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

[I_want_to_make_a_million]

Do you have to be a U.S Citizen to sell tradelines? I have some friends in the UK who would like to participate in selling tradelines but most companies are U.S based.

It could raise a flag selling a tradeline to a U.S citizen and having a UK address pop up on their credit report.

[arebelspy]

Do you have to be a U.S Citizen to sell tradelines? I have some friends in the UK who would like to participate in selling tradelines but most companies are U.S based.

It could raise a flag selling a tradeline to a U.S citizen and having a UK address pop up on their credit report.

You do not need to be a US Citizen, but you need US credit cards. It doesn't work with non-US cards. Do any US credit cards let you have an overseas address for the mailing address?

[I_want_to_make_a_million]

Do you have to be a U.S Citizen to sell tradelines? I have some friends in the UK who would like to participate in selling tradelines but most companies are U.S based.

It could raise a flag selling a tradeline to a U.S citizen and having a UK address pop up on their credit report.

You do not need to be a US Citizen, but you need US credit cards. It doesn't work with non-US cards. Do any US credit cards let you have an overseas address for the mailing address?


I see, thanks.

[drcodes]

Is there anything useful i can do with a couple long standing AMEX cards with high limits? Are any of the trade line companies accepting them? Thank you.

[secondcor521]

Is there anything useful i can do with a couple long standing AMEX cards with high limits? Are any of the trade line companies accepting them? Thank you.

Neither of the companies recommended by @arebelspy accept AMEX.  Probably the main reason for this is that when AMEX reports on an AU's credit report, AMEX does not report the original account opening date.  This means that the line shows up as a new large line rather than an old large line, so the helpful effect to the AU's credit score is limited.

About the only thing I can imagine that they would be useful for in terms of tradeline sales would be as leverage to request high limits from issuers that do work (such as Chase, Citi, Barclays, etc.).

I have several AMEX, but my strategy with those is to continually churn account opening bonuses on them.  AMEX makes this a bit difficult with the one-bonus-per-lifetime rule, but I can usually snag a few per year.

[ducky19]

I use AmEx cards to help out friends/family since they're not paying me to do it. I've found that the higher limit cards ($20k plus) still have a significant impact even though they show up as a new account. I see it as a win/win, I can help them out without tying up a tradeline I could be making money from.

[djadziadax]

Has anyone had success with AU  on Chase Sapphire Reserve? That card requires a $75 per AU, but perhaps that would make it less vulnerable to "audit?"

[secondcor521]

Has anyone had success with AU  on Chase Sapphire Reserve? That card requires a $75 per AU, but perhaps that would make it less vulnerable to "audit?"

I have a CSR, but haven't tried AU's because of the $75 fee.  I doubt it would make it less vulnerable to audit or notice.

[arebelspy]

Doesn't seem worth it at all to pay to add AUs. They do that because they assume you'll be accumulating a lot more points on their premium card.

I wouldn't assume their detection algorithms for AUs and what sets off red flags for them would be any different though than on any of their other CCs.

[frozen]

Has anyone noticed long than average hold times for US Bank lately?

Every time I tried to call this week the automated message said they were experiencing longer than average hold times. I have been on hold this afternoon for over an hour now.

[arebelspy]

I'd add as much info as you have and they let you fill in.

In other words, if there's a space for it, and you have that info, put it in. Otherwise, don't worry about it.

[secondcor521]

Dear All,

Please advise if a middle name needs to be used when adding an AU. I know that a general consensus here is to add a name just like it appears on SSN card, however I saw some situations when SSN card would have first and middle name, but what about a Capital one AU adding process for example - it doesnt even allow for a middle name. Also, i saw discrepancies b/n how an AU's name appears on their credit reports (and for example TU and EXp would have it differently) and on their SSN cards. So confusing...Many thanks!

How are you seeing the AU's credit reports?

FWIW, I did add an AU a while ago and because the agent misheard me on the phone, the last name was misspelled by one letter (there was a B substituted for a V).  It posted just fine and I got paid just fine.

