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

[secondcor521]

Does anyone know what the right cadence is for Chase e.g. how many users to add for a given card in how many months, without being shut down?

I heard Chase is a bit stringent on this and can shut down quite easily compared to other providers, so hoping to have some guidance and data points on this.

Mine was shut down.  I only had maybe 4 AUs total over its entire history.  Chase told me that in reviewing the account, they saw AUs added and shortly after removed.  Well, that's what we do with tradelines, so if they decide to review your account, it'll be burned.

How long did you keep the AUs?

4 months

Thank you for the data points! Very much appreciated

Can I ask if you had a checking account with direct deposit with them, or did you only have credit cards with them?

Different person's data points:

2 cards, 2 slots available, 4 months at a time, 43 slots sold (most with Old Company) over the past seven years, no shutdowns.  No other accounts with Chase.

I do follow all Old Company recommendations for how to do things.  I think that helps some, but I also think it sometimes just boils down to luck.

[ezhang43]

Does anyone know what the right cadence is for Chase e.g. how many users to add for a given card in how many months, without being shut down?

I heard Chase is a bit stringent on this and can shut down quite easily compared to other providers, so hoping to have some guidance and data points on this.

Mine was shut down.  I only had maybe 4 AUs total over its entire history.  Chase told me that in reviewing the account, they saw AUs added and shortly after removed.  Well, that's what we do with tradelines, so if they decide to review your account, it'll be burned.

How long did you keep the AUs?

4 months

Thank you for the data points! Very much appreciated

Can I ask if you had a checking account with direct deposit with them, or did you only have credit cards with them?

Different person's data points:

2 cards, 2 slots available, 4 months at a time, 43 slots sold (most with Old Company) over the past seven years, no shutdowns.  No other accounts with Chase.

I do follow all Old Company recommendations for how to do things.  I think that helps some, but I also think it sometimes just boils down to luck.

When you say 2 slots available, is that 2 slots available per card? Or is that 2 slots available total, 1 for each card?

[EliteZags]

I had a 10+yr old Chase Freedom that sold some over a dozen AU's (1-2 at a time) over about 2 years before getting shut down in 2021 along with a newer Chase Amazon Prime card with it
still using Chase as my main checking account, but just tried re-applying for Freedom and got rejected per below despite 800+ credit score and >10:1 income:rent ratio

We reviewed your recent application for a new CHASE FREEDOM FLEX World Elite account, but we
did not approve it because:
A prior credit card or deposit account was closed by Chase

[ezhang43]

I had a 10+yr old Chase Freedom that sold some over a dozen AU's (1-2 at a time) over about 2 years before getting shut down in 2021 along with a newer Chase Amazon Prime card with it
still using Chase as my main checking account, but just tried re-applying for Freedom and got rejected per below despite 800+ credit score and >10:1 income:rent ratio

We reviewed your recent application for a new CHASE FREEDOM FLEX World Elite account, but we
did not approve it because:
A prior credit card or deposit account was closed by Chase

Only your credit cards got canceled, and not your chase checking? Was under the impression that they would shut down everything

[Padonak]

If chase closes your consumer cards, do they close your business cards too?

[tj]

If chase closes your consumer cards, do they close your business cards too?

I don't see any reason not to expect a complete shutdown.

[secondcor521]

When you say 2 slots available, is that 2 slots available per card? Or is that 2 slots available total, 1 for each card?

2 slots per card times two cards, total of 4 Chase slots.

[ezhang43]

When you say 2 slots available, is that 2 slots available per card? Or is that 2 slots available total, 1 for each card?

2 slots per card times two cards, total of 4 Chase slots.

Got it, thanks for the clarification! Appreciate it

[MoneyTree]

to contribute a data point. My chase freedom card was shut down after a few years selling tradelines on it. Chase also shut down my other chase card that I was not selling tradelines on (an amazon card).

Even so, I was able to successfully open up a new chase card (Chase Sapphire Preferred) a few weeks afterwards. I plan to season this card for a few years and start selling Chase tradelines again.

[Padonak]

Can barclays reduce your credit limit if it's very high but you only use that card for small transactions? For example, if you have 3 cards with Barclays, move most of your total credit line to one of them and use it for TLs? Never happened to me, just trying to understand how likely it is to happen.

[secondcor521]

Can barclays reduce your credit limit if it's very high but you only use that card for small transactions? For example, if you have 3 cards with Barclays, move most of your total credit line to one of them and use it for TLs? Never happened to me, just trying to understand how likely it is to happen.

Never had a CL reduced, and have had a number of cards with Barclays and other issuers where I am doing exactly as you describe.

