Thinking of buying Seasoned Tradelines, will this help me?

[ProllyUrDad]

Hello Everyone,

 

I will get straight to the point, due to some mistakes I made years ago my credit score is very low. My FICO SCORE 8 is 482 on Experian. I've started an online business that's making me money and as of recent I need a new Payment Processor. Without one I cannot do business online. The problem is my credit score is currently holding me back from acquiring one. 

 

My total debt is $67,380, I am thinking about buying a seasoned tradeline, with a 20K+ credit limit or higher with an age of 4+ years to offset my utilization and bring my credit score up. This will cost me about $570, my credit score needs to be a minimum of 500 to get a payment processing account, I'm only doing this because time is not on my side, and e-commerce is how I make my living, and take care of my family.

 

Any opinions, advice, or experience you would like to share?

 

Thank you!

[MarvBear]

Welcome to CreditBoards.

 

[shifter]

Usually ends up being a scam. It may not even report due to address and name differences. If you only need to get your score over 500 there are probably 10 other things you can do that would be more effective.

 

What is causing your score to be so low? Mistakes years ago don't cause a sub-500 score. That's more indicative of current mistakes. 

[hdporter]

Echoing @shifter's concerns, also take serious consideration of the fact that adding positive tradeline information could potentially help where aggregate revolving utilization is concerned, but you're still impacted by high utilization on individual accounts.  Further, the tradeline won't help much to counter severe adverse report content such as charge-offs and collection accounts.

 

Of course, I recognize that you're merely looking for a few points in score notch up.  The key uncertainty here is the extent to which authorized user accounts are factored into the newer FICO scores (incl FICO 8).  Fair, Isaac has stated for some time that they've tweaked their algorithms to minimize distortions caused by "purchased" tradelines (aka "piggybacking").  The specifics have been murky.

 

However, in January there was a post to the myFICO board by someone who corresponded at length with a FICO rep on this topic.  The following was the guidance received:

 

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Understanding-FICO-Scoring/Authorized-Users-and-FICO-Scoring-Finally-a-straight-answer/td-p/6637116

 

Quote

Authorized user accounts aren’t considered in the calculation of the attribute of the length of credit history. FICO still considers/includes authorized users in its scoring, but doesn’t use the authorized user balance or credit limit for calculating utilization

 

[Burgerwars]

1 hour ago, shifter said:

Usually ends up being a scam. It may not even report due to address and name differences. If you only need to get your score over 500 there are probably 10 other things you can do that would be more effective.

 

What is causing your score to be so low? Mistakes years ago don't cause a sub-500 score. That's more indicative of current mistakes. 

 

Agree with scams out there. That said, being an authorized user may help in establishing credit, but already having below 500 credit is another issue. Below 500 is very poor. Even adding you as an authorized user or co-applicant to another account, does not negate what is causing your credit to be so poor.  It's possible your score might improve a bit, but things like charge-offs, collections, accounts that are or were past due and bankruptcies are still there and can cause an automatic decline.  

 

Edited August 25, 2023 by Burgerwars

[ProllyUrDad]

4 hours ago, shifter said:

Usually ends up being a scam. It may not even report due to address and name differences. If you only need to get your score over 500 there are probably 10 other things you can do that would be more effective.

 

What is causing your score to be so low? Mistakes years ago don't cause a sub-500 score. That's more indicative of current mistakes. 

 

Hey @shifter, thanks for your reply. Not sure if I can post the source here, but the place I found seems to be very legitimate. They've been in business since 2010 and even offer refunds. Regarding why my credit score is so low, my current utilization is at 89%, and I have a few negative remarks:

 

1. Loan: Credit Limit: $50,000, Balance: $44,338, and 2 Late Payments

2. Charged off auto loan: Original balance: $27,950, Balance Past Due: $19,551

3. Credit Card Collection (Was sold to collection agency): Balance: $892

4. Credit Card Charge off: Credit limit $3,000 - Balance: $890

5. Credit Card Charge off: Credit limit $848 - Balance: $124

6. Credit Card Charge off: Credit limit $995 - Balance due: $1,575

7. Paid and Closed Accounts: 2 fully paid and closed credit card accounts

 

I know, I was an idiot. I am not that idiot anymore and am determined to fix the mess I've created.

Edited August 25, 2023 by ProllyUrDad

[ProllyUrDad]

5 hours ago, MarvBear said:

Welcome to CreditBoards.

 

 

Thanks!

[ProllyUrDad]

4 hours ago, shifter said:

Usually ends up being a scam. It may not even report due to address and name differences. If you only need to get your score over 500 there are probably 10 other things you can do that would be more effective.