I would agree with ARS and use the information the way the Company provides it to you on their website.  If you're doing private sales, good luck I guess, but those really aren't the subject of this thread IMHO.

[ilsy]

Hi, arebelspy and mustachians.
I'm on the page 19th of this thread and has been reading for 2 weeks now. So, I thought I will ask, it might take me 2 or 3 more weeks to catch up and see if anybody has asked the question.
It seems like the supply is too high to meet the demand (or the demand is too low), which seems it's only low because AUs don't know about the existence of such a thing as buying piggybacking spot. I'm sure there are way more people who would like to buy a slot than those who would like to sell. So, my question is, can we, mustachians, supply the demand? Can we post something on CL, have a bumpersticker or a flyer on our cars, at work places (for free)? Is it a conflict of interests, even if we don't give our direct contact, but the contact for the company. It could be without the contact, just the name of the company (I know we are not allowed to post it here, but maybe it's ok do post it in real world). Or we don't want to alert CL companies? I just think that if each of us added at least 5 AU a year, or at least tried, we are going to increase the pool of demand, and sales for everyone. What is the consensus on this subject?

[arebelspy]

Yeah, you could do some free marketing for them. I think most of us just approach this very passively--get sales whenever they come in.

[Car Jack]

In between my work and the Subway restaurant that I go to at lunch time is a Bank of America.  Perhaps I'll bring in a folding table and stack of fliers and sit in the lobby one of these days to promote tradelines.  I've actually had one BoA tradeline sold, so why not?  What could possibly go wrong?

[Pizzabrewer]

In between my work and the Subway restaurant that I go to at lunch time is a Bank of America.  Perhaps I'll bring in a folding table and stack of fliers and sit in the lobby one of these days to promote tradelines.  I've actually had one BoA tradeline sold, so why not?  What could possibly go wrong?

Post it on B of A's facebook page.  I'm sure they won't mind.

[writerboy233]

Thanks, Joe for the help! It looks like I have made my first sale with the old company, but I don't see info about the buyer yet. Is this a normal process? How long should I wait for my dashboard info to update with buyer info?

[arebelspy]

Thanks, Joe for the help! It looks like I have made my first sale with the old company, but I don't see info about the buyer yet. Is this a normal process? How long should I wait for my dashboard info to update with buyer info?

You get notified when it's time to add them.  You can tell there are pending sales ahead of time based on slots open, but generally around 5 days before your closing date (plus or minus a few days) you'll get notified and get the info.

[missundecided]

Has anyone heard if CapOne is still on the aggressive auditing warpath, or is it safe to open that card up for lines again?

[charuhans]

In between my work and the Subway restaurant that I go to at lunch time is a Bank of America.  Perhaps I'll bring in a folding table and stack of fliers and sit in the lobby one of these days to promote tradelines.  I've actually had one BoA tradeline sold, so why not?  What could possibly go wrong?

That's the way the cookie crumbles ...

[Car Jack]

Has anyone heard if CapOne is still on the aggressive auditing warpath, or is it safe to open that card up for lines again?

I currently have a tradeline sold with the old company on Cap One.

As I always say, though.....I'm willing to have any card with a tradeline on it get burned by the provider. 

[Milkshake]

I have a question about the address situation.

Do you add the AU using your address or the AU's address?

If you use yours, does it end up on the AU's credit report, for the AU to see?

If you use their address, how does the AU card not go to their address?

I read through a good 15-20 pages in this thread and didn't see the answer. Maybe I'm just slow on the pick up here...

[erutio]

I have a question about the address situation.

Do you add the AU using your address or the AU's address? AU's address, to increase chances of the tradeline reporting correctly to the bureaus.

If you use yours, does it end up on the AU's credit report, for the AU to see?  If you use your address, yes, it will show up on the AU's credit report.

If you use their address, how does the AU card not go to their address?  Policy of all CC companies to send the card to the original owner's address.  I agree though, there is a very small but non-zero chance a card can be sent to the wrong address.

I read through a good 15-20 pages in this thread and didn't see the answer. Maybe I'm just slow on the pick up here...

[arebelspy]

Agree with all of the above.