What can happen is that issuers will close accounts for lack of activity after 6 or 12 months.  If the card is getting TL orders, not a problem.  But I have a tickler task to use each of my cards at least once a year to keep them open.

[Padonak]

Can barclays reduce your credit limit if it's very high but you only use that card for small transactions? For example, if you have 3 cards with Barclays, move most of your total credit line to one of them and use it for TLs? Never happened to me, just trying to understand how likely it is to happen.

Never had a CL reduced, and have had a number of cards with Barclays and other issuers where I am doing exactly as you describe.

What can happen is that issuers will close accounts for lack of activity after 6 or 12 months.  If the card is getting TL orders, not a problem.  But I have a tickler task to use each of my cards at least once a year to keep them open.

That's good to know.

Chase reduced the credit line for one of my cards when i opened another one. That's the only time I remember when my credit limit was reduced. I called them and moved that credit limit back to the old card, left just enough to meet the sign up bonus requirement for the new one

[secondcor521]

Chase reduced the credit line for one of my cards when i opened another one. That's the only time I remember when my credit limit was reduced. I called them and moved that credit limit back to the old card, left just enough to meet the sign up bonus requirement for the new one

Yeah, that's a different thing.  Most issuers will limit the dollar amount of exposure they have to you across all your CCs with them.  If you're in this situation with an issuer and apply for a new card and they're inclined to approve you otherwise, they will approve the new card and shift the CL.

The dollar amount of exposure seems to be most correlated with your reported annual income.

[Nutty]

The new CareCredit is by Synchrony.  Did yours stay with Elan? 
Since old company doesn't accept it, I did not apply.

[Nutty]

Usually when credit card companies change networks, it doesn't affect the card age they report to the bureaus.

I think when the company changes the network, the age stays.  So if Elan went from Mastercard to VISA, the age is the same since it's the same account.

In this case, CareCredit ended their agreement with Elan and started a new one with Synchrony.  So the Elan accounts were closed.  This is like the specialty store cards, the Marts will end one agreement and start a new agreement for better/different terms.

To answer your question, it depends on how the accounts were transferred.  Yes, it looks like the Synchrony account will have to be aged.

[Nutty]

How are everyone's sales? 

I haven't had a sale in 6 months and spring is usually a busy time.  Not sure if it's just me or that sales are down across the board.  Yes, my cards' advertised prices are higher than the others in the age and CL slots so I usually get sales after the other cards are filled.

[Reddart67]

It’s been slow the past few months for me.

Though I’m hoping this post causes an uptick. In the past, every time I complained with slow sales, they would immediately bounce back as if the TL gods were paying attention.

[Nutty]

It’s been slow the past few months for me.

Though I’m hoping this post causes an uptick. In the past, every time I complained with slow sales, they would immediately bounce back as if the TL gods were paying attention.

If that were true, everyone complain all the time.  :)  And expect immediate results.

Thanks for the data point.  I will continue to wait.

[Reddart67]

It’s been slow the past few months for me.

Though I’m hoping this post causes an uptick. In the past, every time I complained with slow sales, they would immediately bounce back as if the TL gods were paying attention.

If that were true, everyone complain all the time.  :)  And expect immediate results.

Thanks for the data point.  I will continue to wait.

I had a very good Q1 and most of Q2, but it pretty much fell off a cliff in late May.

[Padonak]

How are everyone's sales? 

I haven't had a sale in 6 months and spring is usually a busy time.  Not sure if it's just me or that sales are down across the board.  Yes, my cards' advertised prices are higher than the others in the age and CL slots so I usually get sales after the other cards are filled.

How are you able to advertise your cards at higher prices than other similar cards? Isn't there a fee schedule based on card age and credit line? I know the old company has it and you can't really negotiate fees.

For me, Jan-May were busy but things have slowed down a little bit since June.

[Zamboni]

My slots were continuously full for the past two years but the past couple of months I've had one slot that hasn't filled (on a very old, high limit card that has always been 100% sold continuously since I've listed it.)

So, yes, a slow down is happening in my limited experience as well.

[secondcor521]

I'm with Old Company.  My sales are down about 30% this year compared to the average of the prior four years.

June historically has been a busy month for sales, but June this year I only had one sale.

It'd be interesting to try to understand why.  It's clearly affecting multiple sellers of AUs, and probably multiple TL companies (?).  Haven't heard any headlines about the industry to scare off customers.  Maybe the market is getting more saturated so the same sales are getting spread across more sellers/TL companies.

