Selling Tradelines / Piggybacking Part II: $1000+/hr, 20-40k/yr. Side Gig

[DavidAnnArbor]

They have always given me a deadline to add the AU.  The pattern has always been that they send the email a day or two before my statement due date and strongly request me to add the AU by the statement due date.  But from conversations I have had with them, the actual deadline is the statement close date (which is usually 3-6 days after statement due date) - the TL company uses the statement due date to allow for some buffer.

So on your card that you got this sale on, you probably have a statement due date of like 4/5 and a statement close date of between 4/8 and 4/11, and I would personally try to add them by 4/5.  Sometimes I have, after discussion with the TL company, added the AU after the due date and before the close date and everything worked out fine.  But I always discuss the situation with the TL company if I can't meet their requested add date.

In this case, they sent me the request on the day of closing, and asked that I add that day or three days prior.  Since they didn't include the correct address, I couldn't do it.  Two days later, when they replied to my query, they didn't say "it's too late" so I completed the add.  Hope it works out.  Yes it was still before the closing date.

But now looking at the dashboard it says that the order was received two weeks earlier.  I guess it took them a couple weeks to do the data entry (incorrectly). Gotta say I'm not super impressed so far, but if I end up getting paid I guess money is money.

I had a recent email with the owner, they still understandably got a lot of work to do. It's a massive undertaking to adopt a database management software if you're not used to that and you're not a techie type. Combine that with hundreds of mustachians that flooded them with cards.

[Car Jack]

Do you guys put charges on cards that have no AUs yet?  I've got 4 in, one with an AU but no charges on the other 3 for a while.  Wondering if these need charges to keep them visible?  The one I got an AU for had been used for regular charges for me.

[tj]

Do you guys put charges on cards that have no AUs yet?  I've got 4 in, one with an AU but no charges on the other 3 for a while.  Wondering if these need charges to keep them visible?  The one I got an AU for had been used for regular charges for me.

No. Although you should periodically so that the issuer doesn't close it on you.

[cheapass]

Got a couple of adds in the last 2 days.  Time to see how this all works.

Me too. I've got 2 cards with 2 spots each, filled one last month and just got 3 adds yesterday for the remaining spots. I'll be ecstatic if I end up seeing cash for all of them.

[bigalsmith101]

Got a couple of adds in the last 2 days.  Time to see how this all works.

Me too. I've got 2 cards with 2 spots each, filled one last month and just got 3 adds yesterday for the remaining spots. I'll be ecstatic if I end up seeing cash for all of them.

Well, I have been paid for the first 2 adds. $125/each for two separate adds to my Barclays card. I've got 4 more in the pipeline at $150/each for my Discover card.

So far so good. I'd be very surprised if you weren't paid. Very straight forward!

[katsiki]

Has anyone added their payment info through the portal?  I did not provide that initially and am wondering if I should just add it myself.  I would put in a ticket but that ticket takes quite a while to get an answer :)

[dragoncar]

Has anyone added their payment info through the portal?  I did not provide that initially and am wondering if I should just add it myself.  I would put in a ticket but that ticket takes quite a while to get an answer :)

I was just considering this today.  But I saw that they show my password in plaintext on the profile page.  Which makes me question whether I should trust them with my account and routing number.  Is it possible to just have them send you a check?  I tried to choose the "check" option, but I got an error saying I needed to submit the account no.

[missundecided]

For that reason, I used a savings account with $5 in it.

[CanuckExpat]

Do you guys put charges on cards that have no AUs yet

No. Although you should periodically so that the issuer doesn't close it on you.

So this is a known thing? I didn't know that until recently.

I have a very old Capital One card that I no longer used. I had no use for it it been unused for years. Thought I'd sell tradelines on it, but needed to increase the limit as it was pretty low. I tried to increase the limit, and they said they couldn't because the card was dormant, and the person made a side comment about how it was going to be closed at next renewal.

So now I periodically make a purchase or two on that, though I gotta wait six months until I can try raising the limit.

