what is a trade line 
a trade line is a record of activity for any type of credit extended to a borrower and reported to a credit reporting agency a trade line is established on a borrower s credit report when a borrower is approved for credit the trade line records all of the activity associated with an account comprehensively trade lines are used by credit reporting agencies to calculate a borrower s credit score different credit reporting agencies give differing weights to the activities of trade lines when establishing a credit score for borrowers 