Nathalie Fiset asked:




Credit companies always appeal to consumers who have poor credit history and they often promise to erase bad credit, to clean credit reports and even create new legal identity. But can they really help in repairing bad credit history?

Here are some points to consider when deciding on seeking any help from credit repair companies:

- They collect payment for services in advance before they provide any solutions

- They do not inform you of what they can do for free; they even conceal the information regarding your legal rights.

- They advice you not to directly contact your credit report company.

- They recommend you to create a new credit report and new credit identity using the employer identification number rather than social security number.

- They suggest that you hide all information about your credit report.

Check on the above scams because engaging in something fraudulent can lead to your prosecution.

The truth is that no company can legally and accurately remove all bad records on your credit report.

According to FCRA or Fair Credit Reporting Act you can actually ask for a free credit report when a company acts adversely against you. For example, you are denied of your application for credit or insurance.

Basically, there are techniques on how to repair your credit:

1. Review and always get a copy of your credit report. Even though you have no bad credit record, you should review your credit report regularly. This will be useful to ensure that all contained information is correct, up to date and complete, and check on the information in your credit report that will affect your insurance or loan application and what amount will you pay for them. It will guard you against someone who utilizes your personal information such as identity thieves.

2. Analyze your credit report. This can let you see if there are inaccurate entries or negative listings. Most of the entries are not easily looked upon, such as medical collection. In addition, there are those reporting late payment although you have paid on time. Analyzing your report will let you ensure that no thieves are stealing your identity and using it for illegal transactions.

3. Make an entry of all the items which you find to be negative or questionable. Identify the negative and positive items on your credit report. You should also rank these items from the least to the most damaging information. Examples are:

- Foreclosure

- Repossession

- Collections

- Credit rejections

- Late payments

- Bankruptcy

- Court judgments

- Loan default

- Past due payments

- Credit inquiries

Take note that if your company does not notify you of the bad information that will be placed on your report, they are clearly violating the FCRA. You can use this act against them and you can immediately ask them to remove the negative listings.

4. Create a dispute letter addressed to the credit bureaus. Indicate the reasons why you disagree on the report and check all the items that you are questioning. You can ask for every detail that you found disputable, but you will have a hard time to get foreclosures and bankruptcies off your credit report. Be sure that the letter is sent certified or registered. This is important so that you can be sure when the letters are sent and received. The letter will also give you rights when the company will not respond on the prescribed time by the law.

5. Have a record of all your transactions; document the date when you send letters and what are the results. Track down your correspondences and have it organized. You should also note all the telephone conversations from the date and time, name of the person you talked to, her/ his position, what transpired in your conversation.

6. Let the credit bureau investigate your claims and wait for the results. Once the agency receives your letter, they are obliged to investigate it. The agency will have to resolve the dispute within 30 days, after which, the consumer shall receive written notification of the results. If the investigation results reveals error again, you can request for revision of the report

7. Evaluate the results. The credit bureau will summarize the revisions it made on your report. Compare your notes with the list from the bureau to check if the results are accurate.

8. Repeat the initial steps if you are not satisfied with how your disputes are settled. Reinvestigation is free, so request for it anytime you want.

Persistence and patience are needed because not all credit bureaus are cooperative. Once your credit report is repaired, creditors will come to see your good financial standing again.

Megan

Ernie J. Gentile asked:




Who else is thinking about trying to fix their credit? Are you considering hiring a professional agency, a big shot lawyer, or simply calling one of those non profits that re-negotiates your debts? In this article we are going to take a quick and easy look at the very BEST way to repair your credit in just a few short months, and review while “self help” remains the number #1 choice for smart and savvy consumers who refuse to get scammed. Curious to know more? Great….continue reading as we take a closer look below!

Okay….but why shouldn’t I just hire a credit repair lawyer or clinic? Aren’t they the smartest strategy for a super fast credit boost?

Absolutely not! The truth? Credit clinics are looked upon with GREAT disdain by most folks in the credit and financial services industries, and their methods are often expensive, unnecessary and occasional illegal to boot! Did you know, for example that there is a LAW that was passed specifically for credit repair companies and the claims they made to get business? It’s true…it’s called the Credit Repair Organizations Act..and it was passed by congress to STOP credit repair clinic scams, shams and hoaxes. (no joke!)

So what do these companies to for you that you can’t do for yourself?

Truthfully? Nothing! And that’s the whole point..:-) The fact is, everything that a credit repair clinic, or attorney does in your behalf you can do BETTER for yourself…..and the very same laws that they use to try to fix your credit work BETTER when you actually use them for your own behalf! (this has a technical explanation that isn’t necessary to understand…..but suffice it to say, people who try to fix their OWN credit are given much more latitude than a credit repair agency or clinic gets for sure)

So how can you legitimately fix your credit in 120 days or less without being scammed?

Learn the laws! They protect you and outline EXACTLY what you should do if your credit report is NOT to your liking. Order your reports, itemize the negative items, and dispute them with the very specific letters, and challenges that have been PROVEN to work in your specific set of circumstances. Understand your options in each scenario…..because you have a bunch! Follow up and follow through….it’s easy, it’s been done before MANY thousands of times and there is NO type of credit that cannot be fixed with self help strategies. (trust me…..I’ve seen more bad credit removed than just about anyone out there, including a lot of my own..;-)

Jim

Martin Lukac asked:




An increasing number of consumers are beginning to understand how much a credit score affects borrowing ability. And with this rising number comes an increase in people looking to repair their credit score.

