After twelve years of Credit Repair, credit score repair and writing credit repair letters to all sorts of creditors, collection agencies and credit bureaus, I realized that it was necessary to provide my services at a serious discount to consumers in need. I realized that not all consumers could afford my credit repair services. As a result, I created a hot line to answer credit repair and credit score questions. However, I noticed that it was becoming an overwhelming task for my staff and at much expense in order to provide the free credit repair services.
A little over two (2) years ago, a couple of my clients suggested I should write a booklet (20 pages) about credit score, how credit score is calculated, what to look for when calculating credit score, what is the best way to repair credit and some of the main topics of credit repair. They suggested I should provide this ebook for a price of $9.95. I thought about doing so for some time as I was thinking that 20 pages of credit repair ebook would not be enough to even touch the surface on so many subjects that needed to be covered. You see the entire idea of credit repair (credit score repair) or credit repair letter writing is not a simple task that even 50 pages would be enough. However, it was also bothering me to charge $9.95 for some limited number of pages.
Then I realized, I could sit and think and continue contemplating about writing a credit repair - fix credit summary pages until I turn blue, or if I truly want to help consumers with their credit repair and credit score issues, I must take a step and start now. That was two (2) years ago.
As I was writing, in August 2006, I realized, we’ll have a major problems with the mortgage loans being granted so easily due to the unethical practices of mortgage lenders, brokers and direct lenders. You must understand this point. For the past eleven (11) years, I was directly involved in assisting my clients get loans after their credit repair was reasonably completed and their credit score was around 740 or higher. Initially, I was just fixing credit and let them enjoy the luxury of such good credit score. However, after communicating with my clients a couple of months later, I noticed that they were getting rubbed by “mortgage brokers” and the so called “Direct Lenders” or even the loan servicing companies. It was unjust then and it continued to be unjust now. Since this is a separate issue of its own, that I must share it with you and teaches you what to watch-out for, I am going to create a separate article about Creditors, lenders, mortgage brokers and the “direct lenders.”
Let’s stick with issue regarding credit repair.
Most consumers fall in the trap of over extended credit when banks and credit cards companies offer one card or loan after another. The consumers think the best way to get-out-of debt is borrowing more. In other words, “steal from Pete to pay Paul.” This is one of the major misconception consumers have that puts them in a deeper debt and causes even more problems for them to the point that they have credit collapse (beyond credit crunch). They experience receiving a lot of called from collection agencies, having late payments, collections and charge off entries on their credit files (credit reports) and their credit score goes down to 400 or 500 level.
As I was typing my so-called ebook (according to push my clients given), I noticed that the summary book was expanding to over one hundred pages and I was not even touching half the issues. Then I decided to continue and make the book a “credit repair” book called “Your Credit = Your Life, Fix It Now!” Since August 2006 realization that we will have mortgage problems, my only option was to inform as many people as I could either by emailing or calling, I was not able to reach all consumers. However, “Your Credit = Your Life…” book addressed all issues.
Other misconceptions consumers have, is the fact that some of them think, a credit repair is a quick fix. They think, they can just wave a magic wand and their credit score will go up from 495 to 720 or more. That’s not how it works. A true credit repair or improvement in credit score takes time (several months to a couple of years). Don’t be fooled by what you hear as quick “credit repair fix.”
In order for you to do self credit repair which is the best method, your must follow several steps. Those steps are lengthy and require patience. It requires dedication, willpower and application of your own gradual experiences. For the past several years, I have a sign on my office door so that everyone can clearly see. I also have the quote on my business cards, letterhead, books I wrote and talk about it repeatedly. It says, “more is lost by indecision than by bad decision.”
Think about it for a couple of second and then relate these words to what has transpired in your life thus far. Just as I was contemplating to write 20 pages for an ebook and sell it for $9.95, I was thinking of two things:
a. It is not possible to write just 20 pages,
b. I wouldn’t have the heart to sell a summary book for $9.95.
I lost the track of my own quote. “More was being lost be my indecision…” I wanted to help teach others how to fix credit; I hired a staff teaching them the credit repair concepts, but wasn’t grabbing my keyboard to type what was in my heart and mind. As my clients were pushing me, I was lost in my indecision.
Most consumers do exactly the same as I did for a couple of months. Think with yourself. How many times were you planning to do something and you kept contemplating if you should do what was in your mind or suggested to you? I bet you did that a few times. I bet part of your problem was the same as mine. Where do I start? How do I approach it? What would be my next step? And, a long list of other questions. You know something. Unless you take the first step, you wouldn’t know what the next step is. Unless you set your goal, mind and heart to take an action, it will never happen. You will contemplate and continue in your indecision yet time passes you by and all you do get deeper and deeper in debt, pay more for simple loans, get drowned in debt to a point that you will take your credit or financial anger on your loved ones. ALL BECAUSE YOU DID NOT MAKE YOUR DECISION IN DOING SOMETHING TO TURN YOUR LIFE AROUND.