Put the AU's address. They'll only ship it to your address, that's just to help it report. You can confirm with the representative on the phone, but that's standard policy for all of them.

I don't even think there's a small risk of it being sent to them, from what I understand with all the CC companies I've worked with--there's literally no way in the system to get the card sent to that other (AU) address, it's automatically sent to your address on file with the computer, with no way for the representative to sent it to the AU (so no way for them to misclick or accidentally send it to the AU, it's just not even an option for them).

[Milkshake]

Cool, thanks.

I'll give this a shot with a 2 year old Cap1 card, and see how it goes.

[arebelspy]

The "new company" is dropping their rates on quite a few categories, and raising it on a couple (the highest/oldest limits, which are in the most demand).



The drop is only $25, so not drastic at all, especially for the ones that are going like $200->$175 (a fairly typical card, one that is 20k+ and > 2 yrs old), but obviously on the lowest one (that is going from $50 to $25) it's a big cut percentage-wise. However, so few companies will even take cards in that range (only a year old, only $5k in credit limit), so to sell authorized user lines at all there is pretty good. If your cards are in that range though, it may be worth just letting them age a bit and working on getting the credit limit increased. Or enrolling them, and then working on that in the meantime (and emailing for the corresponding pay increase as you increase the age/limits).

The reason for the drop is to reduce prices for authorized users in order to stay competitive with other tradeline companies. Thus they have to decrease the payouts to cardholders. Hopefully this reduced pricing for the AUs will see an increase in sales to offset the slightly lower payout.

Always sucks to get a pay cut, but it makes sense--they were already paying the most of pretty much any tradeline company, and are one of a very few who actually do what they can to protect cardholders via proper AU verification and data security/preservation. This price decrease puts them in line, or still higher, than pretty much anyone else, just not quite as high as before.

The change will automatically go into effect for all adds starting October 1. If you want to unenroll your cards, email them (PM me if you need the info). They're going to be sending out an email with this information shortly (in the next day or two), so look for that, just a heads up here. :)

[Car Jack]

Getting a sale at a reduced rate is better than getting nothing at double the rate.

Play on!

[SilverAg47]

It looks like a few cards, such as Barclay and Bank of America, require a Hard Pull in order to obtain a CL increase.  Are you guys finding a way to increase it without a pull, or do you just figure it is worth the pull in order to possibly increase your tradelines income?

[tj]

It looks like a few cards, such as Barclay and Bank of America, require a Hard Pull in order to obtain a CL increase.  Are you guys finding a way to increase it without a pull, or do you just figure it is worth the pull in order to possibly increase your tradelines income?

It is the pretty typical for a credit limit increase to be a hard pull. I think Discover does some soft pulls.

[arebelspy]

It looks like a few cards, such as Barclay and Bank of America, require a Hard Pull in order to obtain a CL increase.  Are you guys finding a way to increase it without a pull, or do you just figure it is worth the pull in order to possibly increase your tradelines income?

I personally don't care much about inquiries.. I pretty much always have 10+, and still have an 800+ score. Sometimes they'll do it without a pull, but if they say they need to do a pull, I'm fine with it.

[SilverAg47]

It is the pretty typical for a credit limit increase to be a hard pull. I think Discover does some soft pulls.

Discover, Citi, and Elan have been soft for me so far.

[greengeek]

So I'm new to this Selling Tradelines and just getting setup at the moment and would love for the combined wisdom of this group on a few questions I have:

1) From your anecdotal experience, what credit cards (of the available options) have provided the highest credit limits, or greatest credit limit increases every 6 months? (For instance, I found that Citi and AMEX limits started and increased significantly higher for me than Capital One.)
2) Is Barclays the only credit card that lets you fully setup and cancel AU's online, or does Capital One and other provides also now allow this?
3) Is Barclays the only credit card with hard caps (something >35 it sounds like) or is this typical of all credit cards?
4) How often are people adding new credit cards and what seems to be a sustainable rate of adding new cards without causing a plummeting credit score? (Mine's about 800 right now and I'm hoping it wouldn't drop much below mid 700s.)
5) Any other wisdom?

