The credit system isn’t a two way conversation between your lenders and the credit bureaus, it should also involve you. You have the right to question any information in your credit report that is inaccurate, untimely, misleading, incomplete, ambiguous, unverifiable, biased or unclear. Any questionable item that cannot be verified must be removed.
Justin R. Padawer, psychologist and consumer advocate explains this system. There are three consumer report agencies Equifax, Experian and Trans Union, but neither is official, they are not under the government’s wing. They are privately owned and they buy and sell our information for a profit. The laws that can be applied to these so called agencies are laws that protect consumers, or consumer protection statutes. They work to place limits upon the credit bureaus. So when a lender tells you that they can’t remove something from your credit report for seven years, by law, they are either misinformed or they are lying. The Fair Credit Reporting Act places limits on the amount of time something can be reported but it doesn’t stipulate that something must be reported.
Besides the act mentioned there is also the Fair Credit Billing Act, the Fair Debt Practices Act, and the Truth in Lending Act. They are all created to help any customer improve their credit rating. Even if these laws give you the possibility to address credit issues on your own it is a long and hard road to acting on them. You also have the possibility to address a specialized firm to fight the system for you. Correcting your credit or errors on your credit report is possible, and also credit report negatives can be removed from your credit report.
loading...
Related Links:
If you have a few dings (or more than a few) on your credit report, it can be difficult to obtain any type of credit. Even if you do find someone willing to lend to you, the types of credit cards and loans that are available to you may have such high interest rates that they are unaffordable. Like many with less than perfect credit, you may be looking into credit repair to see if it can help your situation. Below are three of the most commonly asked questions about credit repair.
Can a Company REALLY Remove Negative Information from my Credit Report?
Despite the many companies that promise to do so, the fact is that negative information that is correct cannot be removed from your credit report.
Typically, items remain on a credit report for a period of seven years. In some cases, as with bankruptcies, it may remain for as long as ten years.
Unless an item is on your credit report by mistake, there is no way to have it removed. Unfortunately, many “credit repair” companies make claims that they simply cannot keep. They charge upfront fees and then do very little – if anything – to actually change your credit score or report.
A Credit Repair Company is Asking Me to Do Something Unethical. Might I Be Breaking the Law if I Go Along With It?
This question can be a bit tricky to answer. It depends on exactly what you are being asked to do. Some of the methods used by these companies are unethical, and some could be illegal. Obviously, doing something that is unethical, such as lying about whether an item on your credit report is correct, is not the way to go about raising your credit score. That being said, not all such methods would constitute breaking the law.
The best way to avoid crossing the line is to avoid taking any steps that involve having to lie about what should or should not be on your credit report.
Sure, it will take longer to bring your score up, but at least you will be going about it the right way.
Is There Any Way to Raise My Score?
Because many of the promises made by those who claim they can raise your credit score turn out to be lies, you need to figure out how you CAN raise your score. You may be disappointed to learn that there is no way to quickly cause your credit score to jump up. There are, however, steps that you can take to ensure that you get back on the right track to having healthy credit.
The first is to pull your report from all three of the major credit bureaus to make sure that there are no mistakes. Errors on credit reports are a lot more common than many people think. If there is a legitimate error on yours, simply file a grievance and the credit bureau will do an investigation. If it turns out that the item was there by mistake, it will be removed.
Another way to raise your score is to try and keep your credit card balances at no more than 30% of the available limit. For example, if your credit limit is $9,000, work to keep your balance below $3,000. The less of your available credit that you use, the higher your score will be.
Another way that you may be able to raise your score is to appeal directly to the creditor who has placed a negative item on your report. In some cases, you may be able to convince them to remove the negative item in return for paying your balance off in full. Creditors are under no obligation to do this, and the truth is that most will not. Still, it never hurts to ask, especially if you are willing and able to pay your balance off in full.
While it would be great if there were some quick and easy fix to a low credit score, the fact is that the only path to credit repair is a slow and steady one. Be diligent to make all payments on time and to avoid using all of your available credit.
It isn’t always easy, but those steps truly are the path to a good credit score that can save you thousands of dollars in interest on your future purchases.
loading...