My dear friend, stop feeling sorry. Here, I am pushing you to do something. Make a decision and do something about it NOW. It is never a bad idea to have a better credit so that you could have a better life and save more money. It took me several months to prepare the book that offers all you need to know about your credit. Believe me, I have seen so many credit reports that yours would not be half as bad as what I’ve seen. There is hope for everyone, especially you. You only become hopeless when you don’t get up, shack off feeling sorry and do something to turn your credit life around.
Please let it be now. Here are a few steps in what you can do.
1. Get copies of your credit reports. You must obtain recent copies for all three (3) credit bureaus. One credit report won’t do. Why? Different creditors and collection agencies report to different credit bureaus. See the book.
2. Compare each entry shown on your credit reports with the account statements you have. Whether it is an open account, closed account, a collection, a charge off or late payment account. You don’t know how many times, I seen credit reports where the consumer did not have any such account and it was creditor or credit bureaus mistakes. Read the book.
3. When you notice inconsistencies (whether it is an account you don’t recognize or misinformation about an account), call creditors and credit bureaus. Discuss, dispute and be persistent.
4. Ask for a conclusion, removal or correction letter.
5. Do NOT settle with collection agencies. If you do or have no other choice, you must do two things, settle for less or don’t pay unless they agree to correct the entry by removing it.
6. Do not trust a collection agent. They do NOT mean well.
There are so many things to talk about and so many techniques to offer. It is impossible to discuss all in this article. So, I ask you to do something useful and quick to improve your credit score, which is as a result of your steps in your credit repair. You don’t know how good it will do for you.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Everything you Wanted to Know About Bad Credit Repair
It may not be possible to provide you with everything you wanted to know about credit repair in this brief article, but here we attempt to give you the do-it-yourself basics and the facts about the many Credit Repair schemes that are being advertised and should be avoided.
Some companies advertise that they have a credit report repair Software and also they will teach you credit repair secrets, for a fee of course. There is a lot of free information here, if you know where to look. Before you take a credit repair course or sign up for credit report repair, read the facts and the laws relating to credit repair. In this way you may avoid some disappointment and save some money.
Credit repair is a popular subject. It seems that almost everyone wants learn about Credit Repair. Books and software programs that claim to contain everything you wanted to know about credit repair are being sold on the internet and in retail locations all over the country. There are some questionable credit repair schemes and some companies suggest action which is illegal. Consumers can learn to repair their own credit, but it takes time and patience. The safest bet when hiring someone to do the work for you is to hire a credit repair attorney. In this way, you can be sure that you will achieve results; they know everything there is to know about credit repair. You can also be sure that a credit repair attorney will not advise you to do anything that is illegal. Most of the popular credit repair lawyers do not charge more than the other credit repair companies and some offer money back guarantees.
One of the credit repair schemes investigated by the Federal Trade Commission involved a company that told their customers that they had a special valuable computer disc. This computer disc was supposed to contain everything you wanted to know about credit repair, when in fact there was nothing unique about the disc or the services offered by the credit repair company. They charged consumers, before results were achieved. In order to protect consumers from these credit repair schemes, companies are not allowed to charge customers upfront fees. In addition, consumers have three days to cancel any contract that they sign. Of course you may not enjoy the same protection when buying a book or software program that claims to contain everything you wanted to know about credit repair. So make your purchases carefully and look for money back guarantees.
The do-it-yourself basics for everything that you wanted to know about credit repair include reviewing and correcting the information on your credit reports
. In response to a recently enacted law, the three major credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, created a website to allow consumers easier access to their credit reports. Until this law was enacted, the credit bureaus were allowed to charge consumers a fee for a copy of their credit reports. You are entitled to a free copy of your credit report once in a twelve month period. You are also entitled to a free copy if you have been denied credit recently, if you are unemployed and plan to apply for a new job within the next three months or if you are on public assistance. The companies pushing credit repair schemes will not tell you where to find the information that you need to repair your credit reports, before you pay them. One way to identify a legitimate credit repair company is to look at what they claim they can do. If they claim to be able to do things for you that you could not do for yourself, with time, patience and know-how, then they are credit repair schemes.
The first place to go for everything that you wanted to know about credit repair is www.annualcreditreport.com. The credit bureaus are allowed to promote other services and products on this site. These are not credit repair schemes, but they are usually credit monitoring services or newsletter subscriptions which may or may not be helpful to you in your current situation. Be sure to spell the website address correctly, this writer has written a number of articles about credit repair and has been advised that she occasionally misspells it. You can link directly to the site from Credit Fix Solutions or the Federal Trade Commission's official website for consumer credit.
The Federal Trade Commission website is also a good place to visit for everything that you wanted to know about credit repair. Their advice is discouraging to anyone that hopes to attain immediate credit repair, because there is no such thing. But they do provide a sample letter that you can use as a guide if you are planning to dispute information in your credit reports. You can dispute any information on your credit report that you believe is inaccurate, misleading, outdated or unverifiable. Unverifiable means that the credit bureau cannot verify the information.