[secondcor521]

1.  No idea.  Seems to me mostly to be a percentage of your reported income and credit score, so I'd keep those two numbers high and get as many cards from as many different issuers as possible.  You mentioned AMEX; they aren't used for piggybacking.

2.  I don't recall.  I know Chase can do adds fully online; I forget about removals.  But calling in isn't hard and usually takes only a few minutes.

3.  I don't think anyone knows yet.  I can report that it seems to me that USAA has a hard cap of 2 AUs at any given moment, but that's not a lifetime cap like you're asking about.

4.  I added 8 new cards this year and my CreditKarma scores are 821/818 at the moment.

5.  Read the thread from beginning to end if you haven't yet.  Many questions have been asked and answered, some several times.

[arebelspy]

Chase seems to be the only one to shut them all down, yes.

[Encinoman45]

I don’t know what all this concern is about closed cards. Yes it is good to know which ones are touchy at what time.

I have 16 cards. 7 of them I am using for personal use. 9 of them I am using for tradelines. I made 3k in three months. All my nine cards have ~3 AU lines sold. Let’s say I continue to run ten hard and do ~3 lines every two months. Let’s say five cards get closed down in six months (that would be more than expected) then I would have made 12k by then. Let’s say I keep running my five remaining cards hard for six more months and make another 4.5 k and all those then get closed down. Ok so I walk away a year from now with 16.5k. Maybe I some of those banks I can’t reopen a card with and others I can. There are plenty of banks out there. I still have my other 7 I never sold tradelines with. Maybe I just apply for some new cards and move my business over to them and start using my previous 7 cards for tradelines and make another 14k in the next year.

I am working with a different company that is aggrsssively marketing to the people who want tradelines.It is a booming area in demand and anyone who tells you otherwise is not tracking with the benefits a regular person gets from increased credit score in the idiotic buy things now on credit world we live in.

I'd be interested in what Tradeline company you are using. It looks like you can't accept any PM. Please PM me if you can.

[arebelspy]

The reason you can't PM him is that Orion is not a member of this site anymore. He failed to disclose he worked for said company, was posting messages such as the above to try and seem like a satisfied customer to get people to contact him (as you tried to do), and when he didn't get a lot of responses there, he started PMing people to spam to get them to sign up for his company, at which point his account was banned due to the forum rules on spamming.

There's a reason why try to fly under the radar and not mention company names, etc.--because it leads to junk like this.  Who knows how much, if any, of his post was even accurate.

The company he worked for has been discussed in this thread, as well as reasons why they are not recommended. Shady marketing tactics was not one of them, but you can add it to the list. You can dig back in the thread to find it, and why, if you care to. :)


EDIT: The company in question has informed me that he was not an official employee of the company. Nevertheless, this is the reason why he was banned; failure to disclose his relationship with them and PM spamming people to try and get them to sign up with that company. They have not explained why he would do this, or his incentive or relationship with them, but merely said that he did not work for them.

[CanuckExpat]

Heads up data point regarding Fidelity/Elan:
I have been selling Tradelines with a Fidelity (Elan) CC pretty successfully for several months. The adds have to be done by phone. My latest add was going straightforward, then part way through the call the CSR said "Oh, I have to transfer you to a different department". I was transferred to someone who did the usual security verification (but much less friendly than normal CSR) who then proceeded to ask very pointed questions about my pattern of AU adding and removal. I must have satisfied him, because he went ahead to add the AU. Next time I went to make a purchase on this card, it was declined, I also noticed I couldn't log into my account online anymore. When I called in to check, I was told my account was under review, and someone would contact me. Nobody ever contacted me, but I can log back into my account now. I have temporarily frozen the card for AU sales, I imagine some time in the future I am going to get this card shut down.

That's the way the cookie crumbles.

[powskier]

Discover just terminated my card. I had been having the majority of my AUs on this card. 11 year old account, 25k limit, 850 FICO score according to Discover and  820 according to credit karma. They reason they stated was "not able to meet my business needs". I tried to add an AU and passed on to multiple security folks until I was informed my card had been terminated.
The risk is real. I'm going to pull my most valuable card and only use the "throwaway accounts" that I never use.

