Repair My Credit: The Fastest Way To Get Started
August 7, 2008
Every day I receive hundreds of emails from people all over the United States asking such questions as “How do I repair my credit?” or “A local credit counseling agency wants to charge me $1,000 just to get started, is this fair?” or “Can I repair my credit without help - can I do it on my own?” Yes you can!
Learn more by clicking the hop links to the right—->
With so much misleading advice given on the Internet and rogue credit repair agencies who are only out for the fast buck, it is easy to be confused as to what steps to take when you want to clean up your credit history and get out of debt.
To help guide you, the following questions and answers are factual advice that can help you understand more clearly on what you need to do:
Question: I would like to repair my credit but do not know where to start. Should I call a credit repair service or counselor?
Do not pick up the telephone until you have made the first step, and that is to pull a full credit report from all of the major credit bureaus. You must first learn the secrets that creditors do not want you to know.
The reason why this is so important when deciding on credit repair is so that you can first take a look for yourself if there are any inaccurate reports or forms of identity theft. If so, then there are steps to take on your own without hiring a credit repair service, at least not yet. The Credit Secrets Bible is the first place to start. You can read more by clicking here.
Question: I believe that I am the victim of identity theft. I would like to repair my credit but there are thousands of dollars in creditor debts that were not done by me or anyone in my family. What should I do?
Victims of identity theft are usually caught by complete surprise through an account on their report that they did not open, or some unusual action going on with a credit card, or several of them. Here are some tips if you fall into this unfortunate position:
1) Write all of the information down you find on these illegitimate filings.
2) Call and close down any accounts with creditors that are affected.
3) If you are able to have your credit report frozen, do so immediately (only certain States allow this).
4) Place a fraud alert by calling one of the major credit bureaus.
5) And of course, call the authorities and fill out a report.
Question: When I want to repair my credit, what information is listed on my credit report?
When you first receive your credit report you may be wondering what what all of the information means. The best thing to do is break it down. Each report contains the following brackets of information:
1) Your personal profile.
2) Public records which include late payments, collections, negative remarks, etc.
3) History of your account.
4) Credit inquiries.
5) Credit score.
6) Any statements that you have submitted, in 100 words or less.
Credit Repair: Know Your Legal Rights (FACT Act)
August 4, 2008
In summary, the FACT Act gives you the following rights:
1) You have the right to dispute any information on your credit report that you feel is inaccurate. One of the first steps taken with credit repair is to break down your report and make a list of any issues that you feel could be mistakes.
How this works is when you find inaccurate information, the creditor must form an investigation of the item within 30 days. Their results must be be provided to you in the form of a written report and if there are any changes made then the revisions must be submitted and changed on your credit report.
2) You have the right to have all outdated information removed. Credit repair means cleaning up your history as best possible and when there are still old entries lingering on your report, you have the right to have these entries completely removed. In most cases, any information that exceeds seven years can legally be removed. Bankruptcies have a longer time span of ten years.
3) You have the right to take legal action against any creditors who damage your report. The FACT Act provides the common consumer to receive damages from organizations that do not follow the law when reporting your information to the credit bureaus. When starting credit repair and you find this to be the case, you can potentially sue and collect thousands of dollars. There have even been cases of consumers collecting millions!
4) You have the right of limited access your credit report. Oftentimes when individuals start the credit repair process they find many credit requests that were listed which were not authorized. The law states that only organizations whom are recognized by the FCRA with permission to access your credit report can do so. Examples of these types of entities are your creditor, landlord, employer, and insurer, just to name a few.
5) You have the right to be informed when any decision has been made against you in regards to your credit report. What this means is that any time you apply for something, whether it be a credit card, a new apartment, or job placement, and you were turned down for reasons of credit, the institution who pulled your file has the legal instruction to explain to you that the decision was made due to the information on your credit report.
There are many other rights offered to you by the FACT Act when starting the process of credit repair. Other examples include the right to have access to all information on your report, have inaccurate information deleted, avoid medical information being reported without your consent, and the ability to personally place statements on your report, on your own.
Credit Counseling Agency: What Can They Really Do To Help You?
August 3, 2008
Can a credit counseling agency really help you repair your credit? With all of the hype, vague advertising, and misleading ads, the answer can be quite confusing.
The truth is that yes, so long as you follow the advice, commit your time, and pay the asking fees, the organizations can help. Here are some of the valid claims that you can expect from working with a credit counseling agency:
1) A reduction or complete halt in bill collectors calling your house.
The credit counseling agency has the power to stop, or at least partly eliminate bill collectors from phoning your home or work.
What causes this to happen on your behalf is the communication between the agency and your bill collector. For example, let’s say that you are getting harassed to pay your late bill and extra fees on a computer that was purchased with a store credit card. Your agreement was for $100 per month for 24 months. After paying your bill on time for just over a year, financial problems hit and you became several months late.
When you hire a credit counseling agency they will make contact with the computer store and arrange for a debt payment plan. The calls may stop right at this point or the computer store may need a few payments before they stop phoning you. Either way, they will eventually cease bothering you altogether.
2) A credit counseling agency will help improve the status of your credit.
Any positive effort that you put into resolving your credit problems will have the effect of lifting up your score a bit. And so long as the agency you hire does in fact work on your behalf at contacting your debt entities and arranging a payment plan, you can expect your credit history and score to get better over time.
3) You will receive a personalized, step-by-step budget that will benefit you for years to come.
The problem which promotes the majority, if not all, of the credit problems that people face is due to not being smart with their money in the first place. If you had created a budget from day one, and followed it to the “T”, then it is safe to say you would not be in the financial predicament that you are in today.
Your credit counseling agency will sit down with you and develop a written plan of action which will allot every penny of income you have coming in so that all of your needs are taken care of. A portion will go to paying off your debts. A portion will be set aside into a savings plan. A portion will be used for investments. And of course, there will be plenty of money left over for enjoyable activities.
Following this budget is a crucial element of successfully cleaning up your credit. If you don’t have the money you need to afford the necessities of life, pay back creditors, save for the future, and resist the temptations of money-wasting habits of the past, then nothing else that a credit counseling agency can do will help you in the long run. You really have to use what you learn.
Credit Acceptance Announces Completion of $100 Million Asset-Backed Financing
July 26, 2008
Credit Acceptance Corporation announced today the completion of a $100.0 million asset-backed non-recourse secured financing. via PrimeNewswire
http://www.topix.com/com/cacc/2007/10/cred…
Home Bookkeeping and Budgeting Software: 3 Simple Programs Anyone Can Use
July 19, 2008
Why spend money on home bookkeeping and budgeting software when you can get it for free? In today’s web market there are dozens of budgeting and bookkeeping software programs that meet, and even exceed some of the most popular store-bought programs out there. Some are totally free of charge, while other tools still offer a 30-day trial period with absolutely no risk.
Tips On Budgeting: 3 Easiest Ways To Cut Expenses
July 8, 2008
Learning how to budget your money is one of the wisest financial decisions you could ever make. By sticking to a simple plan that provides tips on budgeting, and making a commitment to that plan, day in and day out, you and your family will enjoy increased income, more freedom, less debt, and extra money to save and invest into creating assets.
START BUILDING YOUR BUDGET TODAY
June 4, 2008
1.) Do you run out of money before you run out of month?
2.) Do you sit down to pay bills and wonder where’s the money going?
3.) Have you ever realized that you might not have the money to fill your gas tank to go to work?
4.) Do you long for financial flexibility? Read more
Test post for Budget Building
May 30, 2008
This is a test post for budget building on http://www.paylesspermonth.com.
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