Seven Quick Credit Repair Solutions

On January 18, 2009, in Credit Repair, by admin
Jim Kemish asked:


Credit Repair Hyper Drive

Credit repair can take time, or not. There are many situations where you can get amazing results very quickly. Your credit scores can have a profound impact on your life, and every point counts. Here are seven potent power-packed credit repair solutions you can put to use right away. Are you ready? Let’s go!

Get Your Revolving Balances Down



Fair Isaac Corp, the mastermind behind the credit scores used by virtually all lenders, has been tinkering with the formula they use to calculate your scores. The recent additional emphasis they have put on revolving balances has taken many people by surprise. Are you listening? A maxed out card can now cost you as much as 150 points. Ouch!

Well, there is some good credit repair news here too; pay your darn balances down and watch your score rocket upward. Want to know how far to pay your cards down? Under forty percent is good, under twenty percent is the best. If money is tight you might even consider borrowing from friends and family to make this happen. If you need your scores for a mortgage or car loan you may be living with that interest rate for many years to come.

Challenge Iffy Collections

Do you have collections? Are you ready for a little credit repair magic? Collectors are very different from creditors. Collectors buy and sell collection accounts. When a collector purchases an account they can report it to the credit bureaus. When they sell an account they are supposed to remove the collection from your credit entirely. Unfortunately, there is no incentive for them to cease reporting, so you need to challenge these items. If the collector no longer owns the account you will see it vanish from your credit report. It’s credit repair magic.

Negotiate for Deletion

There is a silver lining to the recession that we are currently struggling through. Collectors are as hungry as everyone else. If a collector contacts you for payment on a legitimate debt you may discover they are willing to negotiate. Your balance is not the only thing that you can negotiate. Collectors have the ability to withdraw the entire account from your credit report. It might be a relief to get an old debt paid off, but when it comes to credit repair it is better to have no collection account on your report than a paid collection.

Boost Your Credit Limits

The credit crunch has caused credit card issuers to tighten their guidelines. Little credit blemishes may now trigger over-the-top responses from credit card companies. American Express has been on a campaign to reduce credit limits on card holders for almost any reason. So this tactic may not work, but it’s worth a try as there are still a few friendly creditors out there. Call your credit card company and ask them to increase your limit. The result will be the same as if you had paid your balance down. For the cost of a phone call you might increase your scores, and maybe a lot!

Call Mom and Become an Authorized User

Another little twist that Fair Isaac Corp added to their latest version of their credit score formula is to block the benefit of purchased authorized user accounts. Until recently you could purchase authorized user status from gray-market brokers and watch your score jump right up. Fair Isaac caught on and put an end to this iffy credit repair practice. However, their filters are still allowing the full benefit for legitimate authorized users. So call Mom and have her add you to one of her perfect credit cards for a nice credit repair boost.

Avoid Store Cards

Store cards, and more generally, consumer credit (such as furniture store accounts) are useless for building your credit, and are likely to put a big dent in your scores. So if you are shopping and are offered a new account in exchange for a discount, think twice. Saving money is a beautiful thing! But if you need your credit scores in the immediate future for any major purchase avoid these accounts like the plague. How bad is it? You are likely to lose one hundred points. It’s credit repair suicide.

Call Credit Repair Pro



If you really want to put some muscle behind your credit repair effort, call a credit repair professional. They will proof read your credit reports, identify everything that should be done and insure that you are not missing anything. When it comes to credit repair every little bit counts. Good luck!

Copyright © 2008 James W. Kemish. All Content. All Rights Reserved.



Patricia
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Monika P asked:


I need to repair my credit but honestly do not have the time to do this myself. Has anyone ever used an agency that acutally worked and if so how long did it take?

Darin
fixdaback asked:


Is investing the money for credit repair wothwhile? Are the results satisfactory from an accredited repair service company? I am looking for first hand experience and reference from someone who has used an online credit repair service.

Chandra
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John G asked:


Do credit repair companies work? I want to build or buy a house for my family .This is no joke , I have seven kids . So it’s very important that I get a good P.M.I. and a good interest rate or I’ll never be able to afford it. I make about 60k a year , but one of kids had to have 5 brain surgeries right after she was born and this ruined my wife and my credit . Any suggestions would be appreciated. Please , serious stuff only.

