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

[el_ingeniero]

I have a problem.  Was late adding an AU, and the task disappeared on me.  I emailed Erica asking for DOB, SSN, and address.  She emailed (in plaintext!) the first 2 back to me, but no address.  So Now I've been calling the office, emailing, etc, since noon trying to get hold of her without a response.

Is there anything I can do in the next 1 hour 45 minutes I haven't done?

[meatgrinder]

How can they even know it's a tradeline if it's only one AU?  I've added family members with different last names as AU on accounts (not on discover though).  Seems ridiculous they would cancel the card for adding a single AU.  What's the point of them even allowing AU if that's gonna be their policy?

If I was a credit card company, I'd be looking at ways to identify fraudulent (paid stranger) AUs.  I can think of several different ways to do that.

CCs already have a vast store of knowledge about you.  They can probably identify your ten closest relatives already, despite some of those people having different names.  I'd look at your usage history on my company's card and all of your other cards, because it seems unlikely an ordinary user would add and then immediately remove 6-10 AUs per card in a year.  Then I'd look at geographic proximity, because you're more likely to personally know somebody in your town than you are someone in Iran.  I'd also keep a database of known fraudulent AUs, by name and SS and the CC used to purchase the slot, because while some of these purchasers are probably legitimate Americans in need of credit repair, others are apparently international crime syndicates and hackers who buy these things as part of a larger enterprise. 

If it was really important to me, and none of those were working, I'd just pay the tradeline company directly for information about their adds.  Money talks.

What part of the paid tradelines process is fraudulent?

Its going to a take a lot of money for a tradeline company to provide all of their AU cardholders and forfeit their future income streams.  This could also have potential legal implications due to a third party sharing private information without consent.

[sol]

What part of the paid tradelines process is fraudulent?

The part where you claim the AU is personally known to you.  It's a tiny white lie, but it's still a lie.

Its going to a take a lot of money for a tradeline company to provide all of their AU cardholders and forfeit their future income streams.  This could also have potential legal implications due to a third party sharing private information without consent.

I'm sure their privacy policy is sufficiently broad to allow them some wiggle room.  I don't trust anybody anymore.

And they don't even have to turn over their books.  If I was a tradeline company and VISA offered to pay me the equivalent of one tradeline sale to check whether or not I had added a specific name to a specific card in the past month, I'd be tempted.  It's a yes/no question.  You're not revealing any information not already known to VISA.  It's a potential revenue stream.

Do they actually do it?  I have no idea.  I'm just saying that these people are all running businesses, and money talks when you're in business.  Ethics kind of goes out the window, as I think we've already established in this thread.  It's not like they have any shortage of cardholders, mustachian or otherwise, to require protecting their valuable cards.  They literally can't sell 90% of the available slots they already have.  Converting another 10% of those into one-time cash payments from VISA (who will probably close the card if you answer yes) in order to double your revenue would be a tempting offer, I think.  All of those unsold slots aren't doing anything for you otherwise, so why not get paid for them?

This whole business model exists in a sort of moral gray area, like payday loans and creative accounting, where there is money to be made if you're willing to be a little fast and loose with the rules.  I'm not exactly confident that any of these companies would take the moral ground of refusing VISA if they offered to pay for an AU name check.  This whole thread is a treasure trove of examples.  They seem to routinely delay payments, or pay lower amounts than promised.  They offer you advice on how to lie on the phone to the credit card reps.  There is no transparency around why some of us are making $25k and some $300 per year on the same number of cards.  Prices appear to be secretly negotiable.  The tax reporting is kind of on the honor system.  We know that some of the AUs are buying slots with stolen credit card numbers.  The whole thing is very slightly shady, right?  I mean I'm still doing it, I'm just not ignoring the warning signs here.

[el_ingeniero]

I have a problem.  Was late adding an AU, and the task disappeared on me.  I emailed Erica asking for DOB, SSN, and address.  She emailed (in plaintext!) the first 2 back to me, but no address.  So Now I've been calling the office, emailing, etc, since noon trying to get hold of her without a response.