[sol]

I'm going to pull my most valuable card and only use the "throwaway accounts" that I never use.

Why?  What's the utility of keeping your "best" card to yourself?

From my perspective a six month old card with a $10k limit and a 10 year old card with a $30k limit both meet my personal spending needs identically well.  Why not make money off of the old card while you still can?  Is there some other benefit to keeping it around, besides tradelines?

Even if all of my current credit cards were to get shut down in the next few months I'm pretty confident I could still find a new new credit card, somewhere, that would work just fine for my grocery shopping and cell phone bill.  I guess I don't understand the desire to protect your oldest card from closure.

[katsiki]

Agree with sol.  Even if you lose an older card it will not have much affect on credit score if you have a reasonable stock of accounts (like most of here do, I bet).

[jtraggie99]

Discover just terminated my card. I had been having the majority of my AUs on this card. 11 year old account, 25k limit, 850 FICO score according to Discover and  820 according to credit karma. They reason they stated was "not able to meet my business needs". I tried to add an AU and passed on to multiple security folks until I was informed my card had been terminated.
The risk is real. I'm going to pull my most valuable card and only use the "throwaway accounts" that I never use.

I've been selling tradelines with a couple of different companies for a couple of years now.  The most activity was often with 3 cards I had with Citi.  Citi shut all three of them down this past summer, due to "security risks".  I tried to call and talk to them, but there was no discussing it.  Capital One also put one of mine in a "restricted state" after I tried to add an AU.  They wanted a copy of the persons DL and SS cards in order to remove the restriction (meaning I could no longer use it until then).  Of course that was not going to happen.  I eventually just closed it myself.

If you do this often and long enough, your cards will get shut down.  I do not say that to discourage anyone, as its easy money while it lasts, but it will eventually come to and end. 

[JohnGalt79]

Discover just terminated my card. I had been having the majority of my AUs on this card. 11 year old account, 25k limit, 850 FICO score according to Discover and  820 according to credit karma. They reason they stated was "not able to meet my business needs". I tried to add an AU and passed on to multiple security folks until I was informed my card had been terminated.
The risk is real. I'm going to pull my most valuable card and only use the "throwaway accounts" that I never use.

I've been selling tradelines with a couple of different companies for a couple of years now.  The most activity was often with 3 cards I had with Citi.  Citi shut all three of them down this past summer, due to "security risks".  I tried to call and talk to them, but there was no discussing it.  Capital One also put one of mine in a "restricted state" after I tried to add an AU.  They wanted a copy of the persons DL and SS cards in order to remove the restriction (meaning I could no longer use it until then).  Of course that was not going to happen.  I eventually just closed it myself.

If you do this often and long enough, your cards will get shut down.  I do not say that to discourage anyone, as its easy money while it lasts, but it will eventually come to and end.

Why "of course that was not going to happen?"  Don't the tradeline companies have those documents, and won't they provide them if your credit card company is demanding them?

[jtraggie99]

Discover just terminated my card. I had been having the majority of my AUs on this card. 11 year old account, 25k limit, 850 FICO score according to Discover and  820 according to credit karma. They reason they stated was "not able to meet my business needs". I tried to add an AU and passed on to multiple security folks until I was informed my card had been terminated.
The risk is real. I'm going to pull my most valuable card and only use the "throwaway accounts" that I never use.

I've been selling tradelines with a couple of different companies for a couple of years now.  The most activity was often with 3 cards I had with Citi.  Citi shut all three of them down this past summer, due to "security risks".  I tried to call and talk to them, but there was no discussing it.  Capital One also put one of mine in a "restricted state" after I tried to add an AU.  They wanted a copy of the persons DL and SS cards in order to remove the restriction (meaning I could no longer use it until then).  Of course that was not going to happen.  I eventually just closed it myself.

If you do this often and long enough, your cards will get shut down.  I do not say that to discourage anyone, as its easy money while it lasts, but it will eventually come to and end.

