Honest answers to the questions everyone asks.

An authorized user (AU) tradeline is when someone with a credit card adds you to their account as an authorized user. Once added, the card's full account history — limit, age, payment record, utilization — appears on your credit report. You don't get to use the card, you don't see the statements, and you have no payment liability. You're just borrowing the credit history.

Yes. Authorized user reporting has been a legitimate FCRA-recognized credit-building practice for over 50 years. Federal law requires lenders to consider AU history. Banks add AUs to cards every day — for spouses, children, parents, employees. We just connect cardholders willing to add unfamiliar AUs with people who need the credit history.

No. Becoming an authorized user does not require a credit pull or hard inquiry. Adding a verified positive tradeline to your file can only help — it adds account age, available credit, and on-time payment history. There's no scenario where being added as an AU damages your credit.

No. The cardholder receives the AU card and we never use it. The transaction is purely about the credit history reporting to your file — not about access to the credit line. You won't be able to make purchases on the card.

Most reservations cover 60 days, meaning you remain on the account for at least two reporting cycles. After that period, the cardholder removes you. The tradeline often stays on your report afterward as a closed account in good standing — that's based on each bureau's retention policy, which we don't control.

Georgia is the only state with a Credit Services Business Act in its criminal code (O.C.G.A. § 16-9-59) — not just civil regulatory. The statute's exceptions are narrow and don't clearly cover authorized user tradeline brokers. Rather than risk operating in a state where personal criminal liability is on the table, we exclude Georgia entirely. This is the industry standard — most established brokers do the same. If you're a Georgia resident interested in credit-building strategies, we recommend consulting a Georgia-licensed financial advisor or attorney about options legally available in your state.

Visit our Tradelines page, browse the inventory, click "Reserve" on the card you want. You'll be taken to a form pre-filled with your selection. Submit your name, DOB, address, and SSN. We confirm availability within hours and reply with Zelle payment instructions.

Zelle protects both sides. It's bank-to-bank, settles in minutes, has no chargeback mechanism, and no processing fees eating into the price. Credit card payments come with chargeback risk, which forces tradeline brokers to either charge 5–10% more to cover that risk or refuse refunds. We'd rather pay you the savings and offer a real money-back guarantee.

Once we confirm tradeline availability and send you Zelle instructions, you have 24 hours to complete payment. After that, your reservation is released and the tradeline goes back into the active inventory. We'll send a reminder before releasing.

Yes. Many clients add 2–3 tradelines simultaneously to maximize the impact on their score. Just submit a separate reservation form for each card. We'll coordinate the AU enrollment so they all post around the same statement cycle.

Not currently. The Zelle-and-done model keeps prices low and the process fast. If a tradeline is outside your budget, start with a smaller-limit card and add higher-limit cards later as your goals justify it.

Full legal name, date of birth, current mailing address, and Social Security number. All four are required by the card issuer to add you as an authorized user. Your information is encrypted in transit and at rest, used only for AU enrollment, and SSNs are deleted from active systems within 90 days of completed enrollment.

It reports 7 to 10 days after the next statement close date of the card you bought. Each card on our inventory page shows its statement date — that's the anchor. Pick a card with a statement close date that fits your timeline. Payment timing doesn't matter; statement close timing does.

Most tradelines report to at least 2 of the 3 major bureaus (Experian, Equifax, TransUnion). Some report to all three. Our 100% money-back guarantee kicks in if your tradeline doesn't report to at least 2 bureaus within the expected window.

We don't make point-increase promises and we won't. Score impact depends on your existing file — utilization, account count, average age, derogatory marks. Real client lifts on our testimonials range from +67 to +112 points, but those are individual cases, not predictions. A clean profile gets bigger lifts than a damaged one.

If your tradeline doesn't report to at least 2 of the 3 major bureaus within the expected window after the statement close date, you get a full refund — 100% of your purchase, no appeals process. Email info@authorizedtrades.com and we process it. We carry the risk so you don't have to.