Is there anything I can do in the next 1 hour 45 minutes I haven't done?

OK, I figured things out.  I can remove the person from the card in the history section and they become visible again in the card history.  Then I can get the information into Discover.

[flashflooder]

They seem to routinely delay payments, or pay lower amounts than promised.  They offer you advice on how to lie on the phone to the credit card reps.  There is no transparency around why some of us are making $25k and some $300 per year on the same number of cards.  Prices appear to be secretly negotiable.  The tax reporting is kind of on the honor system.  We know that some of the AUs are buying slots with stolen credit card numbers.  The whole thing is very slightly shady, right?  I mean I'm still doing it, I'm just not ignoring the warning signs here.

None of this is true, except for the delay in payments (which, while unfortunate, is far from a big deal.)

I understand you're not making as much as you'd like, but I don't think there's a lack of transparency...  They give their clients a choice of tradelines, and their clients must not like something about your accounts (I'd assume they're looking at the fee they pay vs. credit age / credit limit).  Goes to reason that if you have a card that's on the upper end of a credit limit / age bracket, you're going to get more adds.

[frugalnacho]

What part of the paid tradelines process is fraudulent?

The part where you claim the AU is personally known to you.  It's a tiny white lie, but it's still a lie.

I never claimed they were personally known to me.  I just said I wanted to add an authorized user and gave the information.  Reading my cardholder agreement I can't see anywhere they require you to know the authorized user either.

https://www.citicards.com/cards/wv/pdf/CMA_DoubleCashADA-3.pdf?JFP_TOKEN=F2GFUVIH

[dragoncar]

I received my 1099-MISC for 2017 and did not open it right away as I am in the middle of moving.  It is for exactly double the amount of money that they paid me for 2017.  I have sent them a e-mail requesting they send me a corrected 1099.

Be sure that what your received from them is for the correct amount you earned.

Anyone else get a 1099-MISC?  Are they filing these with IRS or just issuing to us?  I've got a big refund coming so I'd like to file as soon as possible, but I don't want to file with one number and have them submit a different, incorrect, number to the IRS.  Odds that I can file with my actual payment data and not get flagged by IRS?

[tj]

I received my 1099-MISC for 2017 and did not open it right away as I am in the middle of moving.  It is for exactly double the amount of money that they paid me for 2017.  I have sent them a e-mail requesting they send me a corrected 1099.

Be sure that what your received from them is for the correct amount you earned.

Anyone else get a 1099-MISC?  Are they filing these with IRS or just issuing to us?  I've got a big refund coming so I'd like to file as soon as possible, but I don't want to file with one number and have them submit a different, incorrect, number to the IRS.  Odds that I can file with my actual payment data and not get flagged by IRS?

If you get a 1099, there's no reason it wouldn't also be filed wih the IRS.

[dragoncar]

I received my 1099-MISC for 2017 and did not open it right away as I am in the middle of moving.  It is for exactly double the amount of money that they paid me for 2017.  I have sent them a e-mail requesting they send me a corrected 1099.

Be sure that what your received from them is for the correct amount you earned.

Anyone else get a 1099-MISC?  Are they filing these with IRS or just issuing to us?  I've got a big refund coming so I'd like to file as soon as possible, but I don't want to file with one number and have them submit a different, incorrect, number to the IRS.  Odds that I can file with my actual payment data and not get flagged by IRS?

If you get a 1099, there's no reason it wouldn't also be filed wih the IRS.

There’s no reason people shouldn’t be paid on time but stuff happens

[secondcor521]

I received my 1099-MISC for 2017 and did not open it right away as I am in the middle of moving.  It is for exactly double the amount of money that they paid me for 2017.  I have sent them a e-mail requesting they send me a corrected 1099.

Be sure that what your received from them is for the correct amount you earned.

