How To Add Free Tradelines: A Comprehensive Guide (2024)

You can improve your credit scores in many ways, but what if you are building your credit from scratch or have recently filed for bankruptcy?

Good news! In this post, you can learn about free tradelines to help you build a strong credit report to unlock the power of credit, regardless of your current credit situation.

We’ll dive into the world of Grow Credit, Experian BOOST™, authorized user tradelines, no-fee credit cards, and, most importantly, secured credit cards.

Buckle up for a credit-boosting journey like never before!

Short Summary

• Grow credit, and Experian BOOST™ provides free tradelines to help you build credit.
• Add authorized user tradelines to help improve your credit scores.
• Explore no-fee cards and credit builder loans as starting options for your credit report.
• Business and Personal rent payments can be leveraged as tradelines
• Consider paid tradeline as alternative

What Are Free Tradelines?

Free tradelines are trades that show on your credit report using different credit strategies to help improve your credit.

Benefits Of Free Tradelines

1. Helps you build or rebuild your credit without actually requesting credit
2. Usually does not require a hard credit pull
3. Establishes minimum credit requirements for financial institutions (lenders, credit cards, mortgage, etc.)
4. Help increase your credit score quickly (as little as 3 months)
5. Help increase credit limit over time

As you can see, credit trades are a crucial component for credit repair and building credit. 

Many credit gurus talk about credit repair but don’t typically share the fundamentals that help your credit score.

Keep reading to learn different strategies to help you improve your credit score using tradelines.

Step-by-Step Instructions To Adding Free Tradlines

I have compiled a step-by-step guide to help you increase your credit score using free tradelines.

As always, I will share my experience and knowledge using methods and guidelines from the bank I worked for when making mortgage loan decisions.

1. Utilizing Free Tradelines For Credit Building

Tradelines are essential for a good credit report and scores.

Two credit tradeline services you can use are:

• Grow credit: provides virtual credit cards to assist in building your score
• Experian BOOST™: adds payment histories of certain bills onto the report

Both solutions add tradelines to your credit profile, and using these services is important to keep your new tradelines in good standing.

Grow Credit: A Virtual Credit Card Solution

Grow Credit is a credit repair app that provides a solution with a secured virtual credit card with no deposits, interest, or fees.

You can set up pre-approved subscriptions like Netflix and Spotify using this Mastercard, which has a $2500 limit for your payments.

With Grow Credit’s free plan, these payments are sent directly to all three major credit bureaus so that it reflects positively on your payment history under this new tradeline to improve your overall credit score.

This is one of the best options on the market that can help you establish tradelines by paying for services you already use.

Experian BOOST™: Enhancing Your Credit Report

Experian BOOST will use payments made towards bills such as internet and electric costs to your Experian Credit Report.

As a result, you can see your FICO score soar by paying for your regular bills by an average of 13 points.

The only caveat is that this only applies to Experian Credit Reports, while Equifax and TransUnion are excluded from Experian BOOST.

Regardless, this is still an easy option to improve your creditworthiness using bills as a tradeline.

2. Authorized User Tradelines: A Key to Credit Improvement

Another way to improve your credit score is by becoming an authorized user on someone else’s account.

This approach will provide you with an instant tradeline without requesting any credit from the financial institution, which makes a powerful way to build/grow your credit report.

Understanding Primary Tradelines vs. Authorized Users

Primary tradelines are credit accounts established with your name with credit activity that can improve your credit score.

Authorized users, on the other hand, help you become a user from someone else’s account, allowing you to reap the benefits of their positive credit history.

Benefits Of Primary Tradelines

• Primary tradelines are indispensable in establishing a good credit score
• They appear as accounts on your credit report and can consist of mortgages, auto loans, or any other credit under your name
• Tradelines provide information on payment history, credit utilization, and length of tradeline, which are important for lenders to determine your creditworthiness when approval for new credit

Benefits Of Being An Authorized User

• When you are an authorized user on someone else’s credit account, you can gain access to the primary tradelines associated with it
• Your credit activities as an authorized user can help you build or repair your credit history by simply using and paying your expenses
• Does not affect the primary user’s credit, except late payments are reported on both party’s credit report

Maximizing the Benefits of Authorized User Tradelines

Pick quality trades and be responsible for making the most of being an authorized user.

When looking for quality trades, ask about the primary accountholder’s credit utilization and the financial institution reporting the credit tradeline.

With this strategy, you can improve your credit score while building your credit tradeline for all three credit bureaus, making all the difference in the future.

3. No-Fee Credit Cards: A Free Tradeline Alternative

There are many no-fee credit cards on the market with zero income requirements to help you improve your credit score at no cost.

As long as the card is used responsibly and paid in full, it will increase your credit score.

What are some tips on selecting the right one?

How can these assist with getting approved for more unsecured options eventually?