Pull a fresh credit report from MyScoreIQ.com (free, official). Or use Credit Karma (TransUnion + Equifax) and Experian.com (Experian). The tradeline appears as an open credit card account with the original cardholder's bank, your name on it, the original limit, age, and payment history.

You earn 35% of every sale we make on your card. There's no fixed dollar amount — your cut depends on what we sell each tradeline for. Aged cards with high limits and prime statement dates command higher prices. A card we sell at $1,000 pays you $350. A card at $1,250 pays you $438. See live numbers on our Sell page.

The single most important seller requirement. You must keep your card's balance at 3% or under of the credit limit at every statement close. On a $30,000 limit card, that's a balance under $900 each cycle. This is what protects the buyer's score — high utilization on the host card transfers to the AU's report. One miss and we pause your card. Repeat misses end the partnership.

Within 48 hours of confirming the AU has been added to your account. We pay via Zelle to the email you registered with us. No paperwork, no waiting on processors, no fees deducted.

Cards aged 2+ years (5+ preferred), with $5K+ limits ($15K–$50K sweet spot, $80K+ commands premium), perfect payment history (zero late payments — ever), low utilization always under 3%, and from issuers that report AU history (Wells Fargo, Citi, Chase, Capital One, Barclays, Bank of America, Discover all do; AmEx limited).

Most cards allow 4–6 authorized users at a time. Each AU stays for 60 days, then rotates out. A $1,000-per-sale card running 4 AUs/month puts $1,400/month in your pocket at the 35% split. We coordinate timing so additions are spread, not stacked.

We guarantee ALL of these on every tradeline purchased: (1) It will post on the next reporting period listed for that card if you buy by the deadline. (2) You will remain on the card as an authorized user for 1–2 monthly reporting cycles, depending on the card. (3) It will post to at least 2 of the 3 credit bureaus. (4) Zero late payments ever on the card. (5) Card utilization will be lower while you're on it (sellers must keep utilization at 3% or under at every statement close).

We do NOT guarantee: (1) Any specific credit score increase — you may get a zero-point boost or even see your score go down. (2) That you'll qualify for any loan, card, or financial goal. (3) Answers from our customer service about how tradelines might affect your score — our reps are specifically trained NOT to talk about credit scores. (4) Any results beyond the tradeline posting as detailed above. (5) That tradelines will post if you have a fraud alert or credit freeze — remove them before purchasing or your reservation will fail.

Email info@authorizedtrades.com within 21 days of the first scheduled reporting date and include: (1) Your full name, phone, email. (2) Last 4 of your SSN. (3) Credit monitoring info — choose ONE: your Identity IQ username/password (verifies TransUnion + Equifax; for Experian we additionally need Experian.com credentials), OR full PDF reports from AnnualCreditReport.com (all pages), OR myFICO.com reports, OR reports downloaded directly from each bureau dated as of the refund request. Screenshots are not accepted. Our refund team confirms within 2 business days; refund issues within another 2 business days.

Most credit monitoring services update monthly, and reports are commonly outdated. Confirm you're viewing a report that has been updated after the reporting period has ended. AnnualCreditReport.com lets you pull free updated reports weekly — wait until after the last day of your reporting period before downloading.

No. All refund requests must be submitted via email to info@authorizedtrades.com. Our customer service channels do not verify non-postings or process refunds over the phone or via chat. For your security, we may call you to request a two-factor authentication code in order to access the credit-monitoring account you provide.

Authorized Trades takes fraud extremely seriously. Submitting an EIN, TIN, or any false or alternate Social Security Number in place of your real SSN results in: (1) immediate termination of your reservation, (2) removal from any tradelines you've been added to, and (3) full forfeiture of all amounts paid as liquidated damages — no refund. We cross-reference identifying information with high-grade third-party verification services. Suspected fraud is reported to the FBI, DOJ, FTC, Social Security Administration, and Internet Crime Complaint Center. The complete policy is in our Terms of Service.