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Even if you have a good credit rating, there could be information
on your credit report that is incorrect or that even belongs to someone
else!
A good knowledge of credit repair methods is essential. You will find
that knowledge here.
Did you know that according to the US Public Interest Research Group,
there are mistakes and false information on one in four credit reports?
This is costing you $$$!!!
In a survey carried out by the PIRG, one quarter of the credit reports
ordered contained errors that would seriously affect the consumer's
ability to obtain credit and would probably be costing them money in interest
on their mortgage.
Errors such as accounts and late payments that did not belong
to the person concerned!
Over half (54%) of the credit reports contained demographic information
that was incorrect due to misspellings, being out of date or belonging
to a stranger!
Almost a quarter (22%) actually had the same loan or mortgage listed
twice on the same credit report!
Just over 7% had mistakes that would have had serious adverse effects
on the consumer's creditworthiness due to mortgage and loan information
that was completely missing from the credit report!
Almost one third (30%) had the opposite of the above by containing information
that shouldn't have been on the report such as credit accounts that
had been closed by the consumer but were still shown on the report as
being open!
The information on your credit report is stored as it comes. No checks
are made to verify any information reported to a credit agency. These
agencies are simply record keepers.
You must take steps to remove any false information on your credit report
and repair your credit now! Identity theft is now the fastest growing
crime and you may have negative items on your credit report due to ID
theft without even knowing!
A thief can steal your personal information and use it together with
a false identity to obtain credit cards, loans and make large purchases
without your knowledge. In fact, this could go undetected for months or
even years before you discover that your credit score has dropped through
the floor!
You may not find out until you get refused for credit, so take action
now. This is costing you $$$!
Did you know that it is possible to remove negative items from your credit
report even if they are true?
Read on and you will discover a little known trick to do this legally
a little later in your book.
I will also reveal things to you that credit agencies will never tell
you!
Read on to learn the secrets of credit repair that will save you $$$$!
You actually have three FICO scores, held by the three credit reporting
agencies, TransUnion, Equifax and Expirian.
Having a poor credit score will mean that you will have problems in obtaining
credit cards, loans and you will pay several percentage points more on
your home mortgage, costing you many thousands of $$$ in interest.
Did you know that if you were to take out a $200,000 mortgage with a
credit score of 620-674, you would pay $87,000 more in interest than someone
else with a credit score of 720-850?
In fact, your FICO (credit score) will effect everything from whether
you get that loan or credit card to whether someone hires you or not!
With these facts in mind, it is essential that you learn the secrets of
credit repair. Read on.
Did you know that as from September 2005, all credit agencies have to
provide you with a copy of your credit report free of charge upon request?
This won't be sent to you automatically, you need to request it.
It isn't any good just requesting one either; you have to get all
three. Most people assume that all three are the same. This isn't
true.
Credit companies will subscribe to the agency of their choice but they
won't submit information to all three. For successful credit repair,
you will need your three credit reports.
Apart from being entitled to a free credit report from each of the agencies
once a year, you are also entitled to a free report each time you are
refused credit, employment or insurance. You are only entitled to a free
credit report from the particular credit agency concerned and you have
sixty days from the refusal to apply.
The company that refused credit or employment, etc. is
responsible for supplying you with the name and address of the agency
that supplied the report.
So what's shown on your credit report?
Your name (including any variations on your name), address (including
previous addresses), your social security number, telephone number (including
unlisted numbers), date of birth, employment and all of your credit information.
Two or three different spellings of your name may appear or even more
than one social security number. As I said to you earlier, the things
on your credit report are put there exactly as they are reported to the
agency. No checks are made! Ever! It's up to you to correct the
mistakes and repair your credit yourself.
Your credit report will list things such as late payments to credit cards, loans, landlords, utility bills and mortgage
payments.
Your bank may report if you overdraw on your bank account. It also contains
information on any late or unpaid child support payments, civil judgments,
bankruptcies and tax liens.
