Authorized user tradelines

How to choose a tradeline seller

Every tradeline seller offers the same underlying thing: a seat on someone else’s card for a while. What separates them is what they promise, what they put in writing, what they ask you for, and what happens when a line does not post. The checks below are ordered by how much damage a bad answer does. The first four are the behaviours that got two sellers shut down by the FTC. Pinnacle’s own answer follows each check, with the page it is written on, so you can hold Pinnacle to the same test as anyone else.

1. Do they promise a score change?

Any number of points, any timeframe, any “guaranteed approval” language is the first disqualifier. BoostMyScore promised 100 to 120 points in two to six weeks; the FTC banned it from the business in 2020. No seller knows which scoring model your lender uses, so no seller can know the effect. A seller that states plainly that it makes no score representation is telling you the truth about the product.

Pinnacle: “We do not promise any score outcome.” FAQ, question 4, and the disclosures on the tradelines page.

2. What exactly are you paying for, and when?

You should be paying a fixed price for a defined seat: a named card, a stated term, a stated set of commitments. You should not be paying a fee for “credit improvement,” a “program,” or anything that sounds like a service performed on your file. That framing is what pulls a seller under the Credit Repair Organizations Act, which forbids charging before the service is fully performed, and it is the framing both FTC defendants used. Ask what you get for the money in one sentence. If the answer is about your score rather than about the seat, walk.

Pinnacle: a fixed price per seat, shown on each line, paid once at checkout, with a full refund before the addition is submitted and within five days of purchase under California law. Refund policy.

3. Are the refund terms in writing before you pay?

The Credit Game told buyers they could get refunds and then did not give them; the FTC listed that among the misrepresentations. A refund policy is worth exactly as much as its specificity: what counts as “posted,” how long you wait before a line is treated as not posted, and what you get then. “Satisfaction guaranteed” is not a policy. Three sentences with a definition, a deadline and a remedy is.

Pinnacle: posted means appearing on all three bureaus; not posted means absent after two reporting cycles; the remedy is your choice of a full refund or a seat on another available line. Early removal by the cardholder and a late payment or utilization breach on the card each have their own stated remedy. Refund policy.

4. Will they dispute anything on your file?

A tradeline seller has no business touching what is already on your report. The Credit Game filed thousands of false identity theft reports with the FTC on customers’ behalf to strip accurate items; that is a federal offense on its own and it is what turned a fine into a permanent ban and a receivership. If a seller offers to “clean up” your file as part of the deal, or bundles the seat with a “credit sweep,” you are looking at the shape of that case.

Pinnacle: seats are sold separately from Pinnacle’s FCRA dispute work and never bundled into it. A seat purchase includes no dispute, and a dispute engagement includes no seat. Disclosures, and the article on tradelines versus credit repair.

5. How long does the seat stay open, in writing?

Two billing cycles is the common term in this market, which means the account may report twice and then vanish. The term should be stated in months or cycles on the page you buy from, not discovered afterwards. Ask also what happens at the end: automatic removal, or an offer to renew, and at what price.

Pinnacle: four months from first reporting, stated on every line and on the commitments page. Renewal for a further four month term at 35 percent off the listed price.

6. Which bureaus, and what condition is the card in?

Issuers choose which bureaus they report to, and Experian’s guidance is that some report authorized users to fewer than three or not at all. A seller should tell you, per line, which bureaus the account reports to. It should also commit to the account’s condition during your term: no late payments in its history, and a utilization cap, because a card that is maxed out the month it reports adds a high-utilization account to your file. Ask how many other authorized users share the account; a card carrying many is the pattern underwriters flag.

Pinnacle: every listed line reports to all three bureaus; utilization stays at or below 5 percent for the whole term; the account carries no late payments in its history; each line opens 20 seats per cycle and the cardholder adds no one beyond that. Commitments page.

7. What do they ask you for, and where does it go?

An issuer needs a name, date of birth, address, and for some cards the last four digits of a Social Security number. A seller does not need your full Social Security number, and it never needs your bureau logins or passwords. Ask how the details are collected, where they are stored, and for how long. A seller that wants them by email or in a web form before you have paid anything is handling your identity carelessly.

Pinnacle: details are collected through a secure, single-use link emailed immediately after payment, encrypted at rest, viewable only by an administrator with every view logged, kept for 30 days after the cardholder submits the addition to the issuer, then purged, and kept apart from dispute client files. FAQ, question 8.

8. Can you find out when the line will report before you buy?

Reporting follows the card’s statement closing date. A seller that knows its cards can tell you the purchase deadline for the current cycle and roughly when the account will first appear. A seller that cannot is either guessing or does not control the cardholder relationship. Ask also what happens if you buy close to the closing date, because a late addition reports a month later than you expect.

Pinnacle: every line shows its purchase deadline and a first reporting window of three to ten days after the closing date, recalculated monthly. Reservations close three days before the deadline, inside that window the line shows the next cycle, and your cycle is confirmed by email. How to place an order.

Two things this list does not include

Reviews and ratings are not on the list, because the two sellers the FTC shut down both had them. Posting statistics are not on the list either: Pinnacle does not publish a posting rate because it has no history yet, and a rate quoted by a seller that will not show you the underlying records is a number, not evidence. Judge a seller by what it puts in writing and what it refuses to promise.

Questions people ask

What is the biggest red flag in a tradeline seller?

A promised score change. It is the first allegation in both FTC cases, it is impossible for a seller to know, and it signals that the seller is selling an outcome rather than a seat.

Should a tradeline seller ask for my Social Security number?

Some issuers require the last four digits to add an authorized user. No seller needs the full number, and none needs your bureau logins or passwords. Provide the last four only after payment, through a secure form, never by email.

How long should a tradeline stay on my report?

Whatever term the seller states in writing before you pay. Two billing cycles is common; Pinnacle’s term is four months from first reporting, with renewal at 35 percent off.

Does a longer term cost more?

Usually, and it should. A four month seat costs the cardholder more than a two cycle seat. Compare price per month of reporting, not price per seat.

Sources

• FTC records for BoostMyScore (2020) and The Credit Game (2022), cited in full in the legality article.
• Experian, “Are Authorized-User Accounts Reported to All Three Bureaus?”: experian.com
• Pinnacle: commitments page, refund policy, tradeline FAQ, how to place an order, disclosures.

Pinnacle makes no representation about the effect of any authorized user account on any score. Terms are on the commitments page, the refund policy and the disclosures on the tradelines page. This article is not legal or financial advice.