A tradeline refers to an account listed on your credit report. For example, if your car loan is set up through GMAC, that would be listed as a tradeline. The term tradeline is used often used in the world of mortgage. You will often hear the terms positive tradeline or negative tradeline. A positive tradeline refers to an account that has remained in good standing (no late payments), while a negative tradeline refers to an account that has late payments or is over limit. 

A factor that is often overlooked when financially preparing for a mortgage is the amount of tradelines one has on their credit report. Given that utility bills will not show up, people without credit cards often find that they lack the credit depth required to get a mortgage. Most banks will require at least 3 tradelines, each of which will have to be at least 2 yrs old. A closed credit card account will not count as an active tradeline, so it is usually best to pay the credit card off but not to close the account. 

A tradeline will contain the following information:

• Name of the creditor 
• Date account opened
• Account number
• Current balance on the account
• Limit on the account
• Highest balance ever on the account
• What type of account it is (e.g. mortgage, revolving (credit card), installment (car payment etc.))
• Your payment history divided by types of late payments 30 days, 60 days, 90 days
• Occasionally, the address and phone number of the creditor