The report that is sent to you will contain the identities of everyone
that has asked to view your report or requested information on your credit
worthiness over the last six months.
Requests made by yourself or pre-approved offers will be on the copy
that you will see but this information will not be available on reports
sent to any of your creditors or credit grantors.
All information on late payments, etc. stay on your report for seven years
and bankruptcies stay on for ten years. A little later, you will learn
some tricks on how you can legally remove some of these negatives from
your report.
Is it worth paying someone to do the work for me?
You will see ads everywhere from companies who claim that they can clean
your credit report. Some may even claim that they can create a new credit
identity for you or remove bankruptcies, tax liens, etc.
Save your money! These companies cannot legally remove bankruptcies
or tax liens from your record. It is illegal to create a new credit identity
and most of these rogue traders will do nothing more than disappear with
your money.
If any company tells you that they can do any of these things or make
recommendations to you such as disputing all of the information on your
record, it's a scam!
If any company asks for money up front and does not make you aware of
your legal rights it's a scam!
If any company tells you not to communicate with a credit agency directly
yourself, it's a scam!
You may be liable for prosecution by following the advice of these companies.
The best way, in fact the only way to legally repair your credit is by
following all the advice that I am giving you here and now. You can do
the same things for yourself that a repair clinic or attorney will charge
you thousands of $$$ for and you are going to learn how to do this right
here, right now. Read on.
How do I get my free credit reports?
Firstly, every time someone asks for your credit record, it creates an
enquiry on your credit report. The reporting agency concerned might assume
that you are applying for credit if the request doesn't come from
you directly.
This in itself may push your score down.
Always request your report yourself. Never ask a friend at the bank or
other organization to get your report for you.
For one thing, the report that is sent out to you will be sent in a more
user-friendly form, more easily read by the consumer. The ones sent out
to other organizations are the same report, but in a slightly different
format, containing codes and abbreviations that will mean nothing to you.
The only things required by law to obtain a copy of your credit report
are your name, address and your social security number. The agency has
a right to ask you to supply proof of address if the address on your report
is different from the address where you currently reside. Send them a copy of
a bill containing your address and not your driving license that they
will undoubtedly ask for. If they require a copy of your social security
card, you only need to send a copy of the front.
Remember that these companies collect information about you and may sometimes
use it for promotional purposes. Don't give information about yourself
to a credit reporting agency when you do not need to.
You can obtain your free credit reports by calling 877-322-8228 or completing
the Annual Credit Report Request Form and mailing it to: Annual Credit Report
Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.
You can also get your free reports from annualcreditreport.com
These are the only sources to get your free credit reports. Beware of
other sites offering free reports, as you will more than likely be charged
for a product in order to get your free credit reports. Do not contact
each of the three agencies separately to get your free reports. The methods
shown above are the only places from which to get free annual credit reports.
If you wish to examine your reports more frequently, you can order all
three reports from one of the credit reporting agencies or order one from
each. There will be a charge for this service. The following is a list
of contact details of the three credit reporting agencies:
Equifax, Inc.
P.O. Box 740241
Atlanta, GA 30374
(800) 685-1111
www.equifax.com
Experian
National Consumer Assistance
P.O. Box 2104
Allen, TX 75013-2104
(888) 397-3742
www.experian.com Trans Union LLC
Consumer Disclosure Center
P.O. Box 1000
Chester, PA 19022
(800) 888-4213
www.transunion.com
What do I do once I have them?
Be meticulous. You have to go through them with a fine tooth comb, making
note of any spelling mistakes and false information. If there is an account
on file that you do not recognize, then investigate it. Never assume that
it is yours just because it appears on your credit report. It could belong
to a total stranger!
Find and take notes on any negative items in your credit report and any
that you find questionable or false. Supply the credit reporting agency
with copies of any documents that support your claim of false or out of
date items on your credit report. Do not send originals. You should clearly
state the items on your report that you are disputing. You may want to
consider sending a copy of your credit report with the items clearly highlighted
or underlined. You must keep copies of everything that you send to them
and only send mail by certified return receipt.
