Credit scores are the determining factor on how good the deal is for most of the major purchases we make in life. Managing your credit wisely can save thousands of dollars over one’s lifetime and even contribute to a comfortable retirement. Think about this, improving your credit scores by 50 points can save around $33,000 over the life of the average mortgage. If you also consider the likelihood that you will also pay higher rates on car loans, and credit were talking about a huge sum of money. What if you were able to put all of that money into a retirement account, wow!

Before we get started, I would like to touch on the “companies” that advertise that they can magically clean your credit and have your scores up in a matter of days. In my opinion any company that makes such a claim is less than legitimate at best. The simple fact is that it’s ultimately the credit bureaus that will update your scores via the information they receive. By law, credit bureaus cannot treat you any differently than the people you hire to clean up your credit. This means that Know-how and hard work are the only differences between you and credit repair companies. So if you are willing to learn a little and roll up your sleeves you can save some money.

Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of legitimate credit repair companies that perform great a services for their clients. Depending on how bad your credit is repairing your credit can be a lot of work. If you are unable to spend the time or you lack the “stomach” to deal with collection agents then I suggest that you look into hiring a legitimate credit repair company. The only downside is that it can be very expensive and the money you spend paying them to repair your credit can be used paying down debt.

3 Tips for Fast Credit Report Repair

1) Opt out of all credit bureau solicitations – Have you ever wondered how you get “pre-approved” credit card and mortgage offers? Credit bureaus actually sell your information to companies to solicit you. These leads are furnished to the solicitors by credit type and a credit score range. The credit bureaus then “ding” your credit score 3 – 10 points for the inquiries! The good news is that you can “opt out” from this practice and it will raise your credit score 3 – 10 points within a week. You can find the website here: www.optoutprescreen.com.

2) Validate all debts as real debts on your bureau – This action requires that you have a credit bureau in hand. If you are serious about cleaning your credit it is crucial that you have one it will be your blue-print. You will need to pony up about $40 bucks to get a credit report with all 3 bureaus and scores. Many companies offer “free” credit reports if you join their credit monitoring service that ironically cost around $40 bucks.

With Credit report in hand, you need to validate ALL debts with collection agencies that are reporting on your credit bureau. Look for debts that are older than 7 years old, (from the charge-off date) the credit bureaus have remove these by law. Dispute these debts with the credit bureaus NOT the collection agencies. Next, look for duplicate collections, many collection agencies will package and sell your debt to other companies and never remove their original report. Send a letter to the credit bureaus with an explanation asking that they remove the debt.

3) Dispute ALL debts with the credit bureaus – Dispute all late payments, collections and negative remarks that appear on all 3 credit bureaus, not the collection agencies. In the dispute letter simply state that you do not believe the debt is yours and ask them to have the reporting agency to prove that you owe the debt. In the event it is a late payment simply say that you weren’t late.You can find a good letter by following the link above.

Note: When I say dispute all items I mean all negative items whether they are a legitimate debt or not. By law the collection agencies have to prove that you owe the debt within a reasonable amount of time or remove the remark on your bureau. Many collection agencies are too busy or unable to respond to the credit bureau’s request. When this happens the credit bureaus have to remove the negative remarks regardless of their legitimacy.

10 Ground Rules for Dealing with Collection Agencies

1. To use an analogy, credit collection agents are the Devil incarnate and they are on commission.
2. Arguing with the Devil is fruitless; they hold the gold and will ultimately win the argument.
3. Speaking with the “supervisor” usually will not work; he got his position by being the meanest Devil.
4. The Devil will lie and cheat, it is his nature. Do not EVER give debit card numbers, checks numbers, credit card numbers, or bank accounts over the phone to a collection agency.
5. Make any and every payment you send to them with a money order or certified funds.
6. Send all correspondence via certified mail return receipt, leave a paper trail and make a file.
7. Do not accept a deal or negotiated payoff without having it in writing.
8. When negotiating a lower payoff take their first offer, they will almost always call back to sweeten their offer.
9. When negotiating a lower payoff always approach the collection agent from the position “this is all I can afford to pay” not “this is all I am going to pay you”. Refer to rule #2
10. Always have a copy of your credit report when repairing your credit!

 

Obviously, there is a lot more to know than we have mentioned in these three tips. However these three tips will almost always help you with fast credit report repair. NOTE: Executing these three tips you do not want to the collection agencies at this time. If collection agencies update the information on your bureau it can actually lower your credit scores. Do these three steps first before contacting the collection agencies and then you can dance with the devil later.

Is it possible to get a no cost credit report? Yes, definitely. This is a good news to people who have serious credit score issues. Perhaps, you’re wondering what your credit score is. Perhaps, you’re considering taking out a loan for a new business or a new car, but you don’t know if you would qualify. You really don’t want to go through the hassle of applying for a loan just so you’d get rejected. You could avoid it by knowing your credit score before you even enter the doors of the credit agencies.

Getting it for free can be overwhelming when you don’t know where to go and how to get it.

It is very important for consumers to check on their credit every year. They do not remain constant. You cannot expect to have the same credit score five years after you last checked. This could cost you your job or your house. Knowing your credit score is crucial. Luckily, it is now available to you at no cost at all. Indeed, you can get your totally free credit report online.

