"Aged" Primary Trade Lines

The very term is contradictory.
A few years ago, one of the leading brokers in the authorized user trade line business in California got very aggressive with their advertizing by bringing it to television. This person spoke with CNN's Paula Zahn exposing to the public the fact that the credit bureaus will report accounts to an authorized user's credit file. This caused panic in the credit bureaus because they didn't want people to know and they definately don't like the idea of a service that provides authorized user accounts for a fee because they feel that it is unfairly inflating someone's credit score. So, in an effort to stop the practice, The FICO company threatened to use a "new" scoring model called "FICO 08" that would no longer consider authorized user accounts in the scoring calculation. THIS NEVER HAPPENED but we will discuss that later. There was a massive disinformation campaign all over the internet which really did make people think that authorized user accounts did not boost scores any longer. As a result, the scammers decided that this was a great way to market something new and different to sell and thought that they could use this "FICO 08" MYTH to market a totally fraudulent and illegal service called "Aged Primary Trade Lines". It worked for a long time. In fact if you look online you will still see people selling backdated accounts. The advertising warns people that because of the "new scoring system", the only way to boost your score now was to add primary accounts and BACKDATE them. That is exactly what they did. The problem was that it was very short lived and it cost consumers and brokers like me lots of money. How was this done? Very simply, companies that have the ability to report payment information to the credit bureaus (which is not easy to get) just violated their terms and reported FICTITIOUS information to people's credit reports. They would report that a person had a loan or line of credit that was opened several years ago and that the payments were being made on time ever since. They make up the amount, the balance, the date it was opened and just posted it. Sounds simple right? Well the problem is that like most dirt merchants on the internet, their greed overshadowed their common sense so they just kept abusing the process to make more money. Eventually, when the credit bureaus see this, they will want to AUDIT the company that is doing the reporting. They will want to come into the office, look at the actual applications, see identification, and see proof of all these so called "payments" that have been made. Since none of these things exist, the company doing the reporting quickly LOSES it's reporing ability and can no longer report payment information. It gets worse - not only do they lose the ability to report anymore, but ALL the accounts they ever posted FALL OFF the person's credit report. That is why when people paid for these "aged" primary accounts, they fell off in about a month causing severe customer complaints. Of course none of the providers of this service ever gave any money back. I speak to people all over the US who have lost thousands of dollars with this mistake. Further, some companies abused this process so much that some credit bureaus like TransUnion actually FROZE people's credit files to investigate the accounts. This is NOT A GOOD IDEA. AGED PRIMARY ACCOUNTS are illegal and fraudulent. If you come across anyone trying to sell them - stay away because it will not end well. You will be frustrated and you will lose your money.

Authorized User Accounts

What is an authorized user? If you have a credit card, you may know that you can add someone to it as an “authorized user.” This is someone who you can allow to use your account by giving them a card. To add a user, you would simply call the bank that issued your card and tell them you wish to add an authorized user. They will need that person’s name, date of birth and social security number. Once you do this, the bank will send you a card with the authorized user’s name on it. If you give it to them, they can use the account just like you. However, since you are the primary card holder, the responsibility to the debt is yours and yours alone. If that person went on a shopping spree and maxed out the account, you would have to pay it. However, even though you are financially responsible for the account, something else happens within the credit bureaus’ system that is just an added bonus. The account will appear on the authorized user’s credit file as well. This can (and does) have a dramatic effect on the credit score of the authorized user.

The best and fastest way to boost your credit score is to be added to a perfect credit card as an authorized user. You should first make sure that the account you are being added to has never had a late payment, has a balance that is below 20 percent of the credit limit and has been opened for at least 3 years.

I have been in the authorized user business since 2005 and in that time I put together a solid network of card holders who will add my clients to their long standing accounts. I am simply a broker between my card holder and my client.

Despite all the fantastic claims online, being added as an authorized user remains the only LEGAL way to actually have age added to your credit report. For more information on our perfect accounts, visit my website at www.aubrokers.net.

Decoding the Credit Myths

One of the most misunderstood financial subjects is credit. Because it's such an important thing that everyone seems to want, there is so much misinformation, false promises, deception and false advertising related to this very cloudy subject. What is it? Why is it so important? How do you find the truth in a sea of fraud, lies, false hope and less than accurate information? I've been in the credit enhancement business since late 2005. It's been an adventure but it has also taught me many things. As my very first posting, this purpose of this posting is really to educate people on personal and business credit. The goal is steer people in the right direction and at least save someone the pain and frustration of getting ripped off. Hopefully someone can benefit from my experiences.


Let's start with personal credit first. Good personal credit is essential to financial prosperity over the long term. That is why we see so many ads even on television for websites to visit where you can view your credit report. The problem is that simply being able to see your credit report is not the same as having a good credit rating. In fact for some people looking at their credit report is just a reminder that they can't get the things they need.


There are three main credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Different lenders use different bureaus when making their decision to extend credit to an applicant.


There are several methods being marketed today that promise to end all your credit problems. Some are effective, some are illegal, some are both and very few are legal and effective. I will review them all for you.

I will discuss the following:


Aged Primary Trade Lines

New Primary Trade Lines

Authorized User Accounts

Business Credit

All the links are listed on the right....