A single credit account listed on a credit report, including its type, balance, payment history, credit limit, and status—the primary data unit lenders use to evaluate creditworthiness.
A tradeline is each individual account entry on a consumer or business credit report. Every credit card, installment loan, mortgage, auto loan, HELOC, and student loan appears as its own tradeline. Together, a borrower's tradelines constitute the raw data from which FICO scores and VantageScores are computed. Each tradeline includes: - Account type (revolving, installment, mortgage, open) - Creditor name and account number (partially masked) - Date opened and date of last activity - Credit limit or high-credit amount (for revolving accounts) - Current balance and payment amount - Payment history — a rolling 24–84 month string of on-time, 30-day, 60-day, 90-day+ late marks - Account status — open, closed, charged-off, in collections, transferred The Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. §1681 et seq.) (https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/statutes/fair-credit-reporting-act) governs how tradelines are reported, disputed, and retained. Negative tradelines (late payments, charge-offs, collections) generally remain for 7 years from the date of first delinquency; bankruptcies remain for 10 years. Positive closed accounts can remain up to 10 years. The CFPB's credit reporting rulemaking (12 C.F.R. Part 1022) further regulates the accuracy obligations of both furnishers and consumer reporting agencies (https://www.consumerfinance.gov/rules-policy/regulations/1022/). For business credit, Dun & Bradstreet, Experian Business, and Equifax Business maintain separate tradeline databases. A business tradeline is typically reported by a supplier, lender, or credit card issuer that has extended net-30/60/90 terms or a credit facility to the business.
FICO scoring models require at least one tradeline updated in the past six months and one opened more than six months ago. Scores improve meaningfully with 3–5 open, positive tradelines showing consistent payment history.
Purchasing tradeline rentals is legal but considered a form of credit piggybacking that lenders and credit bureaus are actively combating. FICO 10 and recent VantageScore versions reduce the impact of authorized-user tradelines that don't reflect organic credit behavior.
Most negative marks (late payments, collections, charge-offs) remain for 7 years from the date of first delinquency under the FCRA (15 U.S.C. §1681c).