sell with a reputable company like Tradeline Supply Company, and that you do so carefully and responsibly.
You can start your journey of selling tradelines today by visiting Tradeline Supply Company’s website. There, you can get a free quote of how much you could earn.
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About the Author
Chris Morgan
Chris Morgan is a credit expert and founder of Credit Help Info. He has been featured in Addition Financial, GOBankingRates, MSN Money, Yahoo Finance, and many other publications. He has read hundreds of books and resources on finance and the credit industry. Because he did this, you don’t have to. As a school teacher for over 20 years, Chris enjoys taking complicated material and breaking it down into manageable information that’s easy to understand.