Anyone else get a 1099-MISC?  Are they filing these with IRS or just issuing to us?  I've got a big refund coming so I'd like to file as soon as possible, but I don't want to file with one number and have them submit a different, incorrect, number to the IRS.  Odds that I can file with my actual payment data and not get flagged by IRS?

I received one a few weeks ago.  The number they reported on the 1099-MISC matched my records exactly.

Note that the 1099-MISC will report payments made to you in calendar year 2017 regardless of when the AUs were added.  So it will not include payments for AUs that you added in November or December, because those weren't paid out in 2017.  Conversely, it will probably include payments made in January 2017 for adds in November or December 2016 (if anyone has any of those!).

And yes, any 1099 you receive from anyone, including the TL companies, should also be cc'ed to the IRS.

Finally, if  the number you report to the IRS matches the 1099s, you'll be fine.  If the numbers don't match for any reason, you'll probably get a robo-letter from the IRS and will have to deal with the discrepancy.

[frugalnacho]

Just got 2 more adds on my citi card.  I called the rep to add them yesterday, but neither one is showing up on my account as an AU yet.  I really hope I don't have to call in a second time to add them, again.

What was the consensus on how to report the income with no 1099?  I made $75 last year.  Where do I add it to my tax return?

[katsiki]

Just got 2 more adds on my citi card.  I called the rep to add them yesterday, but neither one is showing up on my account as an AU yet.  I really hope I don't have to call in a second time to add them, again.

What was the consensus on how to report the income with no 1099?  I made $75 last year.  Where do I add it to my tax return?

I put in "other income" in TaxAct.  It was a bit hard to find...  It asked if you had other income like gambling and other odd things.  I then went into that section and there was a box for an amount and description for "other income".  It did not fit in any of the listed categories.

(I posted a similar question in the taxes board, btw).

[merula]

I had the same experience with H&R Block: it asked if I had any 1099 income and took me down a self-employment-tax path, but I was able to delete that after I found the "Other Income" section.

[frugalnacho]

Just got 2 more adds on my citi card.  I called the rep to add them yesterday, but neither one is showing up on my account as an AU yet.  I really hope I don't have to call in a second time to add them, again.

What was the consensus on how to report the income with no 1099?  I made $75 last year.  Where do I add it to my tax return?

Just checked online and no AU are added.  I called back in, got transferred to fraud prevention and had to re verify my account.  Then I readded the 2 AU.  He assured me they are on the account, although when I checked online afterwards it didn't show them.  I guess I'll just check back tomorrow.  Kind of ridiculous if I have to call in a third time to add them though.

[frugalnacho]

Just got 2 more adds on my citi card.  I called the rep to add them yesterday, but neither one is showing up on my account as an AU yet.  I really hope I don't have to call in a second time to add them, again.

What was the consensus on how to report the income with no 1099?  I made $75 last year.  Where do I add it to my tax return?

Just checked online and no AU are added.  I called back in, got transferred to fraud prevention and had to re verify my account.  Then I readded the 2 AU.  He assured me they are on the account, although when I checked online afterwards it didn't show them.  I guess I'll just check back tomorrow.  Kind of ridiculous if I have to call in a third time to add them though.

Still no AU and I just got an email from Citi telling me there was a problem and I need to call in to add them. Wtf Citi? This is significantly less attractive if I have to call and add each AU 3+ times before they are actually added.  Wtf is going on at Citi that they can't handle adding AU?

[frugalnacho]

Still unable to add them, I think citi's AU adding mechanism is fucked up.  I can't view my AU on the website or the mobile app, it just gives me an error.

Are there time lines I should be worried about?  Both these citi orders were placed before my cards closing date, and I tried to add them unsuccessfully multiple times before the closing date.  Now the closing date has passed, so if I am still able to add them now it won't be reported to the credit bureau for another month.

[mingo1226]

I'm thinking of selling tradelines, but 95% of my accounts are with Chase. From the research here, I've read that Chase is the most likely to cancel ALL credit cards at one time and the most risky.

