Tradeline

A tradeline is the fundamental unit of information on a credit report. Each tradeline corresponds to an individual credit account, such as a credit card, auto loan, mortgage, or student loan. It is furnished by the creditor, known as a data furnisher, to one or more of the national credit reporting companies. The tradeline typically includes the creditor's name, a partially masked account number, the account type, the date the account was opened, the credit limit or original loan amount, the current balance, the scheduled monthly payment, a month-by-month payment history, and an account status field that indicates whether the account is open, closed, paid, or in another condition. Different types of tradelines exist based on the nature of the account. Revolving tradelines, like credit cards, have a credit limit and allow repeated borrowing. Installment tradelines, such as auto loans or mortgages, have a fixed number of payments and a set loan amount. Open tradelines, like charge cards, require the balance to be paid in full each month. When a consumer obtains a credit score, the scoring model evaluates the information in each tradeline, including payment history, balances, and account age. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, consumers have the right to dispute incomplete or inaccurate tradeline information with the credit reporting company and the furnisher. A tradeline may also appear as an authorized user tradeline, where a person is added to another individual's account but is not the primary account holder. If an account is not paid as agreed, the tradeline may be updated to show a collection status or be sold to a collection agency, which then reports its own tradeline. Consumers can review the tradelines on their credit reports from each of the national credit reporting companies to verify that the information is accurate and complete.