Related Links:
Like millions of Americans do each year, you may be shopping around for some credit repair options. Having a few dings on your credit can make it difficult to buy a house, car or obtain a credit card, so it is no wonder that people with less than perfect credit would seek a solution. Below are four tips for receiving the best credit repair.
1.Don’t Believe the Marketing Materials
If you do a quick internet search for credit repair, you are likely to find several listings from companies that make promises to teach you how to remove negative items from your credit history. Do not believe a word of it.
If it were truly possible to have such items removed then everyone would have excellent credit and, truly, there would be no purpose to the credit bureaus.
The truth is that all of those promises are aimed to do nothing more than convince you to sign up for the program and pay the fee. Sadly, once that happens, you will quickly learn that all of the promises that sounded too good to be true were exactly that.
To receive the best credit repair, you are going to have to ignore all of the marketing materials. Do not allow these promises to sway your decision. You will end up disappointed every time.
2.Be Ethical
Another dilemma that faces many seeking credit repair is the fact that many credit repair agencies encourage you to lie in order to get negative items taken off of your report. They teach you to claim that an account is not yours, even if you know that it does, in fact, belong to you.
The thinking is that if you challenge all of your accounts, that perhaps at least one creditor will fail to respond and, therefore, the item will be dropped from your credit report.
For obvious reasons, this is highly unethical. If you are seeking to receive the best credit repair, this should not including lying and being deceitful in order to get your way.
Instead, refuse to do anything unethical. Even though you might have to wait a bit longer for the negative items on your credit report to come off, at least you will know that you did it the right way.
3.Do it Alone
One thing that the marketing materials of credit repair agencies will not tell you is that you can probably do a better job of credit repair on your own. Keep in mind that negative items that are correct cannot be removed by any third party agency.
In some cases, however, the creditor will agree to remove some or all of the negative items. This is usually done as part of a settlement and is a courtesy from the creditor. No creditor is under any obligation to remove correct negative items from your credit report, even after you have paid the account in full.
If you have some late payments on credit card accounts, call the card issuer. Ask if they would be willing to remove any of the negative items that they reported in exchange for full payment on the account.
Not all credit card companies will be willing to do that, but you have a better chance of getting it done by speaking to them directly rather than trying to work through some third party.
4.What Are You Paying For?
Many credit repair agencies charge a high fee in order to give you access to their “secrets” that will allow you to transform your tarnished credit report into a glowing one. These secrets are not worth the paper that they are printed on. Do not waste your money.
Again, there is no way for a third party to remove any negative items from your credit report. Even if there are mistakes on your report, you do not need to pay a credit repair agency to have them removed.
Instead, simply file a complaint with the credit bureau on which the false item appears. They will investigate and, if it was indeed a mistake, the negative item will be removed at no cost.
While it would be great if there were some quick fix for a low credit score, the fact is that the only real credit repair comes over time by making on time payments and keeping your credit card balances well below their limits.
The good news is that you will probably be surprised at how quickly your credit score will start to climb once you begin to properly manage your accounts. Start today and before you know it, you’ll be on your way to the credit score that you want.
loading...
Related Links:
As people seek for ways to repair their damaged credit, many will be surprised to learn that the help they need may come directly from their creditors. Because there has been such an increase in the number of people who are having trouble making their payments, many creditors, including credit card companies and mortgage lenders, are taking matters into their own hands when it comes to helping their customers get back on the right track.
Having late mortgage payments is a huge hit on your credit report. Unfortunately for many homeowners, once you fall behind one payment, it is difficult to catch up again. That means that even though you are making a payment each month, that payment is for the previous month. That results in your credit report showing a late payment month after month.
Your mortgage company may be willing to work with you in order to fix this problem. They may set up arrangements where you pay a little extra each month until you have made up the missed payment. In some cases, the mortgage company may even be willing to reset your mortgage, which will give you a fresh start when it comes to making your payments.
Bringing your mortgage payments up to date can do more for credit repair than many other changes. Of course, bringing your payments current will not delete the record of late payments made in the past. In rare cases, a mortgage company may be willing to remove some of the late payments. They are under no obligation to do so, but may do it as a courtesy.
Credit card companies are also stepping up to the plate when it comes to helping their customers get their credit back on track. Many are offering payment arrangements that include not reporting the account as late to the credit bureaus. While setting up special payment arrangements for customers who have fallen behind is not anything new, offering to stop the negative reporting is something that was not typically offered in the past.
