Credit repair: Improve your credit for low
or no-cost help
You may get calls from telemarketers offering
credit repair services. The Scam, companies’ nationwide,
appeal to consumers with poor credit histories and who are
desperate. They promise, for a fee, to clean up your credit
report so you can get a car loan, a home mortgage, insurance,
or even a job. Desperate consumers fall prey to this scam.
Remember, if it sounds too good to be true. It is. Some credit
repair services get sleazy when they promise to do a job that’s
just not possible. Unlimited credit report disputes, corrections,
and removals with Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion and guaranteed
deletions are just some of the promises you hear.
LOW COST LEGAL HELP
An ethical firm
(usually reputable lawyers, not shysters) will not tout miracles,
charge you in advance or make false promises. If they do,
sooner or later the FTC
will find them. Just recently a
credit repair company was shut down and fined by the FTC for
making promises it couldn’t possibly keep, by
assuring buyers that they could remove negative accounts even
if accurate and for collecting money in advance for work yet
to be performed.
That’s the key word. Accurate.
The foundation
of credit repair isn’t an industry trade secret.
It’s using the law with your customized disputes to garner
the best possible results. Period. By using existing state
and federal laws, you CAN remove negative information from
your credit reports. The fundamentals aren’t whether
the item is negative or positive. It’s is it accurate.
The FCRA is quite clear
on this issue. If it isn’t verifiable
or accurate, it cannot remain.
It doesn’t matter what your history,
background, or credit record is, you’ll be amazed at
how simple correction can be. You’ve probably been told
that your credit history will stick with you forever, or it
takes years to clean up. While no one can guarantee you a
spotless credit record, real credit repair is a worthwhile
investment, and if the bureaus, collection agencies, and
creditors were doing their job, credit report repair wouldn’t
be the top search online.
People are desperate because credit
reports DO contain lots of errors. Nearly every consumer
has an error in at least one credit report from one of
the major credit bureaus. Credit bureaus generate your report
they receive from your creditors; they don’t verify it…
Unless you ask. The simple truth is that the credit
bureaus and even furnishers of information must comply
with federal law. Doing so isn’t so easy for them.
You need to leverage that. It will take time, but it’s
a very worthwhile investment.
THE DIY CREDIT REPAIR
METHOD
Don’t despair. It’s never too late to become credit
worthy - just get started, and remember that it won’t
happen overnight and you must
commit to doing the work. Doing the work can be justified
in how much money you are going to save if you don’t
have to hire someone AND in rates if you do have an improved
credit report.
While I can certainly understand the FTC
warning us all to avoid credit repair and scams, what I don’t
understand is why they don’t focus a campaign on just
how difficult the credit system
makes fixing your credit. The bureaus don’t
work for us, they make billions and our disputes are a kink
in there rhythm. They sort of help us because they have to,
not because they want to. So, what ends up happening, is the
consumer gets frustrated and seeks out a service to fix
their credit for them, and often, it’s a scam. The
FTC moves in, shuts them down, and reminds us that we can
do this ourselves. Trouble is, people get lost in the process
and the FTC doesn’t tell us that communication with the
credit bureaus, debt collectors, and furnishers of information
can be a vicious cycle.
That’s
why it’s important to educate yourself and if
you are going to do the work, do some research online. You’ll
quickly find there are only a handful a really good , reputable
DIY sites and credit repair lawyers. The
highly effective letters that we offer have been proven
to WORK in correcting negative items
on your credit that may be outdated, obsolete, or inaccurate
(unverifiable).
When you combine the right letters to cut
through the bureaucracy of the credit system, you’ll
garner much better results, save money and avoid mistakes
that can cause you more trouble and more time. Not to mention,
you’ll understand the dangers of dealing with bill collectors
without proper knowledge.
To get all three credit
reports
Each of the nationwide consumer reporting companies —
Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — is required to provide
you with a free copy of your credit report once every 12 months,
if you ask for it. The three companies have a central website,
a toll-free telephone number, and a mailing address for consumers
to order the free annual credit reports the government entitles
them to. To order, click on annualcreditreport.com,
call 1-877-322-8228.
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