It would be great if you could dial 911 and report an emergency credit problem. The truth is you can. You can create an emergency credit situation and use that urgency to begin developing a strategy for your personal credit success. A strategy for success can vary in many degrees. It could be, that you need to work on your credit so the interest rate doesn’t have you upside down on your loan. Or, you might be wanting a piece of that good ole’ American dream and that is to own a home to call your own. Anything you want is of the taking and it can be yours. It may take a good prescription of time, patience and some work. So here are two ideas that I find common on credit reports that need improvement. One idea is opening 2-3 lines of credit to begin the credit-building process and the other is getting bad debt removed from your credit report using the FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) as your guideline.

Opening a line of credit doesn’t take work at all, but depending on your credit status, it just may mean that you get the most undesirable terms. Is it really a time to get picky? I don’t think so. This is the time that you have to pay your way to the top. By the way, don’t open the lines of credit and start running up the credit balance because then you will be right back in the position you started. If you must use them, don’t go over 35% of the credit line. For example, if you are given $1,000 credit line, don’t charge over $350.00. Immediately, the new account will benefit you because it is a new line of credit and in the long run it will benefit you because of the positive payment history. Another thing to make sure you do is begin your own credit lines and not piggyback off of others because that is beginning to become non-existent. It may help your score, but it will not help if any creditor decides to analyze the credit report. Start developing a strong habit of caring for your credit as you would a child. If you look at the opportunity in that respect, you will see that it can be the most motivating stepping stone because you are in control. That is the true key to new lines of credit. The key is being in control and developing responsible credit habits.

Moving on to debt removal is not as easy as it sounds. It does take work to analyze every account and make sure the account is being reported accurately. If they are not being reported accurately for any reason, it is grounds for deletion from your credit reports because it is misrepresenting the character of the account. Time and persistence will help you be successful at removing bad debt because it will allow you to understand the reporting process with the credit bureaus. It will also help you understand your rights and the checks and balances credit reporters have to abide by. Removing bad debt from your credit reports could be for the sole reason that it is past 7 years from the date of last activity. The date of last activity is marked from the first month no payment was received. Make sure you become familiar with the FDCPA (Fair Debt Collections Practices Act) and the FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act). These laws will help you understand the misrepresentation of the debts in question.

As you possibly know by now, you either have good or bad credit and it does not matter if you are rich or poor. I have had the opportunity of knowing a senior citizen with the income of $9000.00 a year with a 778 credit score. Imagine that. It doesn’t take what you don’t have it takes what habits you do have. If you are a credit addict, well, say no more. Your situation will not improve without change. If you have the motivation and desire to reach for the highest credit score possible, you will reach the success that will only make your life easier. Credit does matter and the proof is all around you. Reach for something better. Grab hold of that goal by the reins and ride it till it is accomplished to its fullest. Don’t let the people around you that are dependant or believe in you, down. So, a credit emergency is not so bad after all if it stimulates a reaction for the better. Credit is life and life is credit. Demand it of yourself to have a better life.

Some companies advertise that they have a credit report repair Software and also they will teach you credit repair secrets, for a fee of course. There is a lot of free information here, if you know where to look. Before you take a credit repair course or sign up for credit report repair, read the facts and the laws relating to credit repair. In this way you may avoid some disappointment and save some money.

What is credit report repair or software? The best kept “secret” is that creditors and credit reporting agencies (commonly referred to as the credit bureaus) make mistakes. What can you learn in a credit repair course? You can learn the basics of bad credit repair, without paying a penny. If you cannot achieve results on your own, then you may need to hire a credit repair lawyer to help you. If you feel that you have exhausted all of the free options, identify what information that you still need and make sure that the credit repair course or software program that you are considering includes that information.

A secret may be defined as “beyond simple understanding”. Using this definition, credit report program is credit report repair that is beyond ordinary understanding. The average person does not understand how credit scores are calculated. Most people do not know what information is on their credit reports. Many people do not know their rights under the law.

Credit repair is a popular subject. It seems that almost everyone wants learn about credit repair. Books and software programs that claim to contain everything you wanted to know about credit repair are being sold on the internet and in retail locations all over the country. There are some questionable credit repair schemes and some companies suggest action which is illegal. Consumers can learn to repair their own credit, but it takes time and patience. The safest bet when hiring someone to do the work for you is to hire a credit repair attorney. In this way, you can be sure that you will achieve results; they know everything there is to know about credit repair. You can also be sure that a credit repair attorney will not advise you to do anything that is illegal. Most of the popular credit repair lawyers do not charge more than the other credit repair companies and some offer money back guarantees.