Fixing your credit history may seem like a big task. We all have heard the stories of how hard it is to remove errors from your credit report. This leads many consumers to turn to credit repair agencies to quickly clean up their credit.

However, this isn’t always the best thing for your credit. Many of these agencies are scamming consumers.

Common scams include the promise that negative information will be deleted from your credit report. This doesn’t happen unless the information can be proven false. No one is ever allowed to alter or delete information other than the credit bureau. You have to go through them to have info removed. An agency cannot do it for you.

Many credit repair agencies will try to tell you that by getting a nine-digit Employer Identification Number (EIN) you can establish a new credit file. It is a felony to lie on a loan or credit application. It is illegal to use your EIN in the place of your social security number on a loan application.

Some credit repair agencies simply dispute every item on your credit report, regardless of the truth. Some items are removed if not verified by the creditor within 30 days. But they will be re-added later when they are proven. It doesn’t help you, just costs you money.

And the most common scheme occurs when a credit repair agency asks for a flat fee upfront. Once you pay, they disappear. Never pay for services up front.

If an agency requires payment up front, gives you no explanation of your legal rights, recommend that you not contact a credit bureau directly or suggest you invent a new identity, you need to look somewhere else first.

The fact is that you cannot remove accurate information from your report. You can easily have false information removed yourself. I recently had my mother’s credit card account somehow show up on my credit report. It only took two short phone calls (one was a follow-up) to the creditor to remove the information. You don’t need to pay anyone to help you.

When it comes to your credit score, the two top ways to improve it are in your hands, not someone else’s — pay on time and give it time.

Eva

Irene Miller asked:




Holidays are over, everybody’s back to work, normal routines take their place, and suddenly the mail from your credit card company arrives. Looking at the credit card bill, you almost keeled over at the sheer amount you owed the company. You wondered whether the numbers printed on the report are right, or were you really just in over your head during the holiday shopping rush. Credit monitoring is important because it helps you keep track of changes in your credit scores.

When negatives outweigh the positives, a credit repair service will be most convenient for balancing these credit scores and allowing you the freedom to purchase whatever you want. More importantly, hiring a credible credit repair service will allows the right people with the technical know-how to look into your financial situation and figure out how to clean up the financial mess you’ve put yourself into. Cleaning and clearing up one’s credit scores is a tedious and taxing process, and when you have more important matters at hand, like your day job or your taking your kids to school, you have absolutely no free time and no knowledge on how to repair your credit scores. Thus, hiring a credit service will save you time and effort and shall also reduce those headaches you have been having, just by going through those numbers.

When fixing credit, however, be careful about the ads and marketing promos they put up. There is still the possibility that some credit repair companies are scams. In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission, the nation’s consumer protection agency has warned the public for signs of scams. There are many credit repair companies nowadays which are luring customers with promises of quick fixes.

People should be wary of companies which promises services which are too good to be true, but neglects to inform the consumers about certain “membership fees” or does not mention that some services can be provided for free. Such practices are forms of manipulation and malpractice, and might be unlawful or illegal in some states are subject to stiff punishments. Make sure that you have direct access to reliable channels and sources of information. Contacting the three major credit agencies is a good way to start with your credit repair process. To keep yourself informed, getting online credit repair help or an online credit repair help guide will surely provide you everything you need to know about credit monitoring or credit repair.

Virginia

37days asked:

www.37daystocleancredit.com We are know that credit repair agencies are scams. Now, let’s look at their business model and why it’s flawed and their best interest is NOT to help repair your credit, but to put money in their pocket.

Deborah

Patrick Zanders asked:




The federal government now backs the removal of everything negative on a credit file and the awesome thing is, they always have! I will use the term credit repair lightly as I do not think that is is appropriate because in order to repair something, something must be broken and that is just not the case. If you will forget the letter writing, new identity scams and credit privacy numbers (cpns), I will show you how to look at this the correct way and get things done once and for all.

The beauty of our legal system is that laws were put in place to protect you, the consumer. You see, credit repair as it is normally practiced, is wrong. If you use the court system , you will not even deal with the three credit reporting agencies (credit bureaus) until you show them what legally needs to be removed via court order. The credit bureaus are simply reporting what is given them and when you have the proper documentation, they will remove that as well. Get something straight right from the start, your credit file with the three credit reporting agencies are not incorrect. Sure, there may be a few items, if any, that are truly incorrect, but that is not the basis of what you will be doing. Where the illegal part comes in is when the creditors, even original creditors, report your actions to the bureaus themselves. You have a big issue with the creditors. What I am saying is that it is illegal for the creditors to report derogatory items and make them accessible to the general public.

There are 320 laws that every creditor has to follow in order to put one single item on your report. They know this and even after knowing this, they fail to follow the law at all and unless you call them out. Once you do call them out, it will either be removed immediately or you settle it in court (hint..they will not show up as they cannot document what is needed). Negatives off, good credit!

Nothing is quite as simple as it sounds, but the basics for this is behind each and every person I have seen have their files wiped clean of all negatives. So is credit repair a scam? If the companies write letters, give you a new file or identity, or go about it any other way than through the legal system, using the laws set up to protect us, then yes Doing it the proper way, through the court system and not only will work each and every time, but be backed by the government 100%.

Louis