I wonder if any of the TL companies will try to lower pricing (either theirs to customers or to us as TL sellers) like one of them did a few years ago.

[Nutty]

How are you able to advertise your cards at higher prices than other similar cards? Isn't there a fee schedule based on card age and credit line? I know the old company has it and you can't really negotiate fees.

For me, Jan-May were busy but things have slowed down a little bit since June.

I don't advertise.  I have the same payment schedule advertised from old company as everyone else.  I look at the buy side of the website and can identify my cards compared to others in the same age and CL segment.  My cards are a couple hundred dollars or higher than comparative cards.  I'm guessing that I'm newer or that is the new price for newly listed cards.  All the cards will eventually fill up on AUs.  As the cheaper cards get sales, I will get sales.

[Padonak]

I'm with Old Company.  My sales are down about 30% this year compared to the average of the prior four years.

June historically has been a busy month for sales, but June this year I only had one sale.

It'd be interesting to try to understand why.  It's clearly affecting multiple sellers of AUs, and probably multiple TL companies (?).  Haven't heard any headlines about the industry to scare off customers.  Maybe the market is getting more saturated so the same sales are getting spread across more sellers/TL companies.

I wonder if any of the TL companies will try to lower pricing (either theirs to customers or to us as TL sellers) like one of them did a few years ago.

Im pretty sure higher interest rates have something to do with it. As far as I know, people buy tradelines for three main reasons: (1) renting a place, (2) buying a place and (3) buying a vehicle. For two of those three activities, higher interest rates result in much lower demand. For rental applications it should be neutral or even positive (those who decide not to buy houses still need somewhere to stay). So demand for TLs depends on what % of this demand is for renting vs the other two reasons. I don't know the answer and there's probably no way of knowing the exact numbers.

I also agree that the supply is much higher now vs a few years ago. It doesn't take much effort to age existing cards (actually it takes less effort than closing them). So that's what many people do.

[SKL-HOU]

I just saw a facebook post on ChooseFI where an authorized user somehow called the credit card company and got 7500$ cash advance. I am not sure what company it was through but I would caution everyone when adding AUs. Check and make sure every avenue for them to do this is closed.

[Michael in ABQ]

I just saw a facebook post on ChooseFI where an authorized user somehow called the credit card company and got 7500$ cash advance. I am not sure what company it was through but I would caution everyone when adding AUs. Check and make sure every avenue for them to do this is closed.

I would place this in the same risk as having your card stolen/compromised. It's fraud and you shouldn't be liable - even if they are an authorized user. I don't think most of my cards even allow cash advances over $500-1,000. I'm guessing there was some pretty serious social engineering going on in that case (assuming it's true).

[Padonak]

I just saw a facebook post on ChooseFI where an authorized user somehow called the credit card company and got 7500$ cash advance. I am not sure what company it was through but I would caution everyone when adding AUs. Check and make sure every avenue for them to do this is closed.

Which bank? Can you copy and paste the post or link?

[Zamboni]

As far as the size of cash advances from cards, members of my family have successfully gotten ill-advised cash advances off of credit cards of the following sizes:
$10,000
$10,000 (again)
$30,000 (off of a brand new card!)

Cash advances typically have a higher interest rate than merchant purchases, so I'm sure the card issuers are delighted that people do this.

On the bright side, I did get a confirmation phone call from the card issuer one time from a bank when an "unusually large cash advance" was taken at a casino by my EX-spouse. So of course the card issuers are aware that large cash advance fraud is a thing (although in case of EX-spouse it wasn't fraud, it was just stupidity paired with a gambling problem).

[SKL-HOU]

I just saw a facebook post on ChooseFI where an authorized user somehow called the credit card company and got 7500$ cash advance. I am not sure what company it was through but I would caution everyone when adding AUs. Check and make sure every avenue for them to do this is closed.

Which bank? Can you copy and paste the post or link?

They didn’t say which bank unless i missed it in their responses. I went back and remembered, they said Navy Federal Credit Union. Below is the link. It is ChooseFI group on facebook. If you go to the ChooseFI page and search for authorized user, it is the first one that comes up (at least for me).

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ChooseFI/permalink/3181645672131306/?mibextid=W9rl1R

[Padonak]

If I make a big transaction on one of the cards I use for TLs (about 50% of my credit limit), then pay off the balance before the next statement date, will the card utilization be reported as 50% to the bureaus or will it be 0%?

[Nutty]

If you pay it before the statement date, it shouldn't report.  If you wait until the last minute, it may.

Seems the credit cards only report the statement amount.  So pay it before the statement hits if you have an AU on the card.  If no AU, it doesn't matter.