Keep an accurate and up to date record of everything you do. This record
must include absolutely everything. You must log the date and time of
phone calls including the name of the person that you speak to. Sometimes
it is necessary to make a phone call to a creditor to find out the correct
department to address your correspondence to and the name of the person
to deal with.
Apart from that, all subsequent contact should be by mail and you should
ask that you be contacted only by mail and not by telephone. This
way, you will have an up to date record of all dealings with your creditors.
When dealing with credit agencies, the same applies. Do everything by
mail, but if you do need to speak to them on the telephone, always ask
for the full name of the person that you are speaking to.
Ask for the name of his or her supervisor too. Some of these agencies'
call centers have teams, so ask for the team number. Again, don't
forget to log the date and time of the call, as well as names and team
numbers.
This way, if the person that you spoke to last time happens to leave
the company, you will know which team they belonged to, their supervisor's
name and the date and time that you contacted them.
Always send any correspondence by certified, return receipt mail.
Negotiate with your creditors.
The first step to successful credit repair will be to negotiate with
the people you owe money to. It is sometimes possible to have negative
items removed from your credit report by negotiating with your creditors.
If you see an account on your credit report reported as a "charge off",
this will mean that the creditor involved has had to zero the amount concerned
in their books. It is no longer considered an asset in the company's
books, usually after six months of no payments made to the account.
This does not mean that you don't have to pay. They report it as
a charge off on your credit report. This will seriously harm your credit
worthiness. The creditor may assign a collection agency to the case, so
never consider a charge off as a debt that you don't have to pay.
The first step is to contact the original creditor, rather than the collection
agency, if possible. Try to negotiate a repayment plan with them but be
sure how much you can afford and intend to pay when doing this. Defaulting on the arrangement will only result in further damaging
negatives on your credit report.
It may be possible to get them to remove the charge off from your report
and replace it with "paid as agreed" by offering to pay a certain
amount per month. Again, always negotiate by mail and keep copies of everything
you send.
The creditor will want their money back and may agree to remove the negative
from your report in exchange for regular payments. Not all will be willing
to do this but do try to negotiate before making any payments and get
the agreement in writing prior to making your first payment.
If you can't get them to agree to remove the charge off and report
it as "paid as agreed", then try for "account closed", "paid",
or "settled". You could always try to get them to drop the interest
too in exchange for a lump sum as first payment.
All creditors will report a charge off as a matter of course and to them
it is a black and white business step to take. They are not doing this
to deliberately put a slur on your record so don't take it personally.
Develop a business attitude when dealing with your creditors and don't
try to use moral high ground as a case.
Negotiate, keep records and copies of mail you send out and be business
like. Once you make any payment, no matter how small, you will lose your
bargaining tool. Remember that once you get in touch with an original
creditor or collection agency in an attempt to bargain, you are saying
in effect, "Hey! Here I am, I have money, I am willing to make payments".
Don't forget that they can still take you to court for the retrieval
of funds owing and you will be liable for costs on top. Don't push
your luck too far when attempting to make a deal.
The negative report will stay on your file for seven years!
Or will it?
I told you early on in your book that I would give you some tricks to
removing negatives from your credit report even if they were true. I am
a man of my word, so read on for a clever but legal trick to do this.
Tricks of Removing Negatives from
your Credit Report
Firstly, let me tell you something that you may not be aware of. The law
is in your favor! The law I am talking about here is the Fair Credit Reporting
Act (FCRA).
It states that at any time, you have the rights to challenge the accuracy
of your report. It also states that if the credit reporting agency can't
or doesn't confirm any item challenged within thirty days, it must
be deleted from the record.
Also when you challenge an item such as a charge off that has been paid,
the creditor must be able to confirm the item to the agency. Once you
have paid up, you are no longer of any interest to the creditor. They
may not have any proof on their records of any original signed documents
and will not be able to verify the item you are disputing.