 

What is causing your score to be so low? Mistakes years ago don't cause a sub-500 score. That's more indicative of current mistakes. 

 

@shifter Also, what "10 other things"  you suggest I do that would be more effective?

 

Thank you!

[Knight]

is this even legal to do?

[shifter]

17 hours ago, ProllyUrDad said:

@shifter Also, what "10 other things"  you suggest I do that would be more effective?

 

Thank you!

Is that your full credit report? Do you have any open credit cards? If not that would be the first place to start and the AU account wouldn't help in that regard. A big part of credit repair is rebuilding and establishing at least 3 open revolving accounts will boost your score instantly. You can look for guaranteed acceptance secured cards to get at least one open. 

[ProllyUrDad]

On 8/26/2023 at 8:26 AM, shifter said:

Is that your full credit report? Do you have any open credit cards? If not that would be the first place to start and the AU account wouldn't help in that regard. A big part of credit repair is rebuilding and establishing at least 3 open revolving accounts will boost your score instantly. You can look for guaranteed acceptance secured cards to get at least one open. 

 

Yes that is my full credit report, I don't have any open credit cards. I went ahead and followed your advice, I opened up an account with two credit builder credit cards because I dont think I'll be approved for a traditional or secured card. I signed up with Cred.ai, and AVA, Cred.ai reports a $1,500 line of credit, AVA reports $2,500, I'm thinking of also adding Self or Kikoff, do you think I'm adding too much? Also, were their any services you recommend?

Edited August 27, 2023 by ProllyUrDad

[shifter]

Never heard of those but I hope they work out for you! Even just one open card is going to boost your score, but 3 would be preferable. Eventually you will want 5 but I'm not sure I would rush out and get 5 of these credit builder accounts. 

[ProllyUrDad]

22 hours ago, shifter said:

Never heard of those but I hope they work out for you! Even just one open card is going to boost your score, but 3 would be preferable. Eventually you will want 5 but I'm not sure I would rush out and get 5 of these credit builder accounts. 

 

Understood, thanks for your help I really appreciate it. May ask why you suggest not rushing out to get 5 credit builder accounts? I was about to get a 4th until I saw your message. I thought I should ask first, I now have 3 lines of credit, and I was thinking about adding a Self "Credit Builder Loan" to build up some positive payment history. From your response, it sounds like opening up to many accounts at once would be a bad idea?

[hdporter]

22 hours ago, shifter said:

Never heard of those but I hope they work out for you! Even just one open card is going to boost your score, but 3 would be preferable. Eventually you will want 5 but I'm not sure I would rush out and get 5 of these credit builder accounts. 

 

I assume the credit builder accounts are term loans.  Your remarks seem more targeted to acquiring revolving tradelines, no?

[ProllyUrDad]

2 minutes ago, hdporter said:

 

I assume the credit builder accounts are term loans.  Your remarks seem more targeted to acquiring revolving tradelines, no?

 

Hello, thanks for your comment! The credit builder accounts, AVA, Cred.AI, Kikoff, and StellarFi are revolving lines of credit. With these accounts, I currently have $9000 in a revolving line of credit that will be added to Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. I am now considering adding the "Self Credit Builder Loan" to add some positive payment history. They report to 4 bureaus, Experian, Equifax, TransUnion, and Vantage. Self is an installment loan, but they give the money back I've paid into it every month after 24 months.

[shifter]

5 hours ago, ProllyUrDad said:

I am now considering adding the "Self Credit Builder Loan" to add some positive payment history.

No. Useless. 

[hendo]

What if he added primary tradelines? Would the score increse?

[MarvBear]

3 hours ago, hendo said:

What if he added primary tradelines? Would the score increase?

 

What is a primary tradeline?

[shifter]

4 hours ago, hendo said:

What if he added primary tradelines? Would the score increse?

Yes, that's what he did. He opened 3 new accounts and that should increase his score substantially. A little overnight, but even more over the next few months.

[Mido]

On 8/29/2023 at 5:18 AM, ProllyUrDad said:

 

Hello, thanks for your comment! The credit builder accounts, AVA, Cred.AI, Kikoff, and StellarFi are revolving lines of credit. With these accounts, I currently have $9000 in a revolving line of credit that will be added to Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. I am now considering adding the "Self Credit Builder Loan" to add some positive payment history. They report to 4 bureaus, Experian, Equifax, TransUnion, and Vantage. Self is an installment loan, but they give the money back I've paid into it every month after 24 months.

Hi there, @ProllyUrDad wanted to ask how high your score went up (how many points) since you opened AVA, Cred.ai, Kikoff, and Stellarfi back in August 2023?
 

Did it really help you??