[secondcor521]

If you pay it before the statement date, it shouldn't report.  If you wait until the last minute, it may.

Seems the credit cards only report the statement amount.  So pay it before the statement hits if you have an AU on the card.  If no AU, it doesn't matter.

Most credit cards only report the statement balance, and usually a few days after statement close.  USBank is slightly weird in this respect; they always report about the 25th of the month for all cards regardless of statement date.  I'm not sure if they report current balance or most recent statement balance.  But if the poster is thinking about doing this with a USBank CC, they would be wise to check into it.

[Nutty]

Elan also does this.  Good point.

[Car Jack]

So a question about the new company (think of the one Cliff pays you from).  Do they EVER pay without multiple emails and a prodding from Joe?  Whenever the old company opens up, I've shut down cards with the new company and moved them over to the old as they never have shown any paying problems.  Just curious if it's more than just me seeing this.

[arebelspy]

So a question about the new company (think of the one Cliff pays you from).  Do they EVER pay without multiple emails and a prodding from Joe?  Whenever the old company opens up, I've shut down cards with the new company and moved them over to the old as they never have shown any paying problems.  Just curious if it's more than just me seeing this.

That's accurate, and how it's been for years, sadly.

If anyone has recommendations for other companies to look into, please PM me.

Most I've researched and I check again periodically, because old company is saturated with cards and new company struggles with basic business stuff. But the other ones are pretty sketch or don't verify AUs well, which isn't a risk I'm willing to take (or endorse).

[FtWorthAtheist]

So the Barclaycard website asked me to verify an AU's information twice...  I entered the information initially, it appeared to accept it, but then the website seemed to flag it and indicated I could have account restrictions on my account if I didn't verify the AU info.  When I went in to verify the info, it had some fields prefilled with info I had entered previously, other fields required me to select a value (like relationship), and it preselected noncitizen on the citizenship question, even though I had previously selected US citizen.  (US citizenship verified by tradeline company.)  So I verified everything, it thanked me for doing so, and all looked fine.  A week later I went into the Barclaycard website to remove an earlier AU, and found the same AU required verification again.  I'm wondering if other people have experienced Barclaycard verification requests and if it typically precedes a posting or other problem?

[FI Minimalist]

So the Barclaycard website asked me to verify an AU's information twice...  I entered the information initially, it appeared to accept it, but then the website seemed to flag it and indicated I could have account restrictions on my account if I didn't verify the AU info.  When I went in to verify the info, it had some fields prefilled with info I had entered previously, other fields required me to select a value (like relationship), and it preselected noncitizen on the citizenship question, even though I had previously selected US citizen.  (US citizenship verified by tradeline company.)  So I verified everything, it thanked me for doing so, and all looked fine.  A week later I went into the Barclaycard website to remove an earlier AU, and found the same AU required verification again.  I'm wondering if other people have experienced Barclaycard verification requests and if it typically precedes a posting or other problem?

I'm seeing the same issue with barclays, will see if everything posts ok

[secondcor521]

What do y'all use for AU phone numbers with BofA AU adds?

[Michael in ABQ]

So the Barclaycard website asked me to verify an AU's information twice...  I entered the information initially, it appeared to accept it, but then the website seemed to flag it and indicated I could have account restrictions on my account if I didn't verify the AU info.  When I went in to verify the info, it had some fields prefilled with info I had entered previously, other fields required me to select a value (like relationship), and it preselected noncitizen on the citizenship question, even though I had previously selected US citizen.  (US citizenship verified by tradeline company.)  So I verified everything, it thanked me for doing so, and all looked fine.  A week later I went into the Barclaycard website to remove an earlier AU, and found the same AU required verification again.  I'm wondering if other people have experienced Barclaycard verification requests and if it typically precedes a posting or other problem?

I had something similar and I thought that maybe I had just made a mistake and checked the box for non-citizen as I had to change that when they asked me to verify the information. I was glad that I got a chance to correct it if that was the case since that would have potentially been a $175 mistake for checking the wrong box.

[katsiki]

So the Barclaycard website asked me to verify an AU's information twice...  I entered the information initially, it appeared to accept it, but then the website seemed to flag it and indicated I could have account restrictions on my account if I didn't verify the AU info.  When I went in to verify the info, it had some fields prefilled with info I had entered previously, other fields required me to select a value (like relationship), and it preselected noncitizen on the citizenship question, even though I had previously selected US citizen.  (US citizenship verified by tradeline company.)  So I verified everything, it thanked me for doing so, and all looked fine.  A week later I went into the Barclaycard website to remove an earlier AU, and found the same AU required verification again.  I'm wondering if other people have experienced Barclaycard verification requests and if it typically precedes a posting or other problem?