My biggest concern with having Chase cards cancelled is losing all the rewards points I've accumulated. Does anyone knows if Chase will also cancel business credit cards along with all the personal credit card? My thought process here is I could transfer all my rewards points to the business card if it's a way to shield the points.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

[secondcor521]

Are there time lines I should be worried about?  Both these citi orders were placed before my cards closing date, and I tried to add them unsuccessfully multiple times before the closing date.  Now the closing date has passed, so if I am still able to add them now it won't be reported to the credit bureau for another month.

One time I was unable to add before the closing date.  In that scenario I emailed the AU company and informed them and suggested them move the AU to another card, either one of mine or someone else's.  They moved it to someone else's card.

I think the AU can see the card, age, limit, and closing date.  I think there is an implicit assumption that you're able to add the AU before the next closing date.  So missing that date, it seems to me that the customer might be disappointed if they have to wait another month.  I'd rather lose a sale for myself and have the AU company be happy with me as a slot provider.

I'm thinking of selling tradelines, but 95% of my accounts are with Chase. From the research here, I've read that Chase is the most likely to cancel ALL credit cards at one time and the most risky.

My biggest concern with having Chase cards cancelled is losing all the rewards points I've accumulated. Does anyone knows if Chase will also cancel business credit cards along with all the personal credit card? My thought process here is I could transfer all my rewards points to the business card if it's a way to shield the points.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

I don't think Chase has a higher probability of shutting someone down, it's just that the impact when they do is much worse.  Everyone has to assess their own situation and risk tolerance of course.

Chase is pretty sophisticated.  My opinion is that Chase could shut down any product associated with your customer record.  It would not surprise me in the least if they closed down both your personal and your business lines and voided all of your Chase reward points regardless of where they are located.

[ThatGuy]

I'm thinking of selling tradelines, but 95% of my accounts are with Chase. From the research here, I've read that Chase is the most likely to cancel ALL credit cards at one time and the most risky.

My biggest concern with having Chase cards cancelled is losing all the rewards points I've accumulated. Does anyone knows if Chase will also cancel business credit cards along with all the personal credit card? My thought process here is I could transfer all my rewards points to the business card if it's a way to shield the points.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

The general consensus is don't use any cards that you're not willing to lose.  Any account can be closed.  If you have rewards that you don't want to lose, don't use that card.

[katsiki]

I'm thinking of selling tradelines, but 95% of my accounts are with Chase. From the research here, I've read that Chase is the most likely to cancel ALL credit cards at one time and the most risky.

My biggest concern with having Chase cards cancelled is losing all the rewards points I've accumulated. Does anyone knows if Chase will also cancel business credit cards along with all the personal credit card? My thought process here is I could transfer all my rewards points to the business card if it's a way to shield the points.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

I agree with the other posters.  One option if you proceed is to transfer those points to a spouse or family member.

[secondcor521]

Anybody been paid or not for December adds?  I try to be patient...

[frugalnacho]

Still unable to add them, I think citi's AU adding mechanism is fucked up.  I can't view my AU on the website or the mobile app, it just gives me an error.

Are there time lines I should be worried about?  Both these citi orders were placed before my cards closing date, and I tried to add them unsuccessfully multiple times before the closing date.  Now the closing date has passed, so if I am still able to add them now it won't be reported to the credit bureau for another month.

I just checked my citi account and both the AU were apparently added, despite citi emailing me yesterday letting me know my most recent attempt to add them failed. I don't know when they were actually added.

[DavidAnnArbor]

I've had problems too with Citi. An error message also occurred when I tried to look up whether the AU were added, so I switched browsers, and found I could get the info. using the Microsoft Edge browser, whereas I couldn't with Google Chrome.

[PennySaved75]

I'm thinking of selling tradelines, but 95% of my accounts are with Chase. From the research here, I've read that Chase is the most likely to cancel ALL credit cards at one time and the most risky.

