Do tradelines work?

Buying your way onto a stranger’s credit card as an authorized user is a pattern the FTC has repeatedly sued over, and it has never held that it is legal. Being added by someone who actually knows you, on an account you can actually use, is a different thing.

Last verified 2026-09-21 · 2 primary sources

What it actually is

A seller lists "tradelines" — places on somebody else’s long-standing, high-limit, well-paid credit card — and for a few hundred to a few thousand dollars adds you to one as an authorized user. The account’s history then appears on your report. You never receive a card, never have access to the line, and the arrangement ends after a set number of statement cycles. Sellers call it piggybacking and describe it as a known technique rather than a product with a legal history.

The catch

The FTC’s own description of the pattern includes the part the pitch leaves out — the buyer does not actually have access. Its settlements have barred sellers from adding people as authorized users unless they genuinely do, and from claiming the practice is legal. The scoring side is separate and simpler: models have been adjusted for years specifically to discount authorized-user accounts that look purchased, so the boost is temporary when it arrives at all, and any lender reviewing the file manually can see an account you have no relationship with. And a company charging you before delivering credit repair has broken a different law again, whatever the tradeline does.

The free way

If somebody who genuinely knows you adds you to an account you can actually use, that is an ordinary authorized-user arrangement and costs nothing. Beyond that, what moves a score is boring and free: paying on time every month, keeping balances low against limits, and letting your own accounts age. Get your reports at annualcreditreport.com and dispute anything inaccurate — disputing is free. A secured card you open yourself builds a history that belongs to you and does not fall off when a stranger stops paying for it.

How to spot it next time

• Paying to be added to an account you will never have access to.
• A price list of "seasoned" accounts by age and limit.
• Any payment taken before credit repair work has been done.
• A promised point increase, or a promise that it will get you a mortgage.
• Being told the arrangement is legal, or that lenders cannot tell.
• Being asked for your Social Security number by a seller you found in a comment section.

Where this comes from

Drafted with AI. Verified by humans against primary sources. Reviewed by a licensed professional where noted. Last verified 2026-09-21.

Every claim above, with the exact words of the agency that made it. If a paraphrase here does not match the quote, trust the quote and tell us.

1. The FTC’s description of piggybacking includes the absence of real access.

   “It’s where a person with iffy credit pays a credit repair company to be listed as an authorized user on the account of someone with good credit – even though they don’t actually have access.”www.ftc.gov

2. An FTC settlement barred a seller from adding authorized users who do not genuinely have access.

   “prohibits the defendants from marketing credit repair services that attempt to add an authorized user to anyone’s credit unless that person has actual access”www.ftc.gov

3. Taking any payment up front for credit repair is illegal on its own.

   “When offering credit repair services, asking for so much as one thin dime up front will land you in legal hot water.”www.ftc.gov

4. There is nothing a credit repair company can legally do for your credit that you cannot do yourself for nearly nothing.

   “Anything a credit repair company can do legally, you’ll be able to do for yourself for little or no cost.”consumer.ftc.gov

This page describes a pattern, not any particular company or person. Patterns outlive the people running them, which is why it is written this way.