I guess I should have known about that selling tradelines or not, as this was one of my oldest cards if it had been closed it would have affected my credit score negatively I assume.

[dlawson]

Just as a general rule, you should charge your card at least once every year or two, to prevent the bank from automatically closing it for inactivity. Keeps your AAoA up and, obviously, is important for tradelines.

[TomTX]

Just as a general rule, you should charge your card at least once every year or two, to prevent the bank from automatically closing it for inactivity. Keeps your AAoA up and, obviously, is important for tradelines.

If you shop at Amazon with any regularity, it's easy enough to put a $5 credit on your Amazon account with each of your low-use cards.

[bassguitar115]

What does it mean when a card is "resting"?

[tj]

What does it mean when a card is "resting"?

After the close date for the month?

[flashflooder]

What does it mean when a card is "resting"?

It means the company has put that card on "hold", and won't be doing any adds on those cards in the short term, mostly likely due to others reporting shutdowns with that issuer.  My BofA and Chase are resting right now.

[Car Jack]

I think they've put everyone's BoA on "resting".  I just added my BoA that just hit 2 years.  It was pending and went right to resting.

[elysianfields]

I had a recent add for which the CSR didn't ask for the SSN.  I volunteered it and said, as the new company suggests, "Please add the AU's SSN for security purposes."  The CSR asked me what I meant for clarification, and since I didn't expect it, didn't know what to say.

Do any of you have suggestions of what I might say in this situation?

[secondcor521]

I had a recent add for which the CSR didn't ask for the SSN.  I volunteered it and said, as the new company suggests, "Please add the AU's SSN for security purposes."  The CSR asked me what I meant for clarification, and since I didn't expect it, didn't know what to say.

Do any of you have suggestions of what I might say in this situation?

I would say that for the AU's protection, you want the SSN on the account so that nobody other than the AU can call in and make changes to the account.  The hypothetical scenario would be that someone calls in claiming to be the AU and wanting to change their address, and the CC company, having the SSN, could use that info to verify the caller's identity before doing so.  With just a name and DOB there is less security against someone spoofing the AU's identity.

[FrugalSaver]

Got a couple of adds in the last 2 days.  Time to see how this all works.

Me too. I've got 2 cards with 2 spots each, filled one last month and just got 3 adds yesterday for the remaining spots. I'll be ecstatic if I end up seeing cash for all of them.

Well, I have been paid for the first 2 adds. $125/each for two separate adds to my Barclays card. I've got 4 more in the pipeline at $150/each for my Discover card.

So far so good. I'd be very surprised if you weren't paid. Very straight forward!

I'd have thought the same but one of my adds failed and the company doesn't know why as they said everything was done right. They simply said sometimes it fails for no reason. Odd it happened on my very first adds.

[elysianfields]

I had a recent add for which the CSR didn't ask for the SSN.  I volunteered it and said, as the new company suggests, "Please add the AU's SSN for security purposes."  The CSR asked me what I meant for clarification, and since I didn't expect it, didn't know what to say.

Do any of you have suggestions of what I might say in this situation?

I would say that for the AU's protection, you want the SSN on the account so that nobody other than the AU can call in and make changes to the account.  The hypothetical scenario would be that someone calls in claiming to be the AU and wanting to change their address, and the CC company, having the SSN, could use that info to verify the caller's identity before doing so.  With just a name and DOB there is less security against someone spoofing the AU's identity.

Thanks, I'll give that a try.

[HAPPYINAZ]

Another month gone by with no sales :(   

[Joel]

The damn U.S. Post Office refuses to deliver the card to my address. This is the 2nd time my first authorized user's capital one card has been returned to sender instead of delivering it to our address! Capital One identified the returned card the first time, so I'm sure they will again the 2nd time. I'm hoping those returns don't raise red flags and end up getting my capital one closed...

[TomTX]

Another month gone by with no sales :(   

Same. And I had all my info submitted over a week before my January closing date. So, missed January, February, March and April. Admittedly, one of the 3 cards is BoA and "resting" now.