My biggest concern with having Chase cards cancelled is losing all the rewards points I've accumulated. Does anyone knows if Chase will also cancel business credit cards along with all the personal credit card? My thought process here is I could transfer all my rewards points to the business card if it's a way to shield the points.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

My Chase cards are "resting" on the website, so they can't be used.  And I thought there was some stipulation that they would only ask you to add AUs if more than one Chase card was requested (something like that?).  Makes Chase use highly unlikely for piggbacking.

[Midwestache]

Bad news, my bank of america credit card was closed. It had a credit limit of $30,000. I had been with bank of america for 15 years. My credit score after this was closed by BOA dropped about 40 points from 830 to 790. Just a word of caution. For me I am not attempting to get anything with credit in the near future. But anyone who is trying to buy a house or buy anything with credit may be ultimately detrimentally affected.

[frugalnacho]

Bad news, my bank of america credit card was closed. It had a credit limit of $30,000. I had been with bank of america for 15 years. My credit score after this was closed by BOA dropped about 40 points from 830 to 790. Just a word of caution. For me I am not attempting to get anything with credit in the near future. But anyone who is trying to buy a house or buy anything with credit may be ultimately detrimentally affected.

I have some tradeline slots available if you'd like to buy any to raise your score back up. 

[Midwestache]

hahah! nice one nacho. I'm good, I don't need any extended credit.

[ditkanate]

Anybody been paid or not for December adds?  I try to be patient...

I haven't seen any payment for December yet.

[kpd905]

Bad news, my bank of america credit card was closed. It had a credit limit of $30,000. I had been with bank of america for 15 years. My credit score after this was closed by BOA dropped about 40 points from 830 to 790. Just a word of caution. For me I am not attempting to get anything with credit in the near future. But anyone who is trying to buy a house or buy anything with credit may be ultimately detrimentally affected.

How many spots were you selling on the card?

[ducky19]

I have not yet been paid for my December add - thanks for the reminder! I have several Chase cards enrolled and have never had an add for them. They have to be added in conjunction with another card, so I don't know if that has something to do with it or not.

[fat-johnny]

I registered two card back in late January:

• Barclay Mastercard, 2 years old, $20.5k limit
• Discover, 3 years old, $10.5k limit

They have not contacted me at all to add an AU to either of these cards......so I have made no money.

Any advice?  Or do I just wait it out and hope they sell one of my slots soon?
FJ

UPDATE:  I've been a member of the site for over 1 year, and have gotten ZERO sales.  is this normal?

My FICO just went up to 844, so I would LOVE to make some money doing this.
FJ

[Richie Poor]

Bad news, my bank of america credit card was closed. It had a credit limit of $30,000. I had been with bank of america for 15 years. My credit score after this was closed by BOA dropped about 40 points from 830 to 790. Just a word of caution. For me I am not attempting to get anything with credit in the near future. But anyone who is trying to buy a house or buy anything with credit may be ultimately detrimentally affected.

My BofA card closed in January (20k limit and 13 yrs old). It now shows closed (canceled by credit grantor) on my credit report but my score hasn't budged. I only regret it will not be making me any more money.

My advice is if you don't want your BofA card closed then retire it. I only had 3 AUs added over the course of a year. I never even bothered to remove 2 of the AUs. How they closed it for irregular AU activity is beyond me. Since it isn't volume it must be related to the unrelated names and there non local addresses?

[frugalnacho]

Bad news, my bank of america credit card was closed. It had a credit limit of $30,000. I had been with bank of america for 15 years. My credit score after this was closed by BOA dropped about 40 points from 830 to 790. Just a word of caution. For me I am not attempting to get anything with credit in the near future. But anyone who is trying to buy a house or buy anything with credit may be ultimately detrimentally affected.

My BofA card closed in January (20k limit and 13 yrs old). It now shows closed (canceled by credit grantor) on my credit report but my score hasn't budged. I only regret it will not be making me any more money.

My advice is if you don't want your BofA card closed then retire it. I only had 3 AUs added over the course of a year. I never even bothered to remove 2 of the AUs. How they closed it for irregular AU activity is beyond me. Since it isn't volume it must be related to the unrelated names and there non local addresses?

