Tradelines are a hotly debated topic that produces many questions: Should you buy one tradeline with a long history, multiple accounts with a low credit limit each, or none at all? When is the best time of the month to buy tradelines? How do tradelines even work, and how do they affect your credit score? This confusion can lead people to make poor decisions when trying to raise credit scores, but fortunately, there are some clear guidelines to follow when considering purchasing one or more tradelines. Take a look at the advice below and don’t forget to contact us as soon as possible with your questions.
How Do Tradelines Affect My Credit Score?
Your credit score is a snapshot of how “healthy” your finances are, and it can show others how responsible you are with money. Lenders usually look at your score before they decide to loan you money to buy a house or lease an apartment. If you’re looking for a personal loan, lenders will look at your score before signing the papers in this situation too. Credit scores are extremely important, and they must be monitored closely and kept stable.
What happens if your score has already dipped a little bit too low?
Tradelines are an option here when it comes to boosting your score quickly and effectively. When you purchase a tradeline, it’s similar to signing onto an account that your parents own. Their good credit helps your credit. Tradelines work, but everyone’s situation is unique, so can be difficult to know how many tradelines to purchase and when.
When Is One Tradeline Enough To Buy?
Before looking at situations in which you could consider buying multiple tradelines, let’s take a look at when you shouldn’t buy more than one. When you don’t have a time-sensitive situation on your hands, or if you just want to boost your credit score a bit, purchasing one tradeline can help you tip the scale in your favor so that your credit score is healthier. The age of the tradeline matters, too. If you are able to buy one line of credit that’s 10 years old, this could help your score more than if you were to buy five tradelines that were six months old apiece.
Another situation in which you may not want to buy multiple tradelines is when you have several accounts in your credit file. If you were to purchase many tradelines with low credit limits and a short lifespan, the math here would not work in your favor: They would get lost in your file and they wouldn’t do much to boost your score. On the other hand, if you could purchase a single tradeline that was relatively old and had a high limit, you would be in much better shape as this would offset the numerous younger accounts.
When Should I Acquire Multiple Tradelines?
Though one tradeline is often enough to enhance a person’s credit file, many scenarios may leave you wondering whether you should buy two or more tradelines to help boost your credit score. If you need a higher score relatively soon, if you know you have some derogatory marks in your file, or if you need to ensure that your score posts to a specific bureau, you should absolutely consider purchasing more than one tradeline. Buying two or more, in the following situations, helps you have the best chance of boosting your credit score as quickly as possible.
1. Beefing Up Credit
Maybe you just started building your credit, and you need a higher score relatively soon. Perhaps you’re planning on paying a down payment on a house and you need your credit score to match your finances. If you have a small file with only a few accounts, buy multiple tradelines here to beef up your credit file and raise your score overall.
2. Offsetting Bad Marks
If you’ve made a few poor financial choices in the past, your credit report may show it. There’s no need to worry, though: The future is in your control, and you can start making better decisions today. Purchase a few tradelines to raise your chances of offsetting accounts that don’t look too great on your report and continue to build your credit from there.
3. Getting a Bureau To Take Notice
Here’s where things get a little bit tricky: Nobody has control over whether a tradeline posts to a specific credit bureau. If you want to raise the possibility that your new tradelines will post to the bureau of your choice (you may need it to post to Experian because that’s what your mortgage lender uses, for example), use the shotgun approach here and buy several tradelines to raise the chances that one hits your target.
4. When Time Is Not on Your Side
If you need a higher credit score yesterday, you should consider buying more than one tradeline. Any time you are concerned about where your tradelines post — or if the timing of the posting affects your score — you’re in a situation where you definitely need to buy more than one new tradeline.
Get In Touch
It can be hard to make decisions involving money, especially when financial matters, poor credit, and time limitations put an emotional burden on your situation. Level the playing field by purchasing enough tradelines to boost your score, and get in touch with us when you are ready to begin. Contact us today to learn more.