Disputing information on credit reports is the main topic of most books that claim to contain everything you wanted to know about credit repair. Credit repair schemes may also focus on disputing negative items on credit reports. In fact the company that claimed to own the special computer disc, simply advised consumers to dispute every negative item on their credit report. It is not illegal to dispute any information on your credit report, but it is illegal for a company to make false claims about their services.
This is probably not everything that you wanted to know about credit repair, but it may be enough to get you started. Before you buy a book or software program, visit your local library. Experts have been writing books that are supposed to contain everything you wanted to know about credit repair for a long time. The only information that may not be accurate, depending on the date the book was written, is information concerning fees charged by credit bureaus for copies of credit reports. But, this article provided you with that information. Remember to avoid the credit repair schemes, take your time and have patience. Good Luck.
Some companies advertise that they have a credit report repair Software and also they will teach you credit repair secrets, for a fee of course. There is a lot of free information here, if you know where to look. Before you take a credit repair course or sign up for credit report repair, read the facts and the laws relating to credit repair. In this way you may avoid some disappointment and save some money.
Credit repair is a popular subject. It seems that almost everyone wants learn about Credit Repair. Books and software programs that claim to contain everything you wanted to know about credit repair are being sold on the internet and in retail locations all over the country. There are some questionable credit repair schemes and some companies suggest action which is illegal. Consumers can learn to repair their own credit, but it takes time and patience. The safest bet when hiring someone to do the work for you is to hire a credit repair attorney. In this way, you can be sure that you will achieve results; they know everything there is to know about credit repair. You can also be sure that a credit repair attorney will not advise you to do anything that is illegal. Most of the popular credit repair lawyers do not charge more than the other credit repair companies and some offer money back guarantees.
One of the credit repair schemes investigated by the Federal Trade Commission involved a company that told their customers that they had a special valuable computer disc. This computer disc was supposed to contain everything you wanted to know about credit repair, when in fact there was nothing unique about the disc or the services offered by the credit repair company. They charged consumers, before results were achieved. In order to protect consumers from these credit repair schemes, companies are not allowed to charge customers upfront fees. In addition, consumers have three days to cancel any contract that they sign. Of course you may not enjoy the same protection when buying a book or software program that claims to contain everything you wanted to know about credit repair. So make your purchases carefully and look for money back guarantees.
The do-it-yourself basics for everything that you wanted to know about credit repair include reviewing and correcting the information on your credit reports
. In response to a recently enacted law, the three major credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, created a website to allow consumers easier access to their credit reports. Until this law was enacted, the credit bureaus were allowed to charge consumers a fee for a copy of their credit reports. You are entitled to a free copy of your credit report once in a twelve month period. You are also entitled to a free copy if you have been denied credit recently, if you are unemployed and plan to apply for a new job within the next three months or if you are on public assistance. The companies pushing credit repair schemes will not tell you where to find the information that you need to repair your credit reports, before you pay them. One way to identify a legitimate credit repair company is to look at what they claim they can do. If they claim to be able to do things for you that you could not do for yourself, with time, patience and know-how, then they are credit repair schemes.
The first place to go for everything that you wanted to know about credit repair is www.annualcreditreport.com. The credit bureaus are allowed to promote other services and products on this site. These are not credit repair schemes, but they are usually credit monitoring services or newsletter subscriptions which may or may not be helpful to you in your current situation. Be sure to spell the website address correctly, this writer has written a number of articles about credit repair and has been advised that she occasionally misspells it. You can link directly to the site from Credit Fix Solutions or the Federal Trade Commission's official website for consumer credit.
The Federal Trade Commission website is also a good place to visit for everything that you wanted to know about credit repair. Their advice is discouraging to anyone that hopes to attain immediate credit repair, because there is no such thing. But they do provide a sample letter that you can use as a guide if you are planning to dispute information in your credit reports. You can dispute any information on your credit report that you believe is inaccurate, misleading, outdated or unverifiable. Unverifiable means that the credit bureau cannot verify the information.
Disputing information on credit reports is the main topic of most books that claim to contain everything you wanted to know about credit repair. Credit repair schemes may also focus on disputing negative items on credit reports. In fact the company that claimed to own the special computer disc, simply advised consumers to dispute every negative item on their credit report. It is not illegal to dispute any information on your credit report, but it is illegal for a company to make false claims about their services.
This is probably not everything that you wanted to know about credit repair, but it may be enough to get you started. Before you buy a book or software program, visit your local library. Experts have been writing books that are supposed to contain everything you wanted to know about credit repair for a long time. The only information that may not be accurate, depending on the date the book was written, is information concerning fees charged by credit bureaus for copies of credit reports. But, this article provided you with that information. Remember to avoid the credit repair schemes, take your time and have patience. Good Luck.
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