Let’s keep reading and find these answers in the section below.

Choosing the Right No-Fee Credit Card

• Consider interest rates, rewards, and welcome offers as a starting point in selecting the right no-fee credit card for yourself
• A few of these products include
  • Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card
  • Citi® Double Cash Card
  • Discover it® Cash Back
  • Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card
• Read through the terms and conditions carefully to avoid unnecessary fees such as overlimit fees or cash advance fees

Once you compare the different types of no-free credit cards, you can now make an informed decision for choosing a free tradeline via credit card.

Secured Credit Cards

If there is one thing I want you to take away from this post, it’s secured credit cards.

Whether rebuilding your credit score from bad credit history or starting again after a recent bankruptcy, you can always get approval from a secured credit card, regardless of your current situation.

Your credit limit is based on the amount you prepay, but don’t stop here.

By regularly making purchases and prepaying your secured credit card, but within 3+ months, you should be offered a $500 credit limit with your free tradeline.

As you start a new credit journey with your recently offered credit limit, keep following the good repayment strategy, and watch your credit limit grow from $1000 to $2000 and then $2000 to $5000 in no time.

There you have it, the secret to the ultimate credit repair strategy.

Transitioning to Unsecured Credit Cards

Once you have a solid record of making payments on your no-fee credit card, transitioning to an unsecured one is the next step.

These cards come with higher limits, cash backs, and other advantages.

To be approved for these credit cards, you’ll need to show financial institutions how careful and responsible you are by making purchases within your credit limit and paying your balance in full from your monthly statement.

The good news is that following these good credit strategies gives you access to credit cards with low rates, high credit limits, and powerful rewards.

4. Credit Builder Loans: A Path to Better Credit

Credit builder loan is another option to build credit with a tradeline.

These small-scale credit loans were created to help people establish or restore their credit history.

With timely and consistent payments made towards the loan, you can show lenders that you have a tradeline with good payment history.

Let’s take an in-depth look at how these loans work and how to select these loans.

How Credit Builder Loans Work

Think of credit builder loans like any regular loan you take out to make a purchase (i.e., Television, Jacuzzi, etc.), and in return, you make monthly payments until the loan is paid off.

The only difference here is that you don’t purchase anything, and the lender will secure the loan in another bank while you make monthly payments.

You will receive the money back once the loan is paid in full at the end of the term.

As you can see, this is a creative way to have a tradeline on your credit report with full payment history.

A credit builder loan will improve your credit history while saving your money in another bank account.

Selecting the Right Credit Builder Loan

When it comes to selecting the right credit builder loan, you should consider the following:

• Interest and fees
• Tradeline to be reported in all three credit report bureaus
• Repayment terms
• Customer service ratings

Self, Credit Strong, and MoneyLion are reputable lenders to consider.

Make sure you compare the different lenders to find the best option that works for you.

5. Business and Personal Rent Payments

Business owners can use commercial rent payments to boost their credit scores.

Similarly, individuals can also do the same with their rent payments.

Simply submit your commercial rent documentation to the three major bureaus to be considered.

Rent Payments as Positive Tradeline Items

Since your business is paying for commercial rent to operate your business regardless, consider turning these payments into a positive tradeline that can help you improve your credit history, which can also help your business in the future.

For individuals, the concept is the same for rent payments, and you can improve your credit history for mortgage approvals.

Tools like Boom Pay can help you report your rent payments to all three credit bureaus, which will help you increase your creditworthiness with lenders.

Other Primary Tradeline Options

To increase your business credit and score higher, consider diversifying the types of accounts that make up your credit portfolio.

Auto loans, home loans, or lines of credit are all primary tradelines that could be beneficial if payments are made on time.

The benefit of this strategy will provide you or your business access to better loan terms with lower interest rates.

Alternatives To Free Tradelines

In addition to the free tradeline options mentioned above, some services provide paid tradelines.

Buy Tradelines To Boost Credit

Selecting a reliable credit line service provider can help you improve your credit history while protecting you from losing funds or credit.

SuperiorTradelines and Tradeline Supply are two trusted suppliers in this area.

Superior Tradelines features an easy step-by-step system for buying trade lines and quality tradelines.

Trade Line Supply also provides a good platform with quality tradelines.

Both companies are reputable and provide excellent service.

Wrapping Up And My Experience With Free Tradelines

Adding tradelines to your credit report is arguably the most effective way to build credit.

Being well-informed on all the available options and understanding the processes behind each will help you plan your strategy.

This comprehensive guide covered free tradelines such as Grow Credit and Experian BOOST, an authorized user, no fee credit card, credit builder loan, and rent payments to help you build your credit score.

Based on my experience, adding tradelines to your credit report can boost your score, help you meet minimum credit requirements for future credit opportunities.

Take action today by developing a robust approach for your credit portfolio!