This coming from a LO that spent a good chunk of my afternoon counseling consumers on their credit and telling them they are not ready to buy yet. I did not tell them how to “work it”…I did tell them which debts to pay off to get the biggest improvements to their scores.

In a related note: did you read Harney this weekend?

I didn’t actually click through on Jennifer’s link, but my guess is that she is offering something like this:

“Federal law permits authorized users to be added to credit-card accounts. Typically, the users are relatives or friends of the primary cardholder. For example, a parent might add a son or daughter onto a Visa card to provide access to credit for the child or for use in emergencies.

Federal law, however, does not limit the number or prescribe the type of authorized users permitted on any single account. Nor does it prohibit the rental or sale of authorized-user designations. Exploiting that loophole, numerous companies have popped up on the Internet offering to buy and rent out the credit-card “trade lines” or accounts of credit-card holders with high limits combined with perfect payment histories.

Big bucks – and a strong potential for fraud on mortgage applications – are involved. Some Web-site promoters say they can add 80 to 120 authorized users onto a high-quality credit-card account before banks or lenders get suspicious. Each account can rent for as much as $1,500 to $2,000 for a 180-day usage. The primary credit-card holder receives a cut of the rental fee, often hundreds of dollars for each authorized user added to the account.

The person seeking a higher credit score does not obtain actual access to the credit card. But within 30 to 90 days of being added to the account, the national credit bureaus incorporate the primary cardholder’s ongoing account information into the files of the authorized user. The score-raising attributes of the primary cardholder’s stellar payment record then flow through to the new user.

One company based in Tampa, Fla., recently solicited mortgage brokers promising credit-score boosts of 150 to 205 points for applicants “in as little as 30 days” for the “discounted” price of $750 per trade line.”

http://www.mercurynews.com/realestate/ci_5604062

I can’t believe this is legal.