If the creditor cannot verify the item to the CRA, then it must be removed
from your credit report.
Sometimes you may get a reply back from the agency that the item is verified.
This may mean nothing more than the fact that they have checked to see
if the information is on their computers and will report to you that the
information is verified. This is not good enough! You want proof that
the original creditor has verified the item. Again, if it cannot be verified,
it must be removed from your credit report by law.
Things that the credit agencies do not want
you to know!
Any item on your credit report (even if it is true) must be deleted if
it cannot be proven or verified.
You have the rights to challenge any negative entry on your credit report
at any time. They must reinvestigate any item without charge and if it
cannot be verified within 30 days, it must be deleted.
If your dispute about any negative item is not handled properly by the
credit agency or if the original creditor cannot re-verify in time, the
item concerned must be deleted.
Computer operator mistakes sometimes mean that when you challenge an
item on your report, the item may be deleted from your credit report by
mistake.
After periods of 1 or 2 years, sometimes records do not exist, so items
can no longer be verified and as a result, must be deleted from your credit
record.
Another trick is to approach the credit agency during their busiest times
of the year. Christmas and Thanksgiving are good times to dispute items.
Sometimes they cannot reply in time simply due to workload. If this happens,
guess what! Yes, the item must be deleted from your credit report. But
I didn't tell you that!
When you challenge information on your report, the credit reporting agency
must send out all the relevant details that you have supplied to the credit
company or particular organization that provided the information in the
first place. If the organization finds that the information they supplied
was inaccurate, then they must report this back to all three of the credit
reporting agencies.
Once any change has been made to your report, the credit reporting agency
must supply you with a free copy of the updated report. You may also request
to have the updated report sent out to anyone that has requested the report
over the past six months.
For employment purposes, you can have the corrected copy of your credit
report sent out to all people that requested it during the past two years.
Another thing that you didn't hear from me, sometimes an item may
be deleted from your credit report simply by challenging it several times
over.
As a general rule, any item older than two years, discharged bankruptcies,
charge offs, late payments, accounts that have had problems but are now
paid off and enquiries are easier to have removed from your credit report.
Someone is Enquiring about you!
Enquiries occur every time someone asks for your report. An enquiry is
generated when you apply for a credit card or take on a store card. If
you don't need a credit card, then don't apply for one. Avoid
store cards just because you think you may be getting a deal.
Lots of enquiries add up to negatives on your report. If you apply for
several credit cards at the same time, it may be considered that you are
in a desperate shortage of money. Your credit score will drop as a direct
result of too many enquiries on your credit report.
You may only be making a general enquiry yourself with a credit card
company with no concrete intention of taking on credit, but the company
concerned may not see it the same way.
If they ask for any of your personal details, take this as an alarm bell
that they are intending to make an enquiry about you. Always ask if this
is their intention because if they do, it will appear on your report.
An enquiry will remain on your credit report for two years.
When attempting to get an enquiry or other negative item removed from
your credit report, you don't have to fill in the dispute forms
that are sent out with your report.
You can simply write a letter. It can be more effective doing this than
filling out the dispute forms.
If you want to have an enquiry removed, tell them that you didn't
apply for credit with the company mentioned on your report and you want
the item removed.
Enquiries on your Experian report will include the addresses of each
enquirer but the other two will not. If there are enquirers on either
of the other two reports that are not listed on your Experian credit report,
you will have to get in touch with the credit agencies directly to obtain
the addresses.
You will not get a live person on the phone at Trans union, so if there
are any enquirers on the Trans union that do not appear on any of the
other two credit reports, you will have to call the 800 directory (1-800-555-1212)
and ask for the 800 number of the enquiring creditor.
Once you have done all this and obtained addresses for all of the enquiring
creditors on your three credit reports, you will have to write to them
requesting that the enquiries be removed. Promotional enquiries can be
ignored, as these will not appear on your report when requested by any
other organization.
