Selling and buying tradelines is a good way to boost your own credit. However, over the years, many economists have raised the question, “Are tradelines ethical?” The main issue raised with tradelines is that people believe they are an artificial method of boosting credit scores and that they give people the ability to access a line of credit they otherwise would not have entry to. It is not a matter of whether tradelines are legal but if they are valid ethically. It is time to dive into the two quandaries raised previously to let you rest easy the next time you start thinking you want a tradeline.
The Manipulation of Credit Scores
Many people wonder if it is ethical to work within the legal system to positively affect your credit score. While tradelines do have a tendency to boost people’s credit scores, it is vital to point out that these actions take place all of the time. Take the scenario of applying for a loan at your local bank. It would be within the bank’s power to deny the individual the line of credit, and the bank would need to state why. It could be due to the fact that the person’s prior debt utilization was too high.
The person could have a debt utilization rate of 60%. However, upon hearing the news from the bank, the person borrows money from a loved one to bring the debt utilization rate down to 10%. When the person applies for another loan, it is granted because the person has better credit.
In this example, you could make the argument that the individual artificially manipulated his or her credit score to qualify for a loan. This happens all the time. People open new credit cards. They bring down their utilization ratios. They pay off collections and add children to their credit cards as authorized users to help give the kids a credit boost once they turn 18. All of this is perfectly legal and opening up tradelines would certainly fall into this category. It all comes down to where you want to draw the line, but for most people, there is no harm in boosting credit scores when they have the opportunity to do so.
The Access to Greater Credit
The practices described above are all legal. In fact, many banks openly encourage parents to make their children authorized users to help with their future credit. How unethical can tradelines be when banks openly encourage users to open them and take other actions to help their credit.
When you search online, you will find numerous articles with tips and tricks to boost your credit score. Some of these are as simple as paying your bills on time while others go into how you can increase your score by getting a secured credit card where you make an upfront deposit. Tradelines may help your credit but so does dozens of other actions. Are all of these unethical? Most people would say, “No,” and when you have banks pressuring people to take these actions, it is more than fair to pursue them.
More than anything, it begs the question of how reliable credit score metrics truly are. If your score, which is so important when it comes to buying a car or house, can be so easily affected by various actions, then it more calls into question how valid it is as a metric. Credit scores seem to be so easily influenced by the slightest of actions that if anything, it makes sense for you to give yourself some assistance by taking an advantage where you can find it.
The question boils down to whether it is ethical to utilize loopholes to get better loan rates. Most people would say, “Yes.” There is nothing illegal about it, so you have nothing to fret about regarding legal reprisal. If your credit score could use a boost, then you deserve to do whatever you can in your power to get it to where you want it.You should not always listen to rumors. Tradelines are perfectly ethical, and Coast Tradelines is here to help you secure one for your financial future. Reach out to us through our online form to see how we can help your credit score for years to come.