Not all credit card companies are making such offers, and not all customers will qualify, but it is something that some of the companies are doing to help their customers through difficult financial times.
When you think of credit repair, you are probably not thinking in terms of the above example. The fact is, however, that if you can work directly with your creditors, that is one of your best chances of actually being able to make a difference about what appears on your credit report.
Because loan agencies are now more willing than ever to help their customers, the need to seek credit repair in other places may not even be necessary. While some consumers think that credit repair agencies can wipe factual negative information from their credit report that is not the case.
However, the creditor who reported the negative information does have the power to ask that it be removed. That is why working directly with the creditor may be the best way of all to seek credit repair.
As is always the case when discussing credit repair, prevention is better than any possible cure. If you see yourself getting into financial difficulty, begin contacting your creditors right away.
The sooner that you notify them that you may be having trouble making the payments, the more options that they will have to be able to help you.
While some lenders and credit card companies may be willing to remove some negative information from your report, if you can begin working with them before the information is ever reported that is far better.
There are more lenders that are willing to work with you then there are those that are willing to remove negative information once it has been reported. Contact your creditors at the first sign of trouble.
While there are many possible options for credit repair, the best avenue is to work directly with the creditors. If you are honest about your situation and are willing to do your best to make payments, many creditors will be able to work with you not only to get your debt paid, but to preserve your credit as well.
loading...
Related Links:
If you have dings on your credit report, you have probably considered looking into credit repair. There are many companies that promise that they can fix your credit and offer a variety of methods of credit repair. But there are some things that you should know before you attempt to work with any such company to fix your credit.
False Promises
Most of the advertisements that you see in magazine and on television are full of false promises about what the company can do.
It is important that you understand that there is no way to remove information from your credit report that is correct. If you had late payments, bankruptcies and other such blemishes, you must wait between seven and ten years for those items to drop off of your credit report. In spite of their claims, no company has a way of removing such items.
That being said, if you want to try out some of the various methods of credit repair, it is best to do it yourself. There is no reason to pay someone because you think that they have special access to your credit report.
What You CAN Do
While the companies promising to turn your bad credit into good credit are usually blowing hot air, there are some techniques that you can try that may help with credit repair.
As mentioned above, legitimate entries cannot be removed from your credit report, but there is an exception to that rule. While neither you nor a credit repair company has any way of removing such items, there is someone who can: The business or the collection agency who reported the late payment or collection.
There have been consumers who have had some measure of success in convincing various agencies to remove a negative item from their report. Typically, this would be done as part of a deal in which you agree to pay the amount owed and they agree to remove the item from the report.
Keep in mind that the agency is under no such obligation to do this. It would be done either as a courtesy or as part of a settlement offer in which you agree to pay in full with the condition that the item be removed.
If they do not agree, you still need to pay the money that is owed. If you do not, it is likely that your credit will get even worse as their collection efforts increase. Still, this method is worth a try, especially if you are in a position to make a full payment.
Another technique involves formally questioning the validity of a collection item. If you know the debt is yours, then it would be unethical to dispute it. However, incorrect items show up all the time on credit reports. What’s more, most collection agencies will not have the necessary documentation needed to prove that a debt is yours.
Once you file the dispute, the collection agency will have 30 days to produce documentation proving the debt is, in fact, yours. If they cannot do that then the item will be dropped from your credit report.
Credit repair involving items that have been incorrectly reported to your credit report are another matter entirely. Some are surprised to learn that many errors are made, especially if you happen to have a common name.
Even if you have a very uncommon name, it is not unusual for there to be at least one error on your credit report. This is why it is so important that you take the time to thoroughly inspect your reports from all three major credit bureaus at least once per year.
If you see an items that is not yours, the first step is to write a letter to the credit bureau disputing the item. There are also online forms that you can use, but be sure that you are using the form provided by the actual credit bureau and not a third party.
Once you file your dispute, the agency will call the party that reported the item and request proof that it belongs to you. Since no such proof will exist in this case, the item will be removed.
While there is no way to quickly repair your credit, the good news is that over time you can rebuild your credit by making on time payments and using credit wisely. It will take some time, but it is never too soon to start working on credit repair.
loading...
