Personal blog on early retirement and analytics projects. I write about what I learn as I am learning it.
Most people who land on this question just checked their score — maybe before applying for a car loan, or right after getting denied for something. Either way: a 662 credit score is fair, not good. That distinction might sound like splitting hairs until you’re quoted an interest rate two points higher than your friend with a 710 got last week.
Here’s something that surprises a lot of people: turning 18 doesn’t give you a credit score. You don’t start at 300, you don’t start at 500, you don’t start at zero — you don’t have a score at all. FICO needs at least one account that’s been open for at least six months before it can generate a score. If you’ve never been on a credit account, your file is blank. Lenders who pull your credit will see a thin file or a “no score” result.
Continue reading “What Is Your Credit Score When You Turn 18?”
Boost Credit 101 was actually the first tradeline broker I ever heard of. I came across them in a thread on the Mr. Money Mustache forum — one of those long, sprawling threads spanning years of posts where people casually mention earning a few hundred dollars a month adding strangers as authorized users to their credit cards. I thought it was too good to be true. Took my chances with it anyway, and that’s how I ended up selling tradelines through Boost Credit 101 as one of my first brokers. One option worth knowing about: you can rent tradelines directly — adding someone else’s aged card to your report as an authorized user.
Continue reading “Boost Credit 101 Review: My Tradeline Experience”
Tradeline Supply Company was the first tradeline broker I ever used — and the one I’d point someone to if they asked where to start. I found them through a post on the Wealthy Accountant blog, which itself came from a thread on the Mr. Money Mustache forum. At the time I had no idea selling tradelines was even a thing. TSC was where I learned how the whole business works.
Continue reading “Tradeline Supply Company Review: My Experience as a Seller”
If you bought an authorized user tradeline and then got an alert from Credit Karma or your bank’s credit monitoring saying “a new tradeline has been opened,” that’s the notification you were waiting for. It means the tradeline posted. Here’s what it actually means for your credit — and a couple of things worth checking when you see it.
Continue reading “A New Tradeline Has Been Opened: What It Means”