I'm seeing the same issue with barclays, will see if everything posts ok

Same here.  I updated the AU several times and the error message persisted.  I reported it to old company.  They advised they would contact me if needed.

Barclays web site is often buggy so I am hoping it is just that again.

[secondcor521]

What do y'all use for AU phone numbers with BofA AU adds?

Anyone?  Bueller?

[MoMoney88]

The AU’s phone number!

[secondcor521]

The AU’s phone number!

Not provided with Old Company.

[arebelspy]

What do y'all use for AU phone numbers with BofA AU adds?

I always just put my phone number. Figured if they needed to talk to someone, they could call me.

[Reddart67]

What do y'all use for AU phone numbers with BofA AU adds?

I always just put my phone number. Figured if they needed to talk to someone, they could call me.

Yes me too. The last thing I would want is the CC company to talk to an AU.

[Michael in ABQ]

What do y'all use for AU phone numbers with BofA AU adds?

Anyone?  Bueller?

I have a Google Voice number I set up years ago for a side business and I use it for all my tradeline sales as well. If someone calls that it just rings through to my cell phone.

[ShellyFlorida]

You can get an automatic $2k credit limit increase to Citi cards every 6 months with no credit pull.  You can request it online.

I only signed on with old company maybe a year and a half ago, and I listed my Citi card with them from the start, along with 3 other cards.  The Citi is the only one that has been selling for the last 9 mo. or so, and even then only one slot every few months ($75 b/c $12.5k CL).  So all in all, not much of a moneymaker for me.  Back in the beginning I think I sold a few Barclays slots @ $25 per, but not in a long time.

I have to say my experience with how much money can be made from tradeline selling has been markedly different from the reports on here by the longtime sellers like Arebelspy, etc.  And the tradeline companies can be fairly demanding, in terms of always being ready to drop everything going on in your life to add an AU in a very particular way, especially when it has to be done by phone like Citi.  I'm grateful to Arebelspy for helping us all with the process.  I'm only saying that newbies should maybe be aware that things seem to have changed a little for the worse since the thread was first started.

[Archipelago]

What do y'all use for AU phone numbers with BofA AU adds?

I always just put my phone number. Figured if they needed to talk to someone, they could call me.

Yes me too. The last thing I would want is the CC company to talk to an AU.

Yes. The last time an AU spoke with the CC company, my account was immediately doomed. CC company closed my account within 24 hours. I still got paid, but that Elan card is long gone.

[ShellyFlorida]

You can get an automatic $2k credit limit increase to Citi cards every 6 months with no credit pull.  You can request it online and the increase is instantaneous.

Thanks for all the tips y'all.  I do have a Citi Custom Cash cards but only about a year of history; I'll mature that one over a few years and get credit limit increased -- I'd really hate to lose it though because I get 5% cash back at Aldi and the awesome discount grocer I go to.

I didn't realize Amex cards were useful for selling tradelines.  Does the old/new tradeline company use them?

I have a question about Barclays AAdvantage card:  when you downgrade the card to another without an annual fee, do you lose the AAdvantage American Airlines miles?  Would be nice to hold onto them and use over like 2 or 3 years. My BF could use to visit his mom.  Barclays is offering me 50k miles and a waived annual fee for the first year.  I'm tempted to apply for the Barclays AAdvantage card but I just applied and was approved for the Discover IT Cashback card just a few days ago.  I have 6 hard inquiries on my Transunion report and 4 on Equifax.

EDIT: I'll have only 3 hard inquiries on TransUnion in Mid June -- three will drop off by then.  Perhaps I'll apply for the Barclays card then.  Then my BF can visit his mom in say July and then May of the following year -- can get 2 round trips w/ the 50k miles; after that then downgrade the card to avoid the annual fee.

[Nutty]

Yes. The last time an AU spoke with the CC company, my account was immediately doomed. CC company closed my account within 24 hours. I still got paid, but that Elan card is long gone.

I've had 2 AU that didn't post after I had added them.  The first AU called the card company and reported fraud and had their account closed before it posted.  Old Company wasn't amused.  All I could say to the card people, was that "I'd have to talk and find out why they did that.  That was not what we discussed."  Duck and run.

The other did the same thing with another card in the same month.  I got paid but they caused a lot of heart burn for me and Old Company.

Sorry to hear that yours cost you a card. 

I put my phone number for the AU's also.  I am getting debt collector calls for one of them now.  The google number is something to look into.  Lots of good ideas here.