What is credit piggybacking? If you’re not sure what this strange term could possibly mean, you’re definitely not alone.

Credit piggybacking, also referred to as credit card piggybacking or piggybacking credit, is a commonly used credit-building strategy. However, many people are still unaware of how to access this strategy and use it to their advantage.

In this article, we’ll define what piggybacking for credit means and how it can help your credit.

Credit Piggybacking Definition

The general definition of credit piggybacking is building credit by becoming associated with a credit account owned by someone else. There are three main ways in which credit piggybacking can take place, which we discuss in more detail in “The Fastest Ways to Build Credit”:

Opening an account with a cosigner or guarantor is one way to piggyback on someone’s good credit.

Opening an account with a cosigner or guarantor, which is someone who promises to be responsible for the debt if the primary borrower cannot repay it. If the cosigner or guarantor has good credit, the borrower may be able to qualify for credit that they could not qualify for on their own or qualify for better terms.
Opening a joint account with another person, which means both parties have full access to the account and are both held fully responsible for the account. By opening a joint account with a partner who has good credit, a person with less-than-ideal credit may be able to open an account that they wouldn’t have qualified for on their own or get more favorable terms.
Becoming an authorized user for the purpose of credit card piggybacking, meaning you are not responsible for the debt, but the entire history of that account may be reflected in your credit file, regardless of when you were added.

When people talk about piggybacking credit, they are usually referring to authorized user piggybacking.

How Does Authorized User Piggybacking Work?

Here’s how piggybacking works as an authorized user:

When you are added as an authorized user to someone’s credit card, often (depending on the bank), the full history of that account will then be shown in your credit report, regardless of when you were added to the card.
Therefore, piggybacking can almost instantly add years of perfect payment history to the authorized user’s credit file.
Authorized user tradelines can affect many important credit variables, such as your average age of accounts, age of oldest account, overall utilization ratio, number of accounts, mix of accounts, and more.
Historically, only the wealthy and privileged were able to use piggybacking as a credit-building strategy. Now, there is a marketplace where tradelines can be bought and sold, which is helping to democratize the credit system and provide equal credit opportunity.

Be sure to read our article to get all the details on how tradelines work.

The issue of piggybacking went all the way to Congress, which upheld consumers’ rights to use authorized user tradelines.

Is Piggybacking Credit Legal?

While Tradeline Supply Company, LLC does not provide legal advice, we can provide evidence that supports the idea that piggybacking credit is legal.

Firstly, piggybacking for credit is an extremely common practice that has been in use since the advent of credit cards. Studies estimate that 20-30% of Americans that have credit records have authorized user accounts in their credit file.

In addition, about 25% of people who have credit reports initially established their credit files by piggybacking in one way or another.

Many banks actually encourage consumers to add authorized users for the express purpose of boosting their credit scores.

You may have heard about FICO trying to take away authorized user privileges in 2008. But what you probably didn’t hear about was FICO backing down after a congressional hearing that involved the Federal Trade Commission and Federal Reserve Board.

During the hearing, FICO admitted that they could not legally discriminate between spousal AUs and other users, because this would unlawfully violate the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.

Since the U.S. Congress has upheld consumers’ rights to use authorized user tradelines, it seems reasonable to conclude that authorized user tradelines are legal.

For more information on this topic, check out our article, “Are Tradelines Legal?”

Does Piggybacking Credit Still Work?

As we discussed in “Do Tradelines Still Work in 2019?”, credit piggybacking still works, and we think it will be around for a long time.

Piggybacking credit is a well-established credit-building strategy that has been defended in Congress and promoted by banks. It is a significant part of our credit system.

Thanks to the Equal Opportunity Credit Act, authorized user tradelines are still a very important factor in credit scoring models.

Not only that, but even if FICO were to devise an algorithm intended to exclude piggybackers, it would be quite some time before lenders could implement it on a large scale. The slow-moving financial industry is still using FICO scores that were developed decades ago.

Piggybacking companies bring together buyers and sellers of authorized user tradelines.

What Do Piggybacking Companies Do?

Piggybacking companies, more commonly referred to as tradeline companies, simply facilitate the buying and selling of authorized user tradelines.

The tradeline companies act as an intermediary by marketing the tradelines, protecting the identities of the clients, and preventing fraud.

At Tradeline Supply Company, LLC, we provide an innovative platform through which users can buy and sell tradelines entirely online. We also provide educational resources so consumers can familiarize themselves with the credit system and how piggybacking works.

Can Piggybacking Hurt Credit?

If credit piggybacking is done incorrectly, it can backfire and hurt your credit.

Because the full history of the credit account is reflected in the credit file of the piggybacker, that means any negative factors will show up, too.

For example, if the account has any late or missed payments, that could hurt the authorized user rather than help. Similarly, high utilization on the account could also damage the authorized user’s credit.

That’s why we recommend going with a reputable piggybacking company who guarantees perfect payment history and low utilization (15% or lower) on all tradelines. This will virtually eliminate the risk of your credit being hurt by these factors.

The only other way piggybacking could hurt your credit is if you choose the wrong piggybacking credit card. It’s essential to choose the right tradelines for your credit file. To do this, you’ll need to figure out your average age of accounts and how adding a tradeline could affect this statistic.

For example, if your average age of accounts is 5 years and you decide to piggyback on a 2-year-old tradeline, this would bring down your average age of accounts, which isn’t a good thing.

For this reason, it’s important to use our tradeline calculator to see where you stand, and to check out our tradeline buyer’s guide before you choose a tradeline.

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