buying a car from a private individual...

[bankerguy02]

I am buying a car from a friend and making monthly payments. How can I have the payments reported to Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion? Can my friend send in a letter stating I am paying on time? If so what address do they need to send it to?

[jboy1972]

That is a interesting question....I would love to hear the answer to that too...does this private individual have a car dealership? And /or tax I'd # for business? It might be possible...

[Hoya08]

If possible, take out a car or personal loan to pay the car off so you can have a payment record on your CR.

In order for your friend to report to the credit bureaus, he has to become a member (which has fees) and then requires your SSN to report it.  If you are willing to pay the membership fees and provide him/her your SSN, I don't see any issues.  The problem with this is that your friend did not extend you capital.  Rather, you're making monthly payments so it'll more than likely appear as a "charge-card" type monthly transaction which may not be to your benefit, Auto Enhance or FICO wise.

[pizzadude]

+1. Loans from individuals won't show on your reports.

[Hevj1119]

How in the heck does an individual person become a member and how much are the fees?  I'd like to start my own business where I loan people a small amount of money, and then make them pay me back with ridiculous interest fees to help rebuild their credit

Seriously though, with all the fraud that goes on nowadays and the economy in the state that it's in, surely the "priviledge" of reporting a tradeline to a CRA comes with a ton of prerequisites.  I can't imagine Jim Bob down the street being able to start reporting to the CRA's that Sally Sue has been paying his truck payment.

[guiness56]

Reporting to credit bureaus:  http://www.experian.com/consumer-information/reporting-to-credit-agencies.html