But it's not like the credit reports track who is/isn't related to whom to restrict unrelated AU's receiving the benefit from people paid for adding them to their credit cards. Right? The reports carry only very generic information. Do you think that this ambiguous "fraud protection" is just another PR tactic on FICO's part to scare consumers away from the practice because there isn't anything they can legally do to stop it? Even if the model could somehow choose to ignore an AU account from an unrelated primary, ignoring it would be illegal for a bank, according to ECOA. If an AU line is on the report, the score cannot ignore it. I believe that you are correct, however, in stating that if the application went into manual review, the underwriter could easily kick it out for the lack of primary activity, or some other reason, but couldn't legally decline based solely on the appearance of AU accounts. As far as the original poster in this thread is concerned, I think they are doing the perfect thing. Adding AU accounts from a friend AND applying for 2-3 HR tradelines of their own. Once the primary lines applied for season for 6 months, or so, they should be able to have everything in place for a lender to approve them for whatever loan their income can support.