[trailcamaddict]

Another month gone by with no sales :(   

Same. And I had all my info submitted over a week before my January closing date. So, missed January, February, March and April. Admittedly, one of the 3 cards is BoA and "resting" now.

Same here - I'm actually thinking about removing my cards from this service.  I might try the "old" company and see how they do with a card or two.  The opportunity cost of just letting these cards sit in this companies queue is just too high. 

[charuhans]

The damn U.S. Post Office refuses to deliver the card to my address. This is the 2nd time my first authorized user's capital one card has been returned to sender instead of delivering it to our address! Capital One identified the returned card the first time, so I'm sure they will again the 2nd time. I'm hoping those returns don't raise red flags and end up getting my capital one closed...

I had mentioned before my Citi Cards getting returned and it was thought that no harm would come from it. Well, Citi sent the cards again and they got returned the second time. I didn't think much about it. Then yesterday I realized that my card was being rejected when I tried to use it. So I checked my account and saw that the credit limit on the card was reduced to zero. Called Citi and was told that Citi has suspended the card because they received returned mail twice as a security measure. Once I verified the address etc. they lifted the suspension and told me that they will mail the cards again. They told me that they could not send the cards in an envelope with my name on it and that I should talk to the post-office to ensure delivery. Goes without saying, that the fraud department must have been notified.

[geekette]

The damn U.S. Post Office refuses to deliver the card to my address. This is the 2nd time my first authorized user's capital one card has been returned to sender instead of delivering it to our address! Capital One identified the returned card the first time, so I'm sure they will again the 2nd time. I'm hoping those returns don't raise red flags and end up getting my capital one closed...

I had mentioned before my Citi Cards getting returned and it was thought that no harm would come from it. Well, Citi sent the cards again and they got returned the second time. I didn't think much about it. Then yesterday I realized that my card was being rejected when I tried to use it. So I checked my account and saw that the credit limit on the card was reduced to zero. Called Citi and was told that Citi has suspended the card because they received returned mail twice as a security measure. Once I verified the address etc. they lifted the suspension and told me that they will mail the cards again. They told me that they could not send the cards in an envelope with my name on it and that I should talk to the post-office to ensure delivery. Goes without saying, that the fraud department must have been notified.

I find this odd.  I KEEP getting offers from Cap One for someone who doesn't live here (we've lived here 24 years).  Just today I got an AU card delivered from Discover.  The envelope had my DH's name on it. 

I keep watching this thread although we're not actually selling tradelines (yet) - I added his cousin trying to get her credit score up to buy DH's family home. 

[TomTX]

The damn U.S. Post Office refuses to deliver the card to my address. This is the 2nd time my first authorized user's capital one card has been returned to sender instead of delivering it to our address! Capital One identified the returned card the first time, so I'm sure they will again the 2nd time. I'm hoping those returns don't raise red flags and end up getting my capital one closed...

I had mentioned before my Citi Cards getting returned and it was thought that no harm would come from it. Well, Citi sent the cards again and they got returned the second time. I didn't think much about it. Then yesterday I realized that my card was being rejected when I tried to use it. So I checked my account and saw that the credit limit on the card was reduced to zero. Called Citi and was told that Citi has suspended the card because they received returned mail twice as a security measure. Once I verified the address etc. they lifted the suspension and told me that they will mail the cards again. They told me that they could not send the cards in an envelope with my name on it and that I should talk to the post-office to ensure delivery. Goes without saying, that the fraud department must have been notified.

I find this odd.  I KEEP getting offers from Cap One for someone who doesn't live here (we've lived here 24 years).  Just today I got an AU card delivered from Discover.  The envelope had my DH's name on it. 

I keep watching this thread although we're not actually selling tradelines (yet) - I added his cousin trying to get her credit score up to buy DH's family home.

Totally depends on your mail delivery person. Put a note in the box to expect mail for various friends who are travelling and will come pick it up.