Every citizen is entitled to their no cost credit report every year. You can get them from the country’s three major credit agencies. Before you can get it for $9.50, but these days, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion are required to provide Americans their free reports once a year.

No, you will not get them automatically. You still have to file a request in order to get your copy. You can do this in three ways:

1. You can go directly to annualcreditreport.com, the only authorized consumer source online in order to access your no cost credit report.

2. You can get your free report via phone by calling (877) 322-8228

3. You can request via mail by sending in your request and mailing it to Annual Report Request Service.

Your report is the basis of your credit score. Once you have sent in your request, you can expect to receive it within a reasonable time. You’d get a summary of your payment history, balances, payment behavior and accounts listing. What you get is not automatically your credit score. However, credit agencies would base your credit score from your it. The better it is, the higher is your credit score. If it reflects bad accounts or worse, bankruptcy, you’d likely have bad credit score as well.

When you receive your free report, it is very important that you check for disputable accounts and items. Make sure that it is accurate. Otherwise, you would be saddled by these accounts. You will not be able to easily secure a loan. You could lose your home over an inaccurate reporting.

Nowadays, no cost credit report is available to everyone. It is your right to avail of them so you’d know how you stand financially. Your report could mean a huge difference between having a difficult or easy financial life.

Do you have bad credit? If so you may be wondering what you can do to get a new credit card. Many people end up with bad credit because of identity theft, medical bills, or simply because of a rough credit history in the past. That doesn’t mean they are irresponsible or incapable of paying their bills. But, when you have bad credit you know that getting new credit is almost impossible. That’s because no company wants to take the risk of not getting paid. Fortunately, there are lots of cards for bad credit out there. The following information will help you find the best credit cards for bad credit out there.

Interest Rates

There are lots of credit cards out there designed for bad credit. So, you will want to compare them and find the best interest rates that you can. Of course, when you have bad credit you should expect interest rates that are higher than normal. But, as you improve and show your responsibility then you will be able to lower your interest rate and restore your credit.

Fees

Some credit cards for bad credit have really high fees. These are not worth paying because they will take up all of your available credit and not help you out with your bad rating. There are other credit cards out there that will help you get the credit you deserve and won’t slam you with high fees. The best way to find these cards is to do a little bit of research. Just start searching the web for bad credit credit cards and in no time you will be able to determine which ones are right for you.

Limits

Most of the time you will receive a low limit if you have bad credit. That is just the way it goes and there is no reason to complain about it. Instead, simply make sure you make your monthly payments and keep your balances as low as possible. If you do this then you will see your credit limit rise over time. And, eventually, your credit rating will be high again and you can get other cards with higher limits.

Credit Reporting

When you apply for a credit card for your bad credit you want to make sure that they report to all of the credit bureaus. This is perhaps the most important thing because it will allow you to improve your credit ranking much faster. Those credit cards that don’t report are really no help to you because they don’t report your new responsibility. So, instead of getting just any credit card get one that will report to all the credit bureaus. This will ensure your credit rating increases quicker.

Once they have found a solution that allows them to save their house from foreclosure, many homeowners would like to delete any mention of the proceedings from their credit or property record. Because the foreclosure was cured and the mortgage either reinstated or paid off, they should be able to get it off of their histories, right? Wrong. Too often, the fact that a house went into foreclosure will haunt the homeowners long into the future.

On the credit record, having a string of late mortgage payments leading up to the foreclosure will severely damage the owners’ scores. Being able to solve the problem before losing the house completely may not impact the history or score in a significant way, since the negative payment history is often not far enough removed in time. It will take a number of months to begin repairing the credit if the homeowners were able to save their home, and it may take years to qualify for a new loan if they lost the house to the foreclosure.

Getting the foreclosure removed from the credit report is also extremely difficult. It can be done, but it is unlikely and would take much work on the part of the property owners. In essence, to remove a foreclosed loan from the credit history, the debtors would have to persuade the mortgage company to request that the credit reporting agencies no longer show it on their records. Banks are often unwilling to do this, of course. Otherwise, there is usually no way to get a foreclosure removed in order to boost a credit score.

County records are even more difficult to remove once they have been recorded. Because the county keeps all documents that ever affected a particular property, they will not be willing to delete any foreclosure or other lawsuit court documents from appearing in relation to the house. Counties even keep foreclosure, deed history, and mortgages from previous owners going back decades, so that anyone can perform a title search through public records and verify ownership and liens.

The fact that the county is most often the keeper of all these historic documents means that homeowners who faced foreclosure, even if they were able to save their house, will always have those documents in their name in regards to the house. Their ability to stop foreclosure does not negate the fact that the documents were filed in the first place. On the positive side, however, is the fact that, once a house is taken out of foreclosure, those documents will also be recorded and anyone searching the property will be able to see that the owners prevented the loss of the home.

Public records and credit agencies often keep documents for far longer than homeowners would prefer, especially if they are constant reminders of a financial hardship and prevent the owners from qualifying for other loans that they are able to pay back. The credit agencies only keep foreclosure records for 7-10 years, while county records are kept virtually forever. It is possible, but unlikely to remove a foreclosure from a credit report, but essentially impossible to get the county to hide away those documents. After all, they are only providing a history of a particular property, and foreclosure can play a role in the history of a house.