Why "of course that was not going to happen?"  Don't the tradeline companies have those documents, and won't they provide them if your credit card company is demanding them?

I have no idea if they actually request copies of the actual DL and SS cards of the tradeline clients.  Bottom line is that they will not provide copies to a seller at the request of the credit card company.  At least that is what I was told when this happened.  And if I was a customer using a tradeline company, I would not be too keen on using one that provided that information to someone like myself.  I said obviously, because it seemed obvious to me at the time that they were not going to provide me those documents to give to my credit card company, and that is exactly what happened.

[erutio]

Discover just terminated my card. I had been having the majority of my AUs on this card. 11 year old account, 25k limit, 850 FICO score according to Discover and  820 according to credit karma. They reason they stated was "not able to meet my business needs". I tried to add an AU and passed on to multiple security folks until I was informed my card had been terminated.
The risk is real. I'm going to pull my most valuable card and only use the "throwaway accounts" that I never use.

I've been selling tradelines with a couple of different companies for a couple of years now.  The most activity was often with 3 cards I had with Citi.  Citi shut all three of them down this past summer, due to "security risks".  I tried to call and talk to them, but there was no discussing it.  Capital One also put one of mine in a "restricted state" after I tried to add an AU.  They wanted a copy of the persons DL and SS cards in order to remove the restriction (meaning I could no longer use it until then).  Of course that was not going to happen.  I eventually just closed it myself.

If you do this often and long enough, your cards will get shut down.  I do not say that to discourage anyone, as its easy money while it lasts, but it will eventually come to and end.

Why "of course that was not going to happen?"  Don't the tradeline companies have those documents, and won't they provide them if your credit card company is demanding them?

I have no idea if they actually request copies of the actual DL and SS cards of the tradeline clients.  Bottom line is that they will not provide copies to a seller at the request of the credit card company.  At least that is what I was told when this happened.  And if I was a customer using a tradeline company, I would not be too keen on using one that provided that information to someone like myself.  I said obviously, because it seemed obvious to me at the time that they were not going to provide me those documents to give to my credit card company, and that is exactly what happened.

Depends on the TL companies.  You must not be using the ones recommended here.
Last summer, CapOne asked me the same thing. If fact, they asked for the DLs and SS cards of all the AUs I've ever added, which was 11 at the time.  I asked the "old" tradeline company for them, they emailed them back to me, I uploaded the docs to a special website that CapOne sent me.  My card was taken off restricted status in a few weeks, and I've gone back to selling TLs on it, no problem.

[merula]

They're asking for the DL and SS cards to confirm that the person is a real, US citizen/permanent resident and it's not a synthetic identify fraud issue.

[jtraggie99]

They're asking for the DL and SS cards to confirm that the person is a real, US citizen/permanent resident and it's not a synthetic identify fraud issue.

Yes, I know why they asked for it.  And it's the same reason they will ultimately close your cards down.  They are protecting themselves from what they see as risky practices.  I think for most credit card companies, from their perspective, constantly adding and removing AU's creates a growing number of cards with access to your account and increases the risk of fraudulent activity.  And that's basically what I was told by Citi.  I don't think they see it from the perspective of "gaming the system" to artificially inflate credit scores.  I wonder if that even enters their line of thinking.

And to answer the other guys question, I have worked with 3 different tradeline companies.  Two I found about here, one of which I have never had a single sale with, and the other, at most sporadic.  Honestly, the one I found on my own, I made way more money from.  Well, until things start getting shut down.  And that's not a knock on anyone here and the companies they recommended.  My only point in making these posts was to say, that in my experience, it's not if cards get shut down but when.  I suppose my issue with Capital One might have been avoidable with a different company, but I think the end result would have eventually happened, regardless.  I still have a few cards I use for this and will continue to do so, as long as they remain open. 

It definitely can be a lucrative gig, while it lasts.

[merula]

They're asking for the DL and SS cards to confirm that the person is a real, US citizen/permanent resident and it's not a synthetic identify fraud issue.