All you have to do is write to them and tell them that there is an enquiry
on your report that you do not believe you gave authorization for and
you want it removed. Ask that they provide you with written proof that
they have requested the item be removed from your report. If they do have
proof that you gave the authorization, then you require written proof of
this also.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act states that an enquiry can only be made
with authorization from your self. You will have to challenge them in
writing that they did not have your authorization to enquire about your
credit report.
If they cannot provide clear and easily understood proof that they had
your authorization, then you must threaten them that you will contact
the State Banking Commission and advise them of deceptive or unclear proof
of authorization. Again, all of your correspondence must be by mail and
sent by certified, return receipt mail and keep copies of everything you
send.
If you get no further with them after thirty days, then the item must
be deleted from your account. It will become a case of no response within
a thirty-day period and it must be removed by this time. Tell them that
thirty days have elapsed and if the item is not removed from your credit
report, then you will take it to the State Banking Commission.
Many of these creditors will delete the item from your account anyhow,
either because they can't or won't provide proof of authorization.
If you have an account on file that was seriously past due but is now
paid in full, you could try writing to them saying that the account was
never past due and you want it removed. They will have to get in touch
with the creditor concerned and, chances are, they are no longer interested
in you and do not have relevant information to confirm. It will be deleted
from your report.
You could try saying that the item was never past due and you want it
to be corrected to say that it has always been current.
Sometimes it is necessary to get in touch with the creditor responsible
for reporting the item to the credit reporting agency in order to get
something amended or removed. If you do speak to your creditor and they
agree to have the item amended or removed from your credit report, ask
them to send you a copy of the "universal data form" (UDF).
This is the form that creditors send out to the credit reporting agency
to inform them of a change or deletion of an item. If your creditor refuses
to send you a copy of the UDF, ask them if they will at least send you
a letter confirming that they have requested a correction/deletion from
the credit reporting agency.
Sometimes your creditor will up your rate of interest if they have information
that you have been late with payments to other creditors. If a company
has reported false information about late payments, you should ask that
they also send out a UDF to all your other creditors as well as the credit
reporting agency.
Your Rights and your Creditors
As you have already learned, your creditors may not be able to provide
adequate proof that a negative item on your credit report is true. If
the credit agency reports back to you that the item is correct, you now
know that you may have to deal with the creditor directly.
Creditors often throw away all original signed paperwork and keep records
stored on computer. It is federal law that the creditor must supply original
written proof of an account being yours. This being the original document
signed by you.
If a creditor cannot supply original written proof then under federal
law, they must remove the item from your credit file and cease any collection
activity.
If you apply to your creditor for written proof that an account is yours
and they do not reply within seven days, the chances are that they do
not have the proof.
A free legal service exists whereby you contact the Attorney General's
office in the city of the creditor who cannot prove the account. Tell
them about the credit company concerned and that they are damaging your
credit with a negative item that does not belong to you. The Attorney
General will contact the credit company and have them remove the item
from your credit report.
You could even take the credit company to small claims court. All you
need to do is call your local county court and tell them that you want
a court date and why. Fill out the simple forms and be there on the day.
The creditor does not have the proof that the account is yours and you
will win by default when they do not turn up.
It is unknown for a creditor who does not have the original signed contract
to turn up in court. Even if they do, you will win if they do not have
the proof that the account belongs to you. You can sue them for emotional
stress and also for your expenses. Don't forget my earlier advice
and keep a copy of everything including the receipts for the registered
mail you sent to them. Take all this along with you and sue for the costs.
You may want to take free advice from your local Attorney about your
particular case before entering into court action
You are entitled to challenge an item on your credit record once every
thirty days as many times as you like, unless the challenge is considered
to be frivolous. Each time, the credit agency must verify the item. If
they write back and tell you that they have already verified the item
in the past, then you can threaten to sue them for $5000 for each dispute
that they do not handle with the right procedure. This tends to do the
trick nicely when they become aware that you know your rights.
