Credit cards have grown to such a stature that it is almost unfathomable to think of a life without them. Credit cards have come to the rescue of human beings in numerous financial emergencies, which is why they have become an indispensable part of our collective lives. However, there are several factors that one must consider and several rubrics that one must learn about handling these cards even before one can apply for them.
One of the most vital factors that credit card users tend to ignore is the concept of tradelines in enhancing their credit report and working in favour of the users achieving their financial goals. We shall try to deconstruct the idea of a tradeline down to its simplest constituents and see how you could recover from a damaged credit report or get some brownie points on your already glorious report, to enhance your credit score and get them working to your benefit.
What Are Tradelines?
The word tradeline is a jargon term used by the credit card industry which denotes the accounts enlisted on your credit report. For each of your separate accounts, your credit report will show a separate tradeline. Each of your tradelines will have a host of information within it. Some of the information that credit report tradelines usually comprise are:
- The lender’s name
- Your account
- Details of when the account was opened
- Details regarding the last activity with the account
- A partial account number
- Information on the current balance of the account
- The credit limit
- The loan amount
- Details of the last payment or transaction, like the amount and date
- Payment history
- The status of the current account
- Information regarding when the account was last updated, and
- Details about delinquent activities, if any, with the account
How Do Tradelines Affect Your Credit Score?
Tradelines are how banks calculate your credit score. The way you deal with your tradelines reflects directly on your credit score. Therefore, if you have been good with your payments, paid everything off responsibly, did not go overboard with your expenses and kept your debt balance low, you will most likely have a great credit score.
However, if you threw caution to the wind and messed up in dealing with your tradelines, you can be certain of a bad credit score, and hence, report. Something else that you must remember about credit scoring in relation to tradelines is that you must have at least one open and active tradeline if you want your credit score to be generated.
However, having active tradelines and a decent credit score does not guarantee that your applications for credit cards will be accepted and sanctioned. Too many tradelines can may have a negative effect. You need to tread very carefully on that thin line that separates too many and too few tradelines.
Adding Tradelines to Credit Reports
Now that we have covered the basics of tradelines, starting from what they are and what role they have to play in determining an individual’s credit score, we shall move on to discussing how you could add credit lines or tradelines to your credit reports.
Although you cannot add items to your report yourself, there are specific ways of adding certain accounts that will enhance your score. We shall now look at how you can add tradelines to your report.
Understanding the Dimensions of Your Credit Report:
You cannot just proceed with the intention of adding tradelines to your report without any prior research or an understanding of the aspects that determine the report. It all begins with gaining a better understanding of all the dimensions of your credit report.
For instance, you need to be clear on the history of your payments, the types of credit you have used, the transaction details, the amount you owe, and any other credit history and outstanding balance. Without understanding all these areas, you cannot hope to make a decision regarding how well adding a new tradeline will help you enhance your credit score. You can check the site personal tradelines to find more details and services on the purchase of tradelines.
How Could You Go About Buying New Tradelines?
An ideal situation of an appropriate tradeline purchase would be if you consider small purchases. Small purchases go easy on your credit limit; they are easier to settle when it is time to pay compared with large purchases. Therefore, you should make smaller purchases and pay them off immediately. This is going to lend a positive value to your credit utilisation rate, which makes for a significant factor in credit scores.
This next bit, which is about adding new tradelines deliberately, might sound a bit risky since it deals with different types of credit. However, it is an effective method. Dealing with different kinds of credit does not mean that you have to keep applying for more and more credit cards. In fact, too many applications could harm your credit score. However, you could consider secure credit cards, store cards and traditional cards, where you borrow against a particular amount, apply for conventional loans and then pay them off on time to register a positive credit report.
Conclusion:
At the end of the day, lenders want to see how well you juggle and manage all your borrowings. The more responsible you are with them, the better will your report be.
Video – Your Credit Score
Your credit score represents your creditworthiness. It gives the lender an idea of how good or bad you are at paying back debts. Although the term credit history is used in similar situations, it does not have the same meaning.