Yes, I know why they asked for it.  And it's the same reason they will ultimately close your cards down.  They are protecting themselves from what they see as risky practices.  I think for most credit card companies, from their perspective, constantly adding and removing AU's creates a growing number of cards with access to your account and increases the risk of fraudulent activity.  And that's basically what I was told by Citi.  I don't think they see it from the perspective of "gaming the system" to artificially inflate credit scores.  I wonder if that even enters their line of thinking.

And to answer the other guys question, I have worked with 3 different tradeline companies.  Two I found about here, one of which I have never had a single sale with, and the other, at most sporadic.  Honestly, the one I found on my own, I made way more money from.  Well, until things start getting shut down.  And that's not a knock on anyone here and the companies they recommended.  My only point in making these posts was to say, that in my experience, it's not if cards get shut down but when.  I suppose my issue with Capital One might have been avoidable with a different company, but I think the end result would have eventually happened, regardless.  I still have a few cards I use for this and will continue to do so, as long as they remain open. 

It definitely can be a lucrative gig, while it lasts.

Thank you for sharing this story. It reaffirms what ARS stresses about ensuring that the tradeline companies properly vet buyers to avoid identity fraud.

And if we are looking for a competing piece of anecdata, we need only look to the post above, where @erutio posted about being able to avoid a card closing by complying with requests for information that would disprove the statement that the CC cos "will ultimately close your cards down".

[JohnGalt79]

They're asking for the DL and SS cards to confirm that the person is a real, US citizen/permanent resident and it's not a synthetic identify fraud issue.

Yes, I know why they asked for it.  And it's the same reason they will ultimately close your cards down.  They are protecting themselves from what they see as risky practices.  I think for most credit card companies, from their perspective, constantly adding and removing AU's creates a growing number of cards with access to your account and increases the risk of fraudulent activity.  And that's basically what I was told by Citi.  I don't think they see it from the perspective of "gaming the system" to artificially inflate credit scores.  I wonder if that even enters their line of thinking.

And to answer the other guys question, I have worked with 3 different tradeline companies.  Two I found about here, one of which I have never had a single sale with, and the other, at most sporadic.  Honestly, the one I found on my own, I made way more money from.  Well, until things start getting shut down.  And that's not a knock on anyone here and the companies they recommended.  My only point in making these posts was to say, that in my experience, it's not if cards get shut down but when.  I suppose my issue with Capital One might have been avoidable with a different company, but I think the end result would have eventually happened, regardless.  I still have a few cards I use for this and will continue to do so, as long as they remain open. 

It definitely can be a lucrative gig, while it lasts.

So, which of the two TL companies here ("old" or "new"?)wouldn't provide you with the DL & SS card when you told them the cc company was requesting them?

[powskier]

I'm going to pull my most valuable card and only use the "throwaway accounts" that I never use.

Why?  What's the utility of keeping your "best" card to yourself?

From my perspective a six month old card with a $10k limit and a 10 year old card with a $30k limit both meet my personal spending needs identically well.  Why not make money off of the old card while you still can?  Is there some other benefit to keeping it around, besides tradelines?

Even if all of my current credit cards were to get shut down in the next few months I'm pretty confident I could still find a new new credit card, somewhere, that would work just fine for my grocery shopping and cell phone bill.  I guess I don't understand the desire to protect your oldest card from closure.

It's a mileage card that is 20 years old that gives us a $99 companion fare every year and that we put almost every expense that we can on. We travel by plane a minimum of twice a year and it rewards us very, very well for the $75 fee.
I don't use any cards for obtaining credit so to speak, although over the years I have used them for 18 month 0% offers while keeping other money better invested.
Yes a card is a card is a card but this one feels as if we are taking advantage of the bank, I mean we put 50k of my wife's grad school on it and thankfully were able to pay it off on every cycle. Used that subsequent 50 k miles for  obtaining plane tickets that would have been worth over $4000.

[daveed]

Joe,

I sent you a PM (I think) on here. Have read a bunch of this thread already and very interested in digging into this more after you mentioned it Sunday at Camp Mustache Toronto.

Thanks!