Tradelines vs. Credit Repair: Which Do You Need?

Disclosure: Tradeline Tribe and 90 Day Credit Experts are affiliated companies.

People often ask whether they should buy a tradeline or hire a credit repair company. They do two different jobs, and many people benefit from both.

What a tradeline does

A tradeline adds positive information: an older account with a high limit, low balance and perfect payment history. It helps your utilization, average account age and payment history.

What credit repair does

Credit repair focuses on removing information that’s inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable, like a collection that isn’t yours, a late payment you made on time, or a debt reported twice. No one can legally remove accurate negative information.

Which do you need?

• Thin file, no negatives: a tradeline is often the faster win.
• Errors on your reports: start with disputes. A tradeline won’t hide them from a lender.
• Both: clean up first, then add positive history.

Getting help with credit repair

If you have collections, late payments or charge-offs that look wrong, our partners at 90 Day Credit Experts review all three credit reports, dispute inaccurate items for you, and back their work with a 150-point warranty in 90 days. Their guide to disputing credit report errors is a good place to start.

Once your reports are clean, a seasoned tradeline can help you build on that progress. Browse available tradelines.