I put the address as my own.

[flashflooder]

My personal theory is that some of these AU's somehow end up on naughty lists that are shared between the creditors.  I've gotten one letter from Citi informing me that an Authorized User was removed from my card due to suspicious activity.  So, while some card issuers might just remove the AU in question, others might just decide you're complicit and get rid of you at the same time.

[Richie Poor]

Bad news, my bank of america credit card was closed. It had a credit limit of $30,000. I had been with bank of america for 15 years. My credit score after this was closed by BOA dropped about 40 points from 830 to 790. Just a word of caution. For me I am not attempting to get anything with credit in the near future. But anyone who is trying to buy a house or buy anything with credit may be ultimately detrimentally affected.

My BofA card closed in January (20k limit and 13 yrs old). It now shows closed (canceled by credit grantor) on my credit report but my score hasn't budged. I only regret it will not be making me any more money.

My advice is if you don't want your BofA card closed then retire it. I only had 3 AUs added over the course of a year. I never even bothered to remove 2 of the AUs. How they closed it for irregular AU activity is beyond me. Since it isn't volume it must be related to the unrelated names and there non local addresses?

I put the address as my own.

I do as well (I don't even know the AU's address) but perhaps BofA knows that person has a credit history in some other city/state. It was just a thought since there isn't much else irregular about the activity.

[DavidAnnArbor]

Richiepoor and Midwestache did you use the new recommended company for your Bank of America credit card that got closed down ?

[TomTX]

I registered two card back in late January:

• Barclay Mastercard, 2 years old, $20.5k limit
• Discover, 3 years old, $10.5k limit

They have not contacted me at all to add an AU to either of these cards......so I have made no money.

Any advice?  Or do I just wait it out and hope they sell one of my slots soon?
FJ

UPDATE:  I've been a member of the site for over 1 year, and have gotten ZERO sales.  is this normal?

My FICO just went up to 844, so I would LOVE to make some money doing this.
FJ

Might as well get some credit card signup bonuses while you're waiting.

[FrugalSaver]

Bad news, my bank of america credit card was closed. It had a credit limit of $30,000. I had been with bank of america for 15 years. My credit score after this was closed by BOA dropped about 40 points from 830 to 790. Just a word of caution. For me I am not attempting to get anything with credit in the near future. But anyone who is trying to buy a house or buy anything with credit may be ultimately detrimentally affected.

My BofA card closed in January (20k limit and 13 yrs old). It now shows closed (canceled by credit grantor) on my credit report but my score hasn't budged. I only regret it will not be making me any more money.

My advice is if you don't want your BofA card closed then retire it. I only had 3 AUs added over the course of a year. I never even bothered to remove 2 of the AUs. How they closed it for irregular AU activity is beyond me. Since it isn't volume it must be related to the unrelated names and there non local addresses?

I put the address as my own.

How do you put your own address?  The card site says you're should put the address they give you. Does that not really matter?

[secondcor521]

Bad news, my bank of america credit card was closed. It had a credit limit of $30,000. I had been with bank of america for 15 years. My credit score after this was closed by BOA dropped about 40 points from 830 to 790. Just a word of caution. For me I am not attempting to get anything with credit in the near future. But anyone who is trying to buy a house or buy anything with credit may be ultimately detrimentally affected.

My BofA card closed in January (20k limit and 13 yrs old). It now shows closed (canceled by credit grantor) on my credit report but my score hasn't budged. I only regret it will not be making me any more money.

My advice is if you don't want your BofA card closed then retire it. I only had 3 AUs added over the course of a year. I never even bothered to remove 2 of the AUs. How they closed it for irregular AU activity is beyond me. Since it isn't volume it must be related to the unrelated names and there non local addresses?

I put the address as my own.

How do you put your own address?  The card site says you're should put the address they give you. Does that not really matter?

