Does Adding Tradelines Increase Your Credit Score?

One method people use to boost their credit score (or repair credit) is adding tradelines, which is simply adding other credit accounts (usually credit cards) to your credit report to demonstrate more available credit.  If your ratio of outstanding credit to available credit is low (usually sub 20%), your credit score will not be negatively impacted.

However, when adding tradelines, you must be careful to to add multiple ones in a short period of time.  Opening up multiple credit cards and/or making a big purchase in a few months' span will greatly knock down your score.  Your credit score goes lower because you pose more risk when borrowing more money.  Fortunately, when all of these accounts are paid, your credit score usually increases to be a higher number than it was before.