The Federal Trade Commission regulates credit repair organizations and states that “certain advertising and business practices of some companies engaged in the business of credit repair services have worked a financial hardship upon consumers, particularly those of limited economic means and who are inexperienced in credit matters.” Under the laws regulating credit repair organizations, any company that advertises secret credit report repair or credit repair in general must provide the consumer with certain information. These regulations do not apply to companies that offer a credit repair course or seminar. Most of these are simply rehashing information that has been available for years. If you look in the public library, you will see that individuals have been writing books about credit report repair for years.

There was an individual who advertised his informational packages on TV. One of his reports was “how to get AAA credit” or something like that. This was not any spectacular secret credit report repair. It was not a credit repair course. He advised consumers to make a $500 deposit into a savings account at any bank. Then, using the deposit as security, apply for a loan. Repay the loan and according to him, you would have great credit. This may be information that the average person does not know. It is similar to the secured credit card programs that so many companies offer. The thing about credit is that, it is harder to get, if you really need it. If you have $500 to deposit into a savings account or a secured credit card program, if you have the money to pay off the debts that you owe, you can improve your credit score over time.

Companies that advertise quick free credit report repair are banking on the theory that you do not know how to review your credit reports for inaccurate information. If you have inaccurate, obsolete, misleading or unverifiable information on your credit reports, then the credit bureaus must delete the information. You must “dispute” the information. In other words, you must notify the credit bureaus about the negative information that needs to be deleted. This is the credit report repair that is often the subject of a credit repair course.

There are few topics as polarizing as credit repair. Depending on who you talk to, credit repair is usually thought of as impossible, illegal, something you can only do yourself, or something you need professional help to perform. Rarely do you find someone with a perspective on credit repair that is not at the far end of one of these extremes.The fascinating thing is that in most cases, whatever people believe to be true will be true for them.The poster on the Yahoo! Answers forum who states that “there is NO SUCH thing as Credit Repair….it’s a scam….” will never realize any benefits from repairing their own credit. By believing that credit repair is impossible, they are fulfilling their own prophecy by ignoring their rights to dispute their own credit. By not believing it can be done, they are proving their own point. This person, and every other person who ignores the possibility of credit repair, will fall into the category of people whose credit scores will only improve through the passage of time.The same is true of people who believe that credit repair companies do not work. Another poster on Yahoo! Answers stated that”There is no such thing as repairing your credit through someone else. If they can, they are doing this via an illegal way and be extremely careful, as it can end YOU up in jail and fined.The ONLY way to repair credit is to do it yourself.Pay your bills on time ;o)”Along with being misinformed about how the credit repair process works, this person is letting their flawed knowledge keep them from so much as investigating the possibility that a credit repair company may be able to help them out. Once again, in believing that it is impossible for a credit repair company to provide any value, this person has assured that they will never receive any value from a credit repair organization.It is truly astounding how many people out there believe that credit repair cannot work and credit repair companies are nothing but scams. It is also unfortunate that it is these voices that seem to be the loudest because not only are they making credit repair an impossibility for themselves, but they are convincing so many other people to not even attempt to repair their own credit.What is equally astounding is how these people can be so passionate about outing credit repair as a pipe dream and a scam when there are so many other people out there who are living proof that credit repair does in fact work. These are the people who have allowed for the possibility that their credit could be repaired and realized the truth about their credit reports.It is hard to believe that anyone could completely dismiss the idea of credit repair when there are stories like this:”I signed up for [credit repair firm] a couple of years ago. They basically write a couple of letters a month on your behalf to either businesses or credit reporting companies asking for verification of debt, that kind of thing, or if you instruct them, actually challenging the debt. After a few rounds of this, negative credit items start to fall off your report. You can totally do this yourself, but it’s been worth the cost to me (something like $40/month) since I am too lazy to regularly write this kind of letter. I also like how when the credit bureaus do bother to write back, they’re always pretty whiny and pissy about it.Some people seem to think this is some kind of scam (like, paralegals write the letters on your behalf instead of attorneys, and some people don’t seem to understand that when you give an attorney “power of attorney,” they can write letters as you), but I think it’s a fair price for something I was too lazy to do myself. Ultimately, they pretty much got rid of all the negative items on my report except for the ones that were at least semi-legitimate. (I’m not going to pay a parking ticket I got five years ago in a state I’m not going back to.) The ones they did get rid of were things like AOL continuing to charge a credit card after a) I had cancelled the AOL account, and b) I had cancelled the credit card! It just wasn’t worth my time to chase this down with AOL or the credit card company.It’s annoying that I’m responsible for fixing something that this bogus industry screws up in the first place, but other than that, I’m a happy “credit repair” customer.”People who believe that credit repair is impossible will never see any benefit from it. People who believe that credit repair can only be done by themselves will only see the benefits of their personal efforts. People who believe that credit repair companies do not work will never invite the opportunity to have a credit repair company work for them.Ultimately, when it comes to credit repair, we all create our own truths. All anybody can ask of you is to perform your own research instead of letting others choose your truths for you.