To recap briefly, always keep copies of everything you send. Keep a log
of phone calls including the time, date and the full name of the person
you spoke to. Include the department they work in and/or team number along
with his or her supervisor's full name. An accurate record should
anything go to court is absolutely essential.
It will be admissible in court when accompanied by a full written record.
Anything less than this will be regarded as hear say and will not be admissible.
Always take on a professional attitude and stand your ground. The law
is on your side. Remember that these credit agencies are only record keepers.
The police do not run these agencies. Mistakes are common on credit reports
and never assume that because something appears on your report that it
belongs to you. It could belong to a total stranger. Keep a close check
on your credit reports at least once every year. Now go get repairing
your credit and save yourself some $$$$.
Staying in contact with your payments each month can help you avoid bad
credit. If you research the marketplace before coming to a purchasing
decision, you are well on your way to avoiding bad credit and repair credit
hassles. You want to consider all applications, including credit cards,
student loans, mortgages, and car loans carefully to avoid being overcharged.
Making the wise decision ahead of the game is the ultimate solution to
maintaining good credit. Most people when taking out a home mortgage loan
are not aware of the options available to them. Many will walk in the
bank door, fill out the application, and accept the terms & conditions
when offered to them.
If you ever heard the many reports that swept the pages of newspapers,
television and other advertising sources. Families and individuals are
filing bankruptcy because they cannot afford their homes anymore. This
is because these people did not take the time to check the marketplace
first and search the options available to them. As you can see, the millions
reported are in debt and searching for a way to repair their credit. The
solution then to avoiding bad credit and repair is to research, invest
wisely, make good decisions, and budget.
Being informed and educated are two of the best tools offered to us.
There are mortgage loans that offer overpayments and underpayments and
these loans include vacation packages and lump sum payments to the borrowers.
There are also other loans available that offer low mortgage monthly installments
and low interest rates with insurance policies attached that will pay
your mortgage if you are sick, unemployed, in an accident and so on. On
the other hand, there are mortgage loans that have high interest rates,
high mortgages, and balloon payments attached.
When balloon payments are attached to home mortgages, it is almost guaranteed
in a few years you will be searching for a solution to repair your credit.
There are very few home lenders willing to tell you the truth about the
variety of home loans available. Most of the lenders are making money
and you are a source of income. It is important to scope the terms &
agreements carefully and to read all fine prints on any loan contract
before you sign.
If you want to avoid bad credit and repair, you want to stay on the right
path. Loans are agreements that are made between two parties and attached
are interest rates and other fees.
If you are applying for a home loan and want to avoid bad credit, it
makes sense to learn what the fees include and how much those fees are.
Anytime you take out a mortgage loan there are up front fees attached.
In some cases, you can get a home for little or no cost. Searching the
marketplace can save you time and money.
Some home loans offer an acceleration clause, which covers you if you
miss mortgage payments. The lender will apply the clause by allowing you
leniency providing you make payments the following month on time. This
type of loan is great for avoiding bad credit, foreclosures, and repossessions.
The marketplace is swarming with realtors and other sources that will
help you get a mortgage loan affordable to you with benefits included.
Car Loans - If you are applying for a car loan, it is also important to
research the marketplace carefully before agreeing to any terms &
conditions. Make sure that your find the best deals affordable to you.
Credit Cards - Another word of advice is when applying for credit cards,
you want to sway away from cards that have fees attached and high interest
rates. Avoid credit card offers that have up front fees and offer a high line
of credit.
Student Loans - You also need to consider student loans. You may be qualified
for a student grant from the government. This is the first place you want
to start before committing yourself to a loan agreement.
We are committed to helping you get your credit back on track, OR get
loans or cash that you need. Loans, Credit Repair, Filing Bankruptcy,
Government Grants, and Government Auctions.
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