Depends on if you want the repo man to show up at your house or the AU's... ;-)

[MasterStache]

I registered two card back in late January:

• Barclay Mastercard, 2 years old, $20.5k limit
• Discover, 3 years old, $10.5k limit

They have not contacted me at all to add an AU to either of these cards......so I have made no money.

Any advice?  Or do I just wait it out and hope they sell one of my slots soon?
FJ

UPDATE:  I've been a member of the site for over 1 year, and have gotten ZERO sales.  is this normal?

My FICO just went up to 844, so I would LOVE to make some money doing this.
FJ

Yep! I think a select few folks are getting the bulk of the sales. But I also think they were/are so flooded with cards. I saw a few sales right away, but pretty much nothing for months. 

[Car Jack]

I think they're overly full of cards.  At the beginning of the year, I asked that my card fees be dropped a level in order to spur at least some interest.  Still nothing.  At least I'm up to 6 cards for the low balance forgiveness.  That's $8 in free gas every month.  :)

[frugalnacho]

Bad news, my bank of america credit card was closed. It had a credit limit of $30,000. I had been with bank of america for 15 years. My credit score after this was closed by BOA dropped about 40 points from 830 to 790. Just a word of caution. For me I am not attempting to get anything with credit in the near future. But anyone who is trying to buy a house or buy anything with credit may be ultimately detrimentally affected.

My BofA card closed in January (20k limit and 13 yrs old). It now shows closed (canceled by credit grantor) on my credit report but my score hasn't budged. I only regret it will not be making me any more money.

My advice is if you don't want your BofA card closed then retire it. I only had 3 AUs added over the course of a year. I never even bothered to remove 2 of the AUs. How they closed it for irregular AU activity is beyond me. Since it isn't volume it must be related to the unrelated names and there non local addresses?

I put the address as my own.

How do you put your own address?  The card site says you're should put the address they give you. Does that not really matter?

Where? I thought other users posted they've used their own address.  Seemed easier than giving out 2 suspicious out of state addresses.

What's the difference between using my address and the one provided?

[secondcor521]

Where? I thought other users posted they've used their own address.  Seemed easier than giving out 2 suspicious out of state addresses.

Some credit cards allow you to add AU's online via a form.  Presumably that is where the previous poster is referring to entering the AU's address.

What's the difference between using my address and the one provided?

Advantages of adding the AU with your address:

1.  It's faster and easier during the adding process.

2.  The CC CSR will be less suspicious, so the add is more likely to be processed.

3.  (Added this one later.)  Less chance of the AU card getting sent to the AU by mistake.

Advantages of adding the AU with the AU's address:

1.  The AU is more likely to be added successfully at the credit bureau because there is an additional piece of matching data.

2.  The AU will not know your name or where you live.

3.  Any repo men will go to the AU's address and not yours.

Personally I make the decision on the fly based on how suspicious the CSR is and whether or not they ask me if I want to add the AU address.

[frugalnacho]

Where? I thought other users posted they've used their own address.  Seemed easier than giving out 2 suspicious out of state addresses.

Some credit cards allow you to add AU's online via a form.  Presumably that is where the previous poster is referring to entering the AU's address.

What's the difference between using my address and the one provided?

Advantages of adding the AU with your address:

1.  It's faster and easier during the adding process.

2.  The CC CSR will be less suspicious, so the add is more likely to be processed.

Advantages of adding the AU with the AU's address:

1.  The AU is more likely to be added successfully at the credit bureau because there is an additional piece of matching data.

2.  The AU will not know your name or where you live.

3.  Any repo men will go to the AU's address and not yours.

Personally I make the decision on the fly based on how suspicious the CSR is and whether or not they ask me if I want to add the AU address.

The first one I added (back in october) I used the AU address.  I gave it to the rep over the phone. Recently I added 2 more AU, and when the rep got to the address section the inflection of her voice made me feel like she was leading me to use my own address instead of a different one.  Perhaps she knew what was up and just didn't feel like typing out 2 addresses.  So I just went along with it and said to use my address. It was something along the lines of "...Do you have a SSN you'd like to add.  Ok what is that? Thanks.  And what about an address...should I just use your current address on file?"