[Runner77]

I signed up in late December with 3 cards but have yet to receive a sale. Hoping it picks up next month but it has been a complete disappointment so far.

[Car Jack]

I signed up in late December with 3 cards but have yet to receive a sale. Hoping it picks up next month but it has been a complete disappointment so far.

Have you set up your account on the portal?  If not, send arebelspy a PM to ask how to do that.

[Malaysia41]

BofA noted that our cards were returned too.

Our BofA card is with old company. I emailed and asked them to put the card on hold /rest after this current batch of tradelines is over. Each spot used to be $400. Now they're $225. It's not as lucrative, but that means going on hold is not as expensive.

I'm thinking of emailing and asking for a payout increase to somewhere in the middle, like $325. Then, they'll have my card for adds if they get busy, but they'll naturally 'rest' it when they have a surplus of other cheaper cards to pull from.

[sobezen]

Another month gone by with no sales :(   

Same. And I had all my info submitted over a week before my January closing date. So, missed January, February, March and April. Admittedly, one of the 3 cards is BoA and "resting" now.

Same here - I'm actually thinking about removing my cards from this service.  I might try the "old" company and see how they do with a card or two.  The opportunity cost of just letting these cards sit in this companies queue is just too high.

Ditto.  Seems like the demand for this service might not be as high as imagined.  Will give it another quarter and then reassess.  So far no activity.

[Joel]

Alright. Just got my second sale!

[charuhans]

The damn U.S. Post Office refuses to deliver the card to my address. This is the 2nd time my first authorized user's capital one card has been returned to sender instead of delivering it to our address! Capital One identified the returned card the first time, so I'm sure they will again the 2nd time. I'm hoping those returns don't raise red flags and end up getting my capital one closed...

I had mentioned before my Citi Cards getting returned and it was thought that no harm would come from it. Well, Citi sent the cards again and they got returned the second time. I didn't think much about it. Then yesterday I realized that my card was being rejected when I tried to use it. So I checked my account and saw that the credit limit on the card was reduced to zero. Called Citi and was told that Citi has suspended the card because they received returned mail twice as a security measure. Once I verified the address etc. they lifted the suspension and told me that they will mail the cards again. They told me that they could not send the cards in an envelope with my name on it and that I should talk to the post-office to ensure delivery. Goes without saying, that the fraud department must have been notified.

I find this odd.  I KEEP getting offers from Cap One for someone who doesn't live here (we've lived here 24 years).  Just today I got an AU card delivered from Discover.  The envelope had my DH's name on it. 

I keep watching this thread although we're not actually selling tradelines (yet) - I added his cousin trying to get her credit score up to buy DH's family home.

Totally depends on your mail delivery person. Put a note in the box to expect mail for various friends who are travelling and will come pick it up.

Lol!! Yeah, Half a dozen friends who change very other month and most with foreign sounding names. Sure way to have ICE breaking down my door at night. The Postal Service is a federal agency and I assume even the mailman gets some training on spotting signs of mail fraud.

[frozen]

The damn U.S. Post Office refuses to deliver the card to my address. This is the 2nd time my first authorized user's capital one card has been returned to sender instead of delivering it to our address! Capital One identified the returned card the first time, so I'm sure they will again the 2nd time. I'm hoping those returns don't raise red flags and end up getting my capital one closed...

I had mentioned before my Citi Cards getting returned and it was thought that no harm would come from it. Well, Citi sent the cards again and they got returned the second time. I didn't think much about it. Then yesterday I realized that my card was being rejected when I tried to use it. So I checked my account and saw that the credit limit on the card was reduced to zero. Called Citi and was told that Citi has suspended the card because they received returned mail twice as a security measure. Once I verified the address etc. they lifted the suspension and told me that they will mail the cards again. They told me that they could not send the cards in an envelope with my name on it and that I should talk to the post-office to ensure delivery. Goes without saying, that the fraud department must have been notified.