Angel
 
Claudia D asked:


I’d like to know of anyone who has actually used Lexington Law credit repair and of their experience. I’ve gotten mixed reviews on the company, so I’d like to hear from some actual users. Was it successful? How long did it take? Any problems? How was their communication/customer service? Do you get to talk to a real lawyer ever?

Arline
John Cena asked:


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.

What is credit report repair or software? The best kept “secret” is that creditors and credit reporting agencies (commonly referred to as the credit bureaus) make mistakes. What can you learn in a credit repair course? You can learn the basics of bad credit repair, without paying a penny. If you cannot achieve results on your own, then you may need to hire a credit repair lawyer to help you. If you feel that you have exhausted all of the free options, identify what information that you still need and make sure that the credit repair course or software program that you are considering includes that information.

A secret may be defined as “beyond simple understanding”. Using this definition, credit report program is credit report repair that is beyond ordinary understanding. The average person does not understand how credit scores are calculated. Most people do not know what information is on their credit reports. Many people do not know their rights under the law.

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.

The Federal Trade Commission regulates credit repair organizations and states that “certain advertising and business practices of some companies engaged in the business of credit repair services have worked a financial hardship upon consumers, particularly those of limited economic means and who are inexperienced in credit matters.” Under the laws regulating credit repair organizations, any company that advertises secret credit report repair or credit repair in general must provide the consumer with certain information. These regulations do not apply to companies that offer a credit repair course or seminar. Most of these are simply rehashing information that has been available for years. If you look in the public library, you will see that individuals have been writing books about credit report repair for years.

There was an individual who advertised his informational packages on TV. One of his reports was “how to get AAA credit” or something like that. This was not any spectacular secret credit report repair. It was not a credit repair course. He advised consumers to make a $500 deposit into a savings account at any bank. Then, using the deposit as security, apply for a loan. Repay the loan and according to him, you would have great credit. This may be information that the average person does not know. It is similar to the secured credit card programs that so many companies offer. The thing about credit is that, it is harder to get, if you really need it. If you have $500 to deposit into a savings account or a secured credit card program, if you have the money to pay off the debts that you owe, you can improve your credit score over time.

Companies that advertise quick free credit report repair are banking on the theory that you do not know how to review your credit reports for inaccurate information. If you have inaccurate, obsolete, misleading or unverifiable information on your credit reports, then the credit bureaus must delete the information. You must “dispute” the information. In other words, you must notify the credit bureaus about the negative information that needs to be deleted. This is the credit report repair that is often the subject of a credit repair course.



Tania
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Mike Samadi asked:


(copyrighted)

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 concl
usion, 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.

For a complete details of the list above and other topics use the knowledge base provided at link and pick up a copy of the book “Your Credit = Your Life, Fix It now!”

Best wishes

Mike Samadi

Any questions?  Go to Q & A of www.MasterCreditRepair.net, read and post.  Go to the “Comment” page and post your story or comment.



Nancy
sweetsmile1982 asked:


A good credit report is very important for living a comfortable life of financial freedom but it’s difficult to recover fom a bad credit report once you’ve made a few mistakes. Credit repair companies can be helpful, especially if you allow some time for your file to be worked on before you need it completely done.

Alison

Free Credit Repair

On January 8, 2009, in Credit Repair, by admin
Chane Steiner asked:


Well, first let’s start with what credit repair is. “Credit repair” is a term most commonly used to describe a systematic process of improving ones credit scores by obtaining copies of the individual’s credit report, reviewing the credit report for errors and misleading information; then disputing the information with the credit bureaus. This is just a basic explanation of the process. While it can be very simple for some, it is much more complex and time consuming for others.

Most consumers with bad credit are searching for free credit repair. Regrettably, there are no services that I know of that will repair your credit for free so, if you are looking for “free credit repair” you will have to do it by yourself. There are also some reputable, inexpensive credit repair services available for consumers who just don’t have time to learn the credit repair process. But, doing it yourself has many advantages and I think that most people who learn about the credit game have better chances of not getting into credit trouble again.

When you are ready to start your free credit repair journey, I suggest starting at a credit repair forum or by reading a credit repair book. A credit repair forum is a discussion group of people teaching and learning credit repair. There’s tons of information online – just be careful – there is lots of misinformation online as well. Remember to always research your questions with different sources.