Does the TL company want me to use their address though? They do provide it for me.  I always have the rep read back the name (and spell it) and the SSN so I know it's correct.  And since I've dealt only with citi so far I end up calling 2-3 times each time I have to add an AU. 

[katsiki]

If the CC takes SSN, you can probably skip address.  It may not match and you won't be paid... 

Barclays does not take SSN on web site so I input the address.  However, BC seems to be very lax...

[secondcor521]

Where? I thought other users posted they've used their own address.  Seemed easier than giving out 2 suspicious out of state addresses.

Some credit cards allow you to add AU's online via a form.  Presumably that is where the previous poster is referring to entering the AU's address.

What's the difference between using my address and the one provided?

Advantages of adding the AU with your address:

1.  It's faster and easier during the adding process.

2.  The CC CSR will be less suspicious, so the add is more likely to be processed.

Advantages of adding the AU with the AU's address:

1.  The AU is more likely to be added successfully at the credit bureau because there is an additional piece of matching data.

2.  The AU will not know your name or where you live.

3.  Any repo men will go to the AU's address and not yours.

Personally I make the decision on the fly based on how suspicious the CSR is and whether or not they ask me if I want to add the AU address.

The first one I added (back in october) I used the AU address.  I gave it to the rep over the phone. Recently I added 2 more AU, and when the rep got to the address section the inflection of her voice made me feel like she was leading me to use my own address instead of a different one.  Perhaps she knew what was up and just didn't feel like typing out 2 addresses.  So I just went along with it and said to use my address. It was something along the lines of "...Do you have a SSN you'd like to add.  Ok what is that? Thanks.  And what about an address...should I just use your current address on file?"

Does the TL company want me to use their address though? They do provide it for me.  I always have the rep read back the name (and spell it) and the SSN so I know it's correct.  And since I've dealt only with citi so far I end up calling 2-3 times each time I have to add an AU.

My very unscientific opinion is that the credit bureaus look for at least three data points (plus an outstanding balance) to match in order to report a CL on the AU's report.  So if the CC company correctly enters name, DOB, and SSN, then I think that is sufficient.  I even had one succeed when there was a one letter misspelling in the AU last name - the CSR misheard a "V" as a "B", quite understandable.

I believe the TL company's recommendation is to add the AU address, but I'm not 100% on that.  Logically, though, why would they provide it to you if they didn't want you to use it?

(I will say parenthetically that I've never added a Citi AU and I've never had the problems you describe, so I think Citi just is bad at this AU stuff.  I've had good luck with other CC companies and have only failed to add an AU one time, which I think was due to the CC company's computer system not wanting to have more than 2 AUs at a time.  The rest have been added in a single phone call without any issues.)

Finally, understand that if you use your address, it will show up on the AU's credit report, possibly for a long time.  I had one AU who apparently defaulted on his Jaguar lease and a repo man left a note on my front door.  I called the repo man and cleared it up, but this is still something that could be a factor in decision making for people.  This also means that the AU knows where you live; something I don't worry about but others might.

[TomTX]

(I will say parenthetically that I've never added a Citi AU and I've never had the problems you describe, so I think Citi just is bad at this AU stuff.  I've had good luck with other CC companies and have only failed to add an AU one time, which I think was due to the CC company's computer system not wanting to have more than 2 AUs at a time.  The rest have been added in a single phone call without any issues.)

Citi has notably bad IT and consistency in general.

[BikeFanatic]

Did anyone else receive an email from Erica at the new company to share some documents? The email wants my google password, I am not sure I want to sign in with google why can't they just do it at the portal?
Anyone know what documents these are?

[dragoncar]

Warning I just got a phish email from Erica— be careful with your passwords

[dragoncar]

Did anyone else receive an email from Erica at the new company to share some documents? The email wants my google password, I am not sure I want to sign in with google why can't they just do it at the portal?
Anyone know what documents these are?

Don’t do it!