Citi is frustrating! 2 years ago when I first started they would mail the authorized user cards with my name on the envelope. Then suddenly they changed to putting the authorized user's name on the envelope. I asked Citi about it a couple of times but none of the CSRs could make a change. I even asked them not to mail a card, and that worked with some reps. The mailman made some comments about the mail not addressed to me, but he still delivers it.

[RedwoodDreams]

Another month gone by with no sales :(   

Same. And I had all my info submitted over a week before my January closing date. So, missed January, February, March and April. Admittedly, one of the 3 cards is BoA and "resting" now.

Same here - I'm actually thinking about removing my cards from this service.  I might try the "old" company and see how they do with a card or two.  The opportunity cost of just letting these cards sit in this companies queue is just too high.

FYI, old TL co. is currently accepting only high limit cards with at least $30,000 in credit limit, minimum 2 years of age, and from one of the following issuers: Barclay, Citi, Discover, PNC, USAA, or US Bank.

[charuhans]

Lol!! Yeah, Half a dozen friends who change very other month and most with foreign sounding names. Sure way to have ICE breaking down my door at night. The Postal Service is a federal agency and I assume even the mailman gets some training on spotting signs of mail fraud.

Easy solution - stop selling your tradelines.  If you're really worried about ICE breaking down your door, small price to pay.

Did I ask anywhere in my posts for a solution? Or did I mention that I am worried about ICE? I was letting know my experience with Citi in response to another poster who had returned mail so he/she can decide if it needs any action on their part.

[dragoncar]

Wtf kind of nosy mail carriers do you guys have?  "Ms chanandler bong" regularly recieves the TV guide at my house

[Car Jack]

Wtf kind of nosy mail carriers do you guys have?  "Ms chanandler bong" regularly recieves the TV guide at my house

There ya go.  My mail carrier will deliver mail to Darth Vader if it's addressed to my street address.  How do they know who lives there?

[aetherie]

I've gotten one AU card delivered so far, and my mail carrier circled the name and wrote a question mark on the envelope, but did deliver it.

[luisug]

Hi first post for me. Sorry if this question has been asked/answered before.
I haven't sold any tradelines yet but I added a relative to help their credit score and to see how this works.

Do you have to activate the card of the AU?  and/or use it?  I noticed the card i received has the same account number as my card, so i would think my activity would suffice.

Thanks

[HipGnosis]

Hi first post for me. Sorry if this question has been asked/answered before.
I haven't sold any tradelines yet but I added a relative to help their credit score and to see how this works.

Do you have to activate the card of the AU?  and/or use it?  I noticed the card i received has the same account number as my card, so i would think my activity would suffice.

Thanks

You/they do not have to activate or use the AU card.  You are correct that your activity suffices.

[TWoK]

I guess I've been lucky to already sell 3 slots, but I am a bit annoyed that I get a notice mid-way through the day they HAVE to be added. I mean, surely it's possible to give a bit more of a heads up.

[meadow lark]

Need advice.  I am with the old company, and have not had a bunch of AU's, but a couple.  I got a new BofA card recently for the points, and BofA reduced my credit line on one of the cards I had registered with the company.  I just ignored it because I was getting so few requests, but today they requested 2 spots on the Old card.  I called BofA and got them to increase my limit to 15k, but that's as far as they would go (I think if I cancelled the new card they would go higher.). But then, I don't want to cancel the new card, because the points are worth more than the $ I would get from the AU's.
But I am afraid they will take me out of the program...

My options
 1- cancel the new card, lose my points, get BofA to add to the credit limit of the old card
2- notify the company, possibly lose the ability to use that company again, move to the new company
3- add them to the card, which has a credit limit of $15k instead of $20k and hope no one notices.

[TomTX]

Need advice.  I am with the old company, and have not had a bunch of AU's, but a couple.  I got a new BofA card recently for the points, and BofA reduced my credit line on one of the cards I had registered with the company.  I just ignored it because I was getting so few requests, but today they requested 2 spots on the Old card.  I called BofA and got them to increase my limit to 15k, but that's as far as they would go (I think if I cancelled the new card they would go higher.). But then, I don't want to cancel the new card, because the points are worth more than the $ I would get from the AU's.
But I am afraid they will take me out of the program...