 
In years past, the credit repair industry was tainted by fly by night credit repair clinics and other credit fixing scams. Despite the need that many people had to get help with repairing their credit, it was hard to find a credit repair company they could trust.
Today, the credit repair industry has matured thanks to increased awareness and federal regulation. The keystone of this regulation is the Credit Repair Organizations Act, also known as CROA. Recognizing the value of professional credit repair services, Congress enacted CROA in order to define appropriate actions of a credit repair organization and to outlaw many of the practices typical of a fraudulent credit repair clinic.
While there are still some fraudulent credit repair organizations trying to take your money, by understanding the basic ideas of CROA, you can easily identify these scams and make sure you avoid them. Knowing what things credit repair companies are and are not able to do, will keep you from becoming a victim.
Below are three key points of CROA and what they mean to you as you are shopping for a credit repair company.
1) Credit repair organizations cannot charge fees for services before they are rendered
Most credit repair scams start off the same way. You are required to pay a large upfront fee, often times in the range of hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Then, after you have made the payment, the credit repair company does little or nothing to repair your credit and in some cases, simply disappears with your money.
To keep you from becoming a victim of this type of scam, CROA prevents credit repair companies from charging for services before they have been provided. If a credit repair company charges a set up fee, they cannot collect that fee until after the task of setting up your case has been completed. If a credit repair company charges monthly fees, those fees cannot be collected until after a month’s worth of services have been provided.
Keeping this requirement in mind is probably the most important thing you can do to avoid becoming a victim of a credit repair scam. Even today there are companies like Champion Credit Consulting and Credit Clean who will try to charge you $795 and $1223 before they have done anything to repair your credit.
2) Credit repair organizations cannot make incorrect or misleading statements
Preying on the naivety and lack of knowledge of people looking to improve their credit, many credit repair companies entice people with claims of improving their credit score 100 points in 60 days or removing bankruptcies from their credit reports. The truth is that while it is possible for each of these things to happen, no credit repair company can promise that they will.
In fact, no credit repair company can promise to remove anything from your credit reports because ultimately, it is up to the credit bureaus what items are listed on your reports. Disputing credit is not failsafe. There are cases where no matter what you do, a particular negative item will not be removed from your credit reports.
Any company that promises to increase your credit score or remove any negative items from your credit reports is violating the law. According to CROA, and the nature of the credit system, the best any credit repair company can do is promise to put forth a best effort. Just like in a court of law, a lawyer can promise to work as hard as they can, but they cannot promise that you will win over the jury.
3) Credit repair companies must inform you of your rights
The credit system is not easy and many people do not adequately understand their rights within the system. This lack of education makes it easy for con-artists to prey on the unaware.
So you do not get caught off-guard, credit repair organizations are required to inform all prospective customers of their right to order their own credit reports and their right to dispute the questionable information they contain. They are also required to inform you of your right to cancel your credit repair service within 3 days of signing up for no reason and with no penalty.
When signing up with a credit repair organization, CROA dictates that you should be presented with a disclosure statement titled “Consumer Credit File Rights Under State and Federal Law”. This statement describes the rights mentioned above.
CROA has changed the landscape in the credit repair industry and has been very effective in helping the FTC identify and prosecute shady credit repair organizations. Because of CROA, you can feel confident that your money will be well spent when you enlist the services of a legally compliant credit repair company.