After spending hours and hours researching credit repair online, I’ve realized that credit repair has got to be one of the most misconstrued topics online. There are way too many people being mislead online. They don’t research the information they find and end up repeating it to others. And yes, some of them are even repeating the information on their websites. They are only trying to help, but instead usually end up really hurting other people financially. Please, please do not be one of those people.

This is why I suggest credit repair forums; usually when someone is wrong, there are plenty of professionals at the forums that will correct that person immediately.



Michel
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Fico Offers Credit Repair Tips

On January 6, 2009, in Credit Repair, by admin
Jim Kemish asked:


Credit Repair in the News

Credit repair is more important than ever. In a recent interview with MarketWatch, a Wall Street Journal website, the Consumer Operations manager for the MyFICO division of Fair Isaac spoke out about the importance of checking your credit reports. In the words of the article, “There may be some surprises waiting for you.”

A New Credit Repair Landscape

Creditors everywhere have tightened their guidelines. This new credit environment has made credit repair more important than ever before. And to make things even more difficult in these already challenging times, creditors have begun to reduce and close credit cards in order to limit their own risk exposure.

The Limit Reduction Problem

This action is doubly hard for consumers. First, these limit reductions are happening unexpectedly, even to those who have never made a late payment. And second, and even more damaging, is the snowball effect that follows. A major part of your credit score is based on the relationship between your current balance and your credit limit. When a creditor cuts your limit your balance-to-limit ratio increases and your credit score will fall, through no fault of your own.

The Snowball Effect

And the snowball starts rolling. Once the first creditor drops a limit and your scores fall, other creditors are likely to drop your limits as well. And the lower your scores the more prone you will be to this perfect storm of credit repair trouble. What to do?

Good Credit Repair Advice

The Consumer Operations Manager for MyFICO suggests that you do everything in your power to insure that your credit report is as clean as possible and your scores are optimized. And don’t make the mistake of thinking that paying your bills on time (as important as it is) is you need to do. Credit repair knowledge is power. Here is a summary of his credit repair tips, and our extrapolation.

Check Your Credit Reports

Look for changes in your account limits. And while you’re at it, check for errors. Errors come in many shapes. Derogatory information should cease reporting, generally, after seven years. You should know that the seven year reporting period clock starts on the date of the original default with the original creditor. The original default was the first reported late payment in the sequence that led to the charge off or collection status. Collectors cannot reset the clock with subsequent reporting. And while we are on the subject of collectors, you should know that if a collector no longer owns the debt, he is supposed to remove the account entirely from your credit report. When in doubt, challenge the item with the credit bureaus or hire a credit repair professional to manage the process for you.

Don’t Get Close to Your Credit Card Limits

A significant percentage of your credit score is based on your balance-to-limit ratio. Reduce your balances as much as possible. Less than 20% of your limit is the optimal balance. Many people are blindsided by precipitous drops in the scores when they max out a card, even when they have never been late on a payment.

Keep Accounts Active

Use your cards to keep them alive. Dormant cards are in danger of being closed by creditors and unless you have plenty of open accounts this could cause a drop in your scores and send you in search of credit repair solutions.

Pay Your Bills on Time



This seems like a no-brainer, but it is so important. Make sure you understand the impact your purchases will have on your budget. Try not to let yourself get spread too thin. A single late payment can have a big effect on your scores, and may even trigger adverse action, such as limit reduction, by your creditors.

Don’t Apply for New Credit Cards

We have warned against store cards for years, and MyFICO agrees. Store cards can be credit repair suicide as they often present a triple threat. First, you will have an inquiry. Second, you will have a new account which will weigh down your credit scores for several months. And last, and worst, is the fact that most store cards offer a credit limit only marginally over the amount of your purchase. Put these together and you get credit repair trouble.

Call for Credit Repair Help

If you are confused by all of the components of credit report and score management, or don’t have the time to handle the task on your own, don’t give up. Call a credit repair professional for help. A credit repair professional will manage the process for you and insure that everything possible is done to optimize your credit. Good luck! Copyright © 2008 James W. Kemish. All Content. All Rights Reserved.



Roy
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