My options
 1- cancel the new card, lose my points, get BofA to add to the credit limit of the old card
2- notify the company, possibly lose the ability to use that company again, move to the new company
3- add them to the card, which has a credit limit of $15k instead of $20k and hope no one notices.

Instead of asking to raise the credit limit, ask BoA to transfer credit limit back to your old card.

I had the same thing happen when I got a new BoA card - it took the CSR awhile to figure out how to do it, but they did it.

[meadow lark]

I didn't explain well - that's what they did.  They moved $10k of credit from my new card to my old card, and left $5k on my new card.
I do have a third BofA card, also with $20k, but I have an AU on that - although it has already posted...  I am supposed to leave the AU on it for 3 more weeks.  Hmm.  Wonder if that would work...

[CanuckExpat]

If anyone wants some other data-points, wife and I have had 5 cards active on the "old recommendation" since about August, and have had four tradeline sales in that time for roughly $1000 in revenue. Not bad for some clicking around. I had a quick sale on Chase (which was removed after some changes) and no bites since then, wife has had a few more sales on her cards (higher limits and longer credit histories).

I got curious and tallied up today: first four months of this year my wife and I rang up ~$1,000 in sales between the two of us assuming they all pay out (one didn't post).

So relatively consistent dollar wise with what I said before, though last year, we had fewer sales, at higher payout each (before the price was cut).

If that averages out, it's still "free" $3,000 a year. I won't sneeze at that.

That's for about five cards distributed semi randomly between old and new recommendation; we added some new cards, and some cards, i.e. Chase, are no longer being sold. We are pretty lazy, if the card was already getting sales on the old recommendation, we kept it and didn't move over.

[kudy]

although it has already posted...  I am supposed to leave the AU on it for 3 more weeks.  Hmm.  Wonder if that would work...

Will it post again in the next 3 weeks? If it's a monthly schedule, it should have posted (with the right credit line limit) last week, and you will remove them just before the next statement close. Moving from the 3rd card might be your best bet?

[meadow lark]

Yes - all of my BofA's post on the same date.
Part of me just wants to say, "Fuck it" and not bother.  I think I've made a total of $250, and it's been a long time.  But then - I am fasting today and kind of in a pissy mood.

[secondcor521]

Need advice.  I am with the old company, and have not had a bunch of AU's, but a couple.  I got a new BofA card recently for the points, and BofA reduced my credit line on one of the cards I had registered with the company.  I just ignored it because I was getting so few requests, but today they requested 2 spots on the Old card.  I called BofA and got them to increase my limit to 15k, but that's as far as they would go (I think if I cancelled the new card they would go higher.). But then, I don't want to cancel the new card, because the points are worth more than the $ I would get from the AU's.
But I am afraid they will take me out of the program...

My options
 1- cancel the new card, lose my points, get BofA to add to the credit limit of the old card
2- notify the company, possibly lose the ability to use that company again, move to the new company
3- add them to the card, which has a credit limit of $15k instead of $20k and hope no one notices.

Notify the company and apologize for the laziness, oversight, or whatever else it actually was, and ask them how they'd like to proceed with this AU.

(As a possibly creative idea, you could offer to the old company to add this latest AU to your third BofA card with the $20K limit, possibly shifting credit line from your old BofA card to your third BofA card such that your third BofA card has the same CL as what the AU thought they were buying.  But it may be that your third BofA card age is not as old as the one the AU bought the line on.)

[dlawson]

Yeah, as above. Option #1 is silly and #3 is likely unethical. Notify the company and ask them what you can do to resolve the situation, and, you know, let them know next time you drop a card below what they're expecting it to be.

[dragoncar]

So when do we get paid?  After we remove the AU?  Will they just send a check?