After twelve years of credit repair, credit score repair and writing credit repair letters to all sorts of creditors, collection agencies and credit bureaus, I realized that it was necessary to provide my services at a serious discount to consumers in need. I realized that not all consumers could afford my credit repair services. As a result, I created a hot line to answer credit repair and credit score questions. However, I noticed that it was becoming an overwhelming task for my staff and at much expense in order to provide the free credit repair services.

A little over two (2) years ago, a couple of my clients suggested I should write a booklet (20 pages) about credit score, how credit score is calculated, what to look for when calculating credit score, what is the best way to repair credit and some of the main topics of credit repair. They suggested I should provide this ebook for a price of $9.95. I thought about doing so for some time as I was thinking that 20 pages of credit repair ebook would not be enough to even touch the surface on so many subjects that needed to be covered. You see the entire idea of credit repair (credit score repair) or credit repair letter writing is not a simple task that even 50 pages would be enough. However, it was also bothering me to charge $9.95 for some limited number of pages.

Then I realized, I could sit and think and continue contemplating about writing a credit repair - fix credit summary pages until I turn blue, or if I truly want to help consumers with their credit repair and credit score issues, I must take a step and start now. That was two (2) years ago.

As I was writing, in August 2006, I realized, we’ll have a major problems with the mortgage loans being granted so easily due to the unethical practices of mortgage lenders, brokers and direct lenders. You must understand this point. For the past eleven (11) years, I was directly involved in assisting my clients get loans after their credit repair was reasonably completed and their credit score was around 740 or higher. Initially, I was just fixing credit and let them enjoy the luxury of such good credit score. However, after communicating with my clients a couple of months later, I noticed that they were getting rubbed by “mortgage brokers” and the so called “Direct Lenders” or even the loan servicing companies. It was unjust then and it continued to be unjust now. Since this is a separate issue of its own, that I must share it with you and teaches you what to watch-out for, I am going to create a separate article about Creditors, lenders, mortgage brokers and the “direct lenders.”

Let’s stick with issue regarding credit repair.

Most consumers fall in the trap of over extended credit when banks and credit cards companies offer one card or loan after another. The consumers think the best way to get-out-of debt is borrowing more. In other words, “steal from Pete to pay Paul.” This is one of the major misconception consumers have that puts them in a deeper debt and causes even more problems for them to the point that they have credit collapse (beyond credit crunch). They experience receiving a lot of called from collection agencies, having late payments, collections and charge off entries on their credit files (credit reports) and their credit score goes down to 400 or 500 level.

As I was typing my so-called ebook (according to push my clients given), I noticed that the summary book was expanding to over one hundred pages and I was not even touching half the issues. Then I decided to continue and make the book a “credit repair” book called “Your Credit = Your Life, Fix It Now!” Since August 2006 realization that we will have mortgage problems, my only option was to inform as many people as I could either by emailing or calling, I was not able to reach all consumers. However, “Your Credit = Your Life…” book addressed all issues.

Other misconceptions consumers have, is the fact that some of them think, a credit repair is a quick fix. They think, they can just wave a magic wand and their credit score will go up from 495 to 720 or more. That’s not how it works. A true credit repair or improvement in credit score takes time (several months to a couple of years). Don’t be fooled by what you hear as quick “credit repair fix.”

In order for you to do self credit repair which is the best method, your must follow several steps. Those steps are lengthy and require patience. It requires dedication, willpower and application of your own gradual experiences. For the past several years, I have a sign on my office door so that everyone can clearly see. I also have the quote on my business cards, letterhead, books I wrote and talk about it repeatedly. It says, “more is lost by indecision than by bad decision.”

Think about it for a couple of second and then relate these words to what has transpired in your life thus far. Just as I was contemplating to write 20 pages for an ebook and sell it for $9.95, I was thinking of two things:

a. It is not possible to write just 20 pages,

b. I wouldn’t have the heart to sell a summary book for $9.95.

I lost the track of my own quote. “More was being lost be my indecision…” I wanted to help teach others how to fix credit; I hired a staff teaching them the credit repair concepts, but wasn’t grabbing my keyboard to type what was in my heart and mind. As my clients were pushing me, I was lost in my indecision.

Most consumers do exactly the same as I did for a couple of months. Think with yourself. How many times were you planning to do something and you kept contemplating if you should do what was in your mind or suggested to you? I bet you did that a few times. I bet part of your problem was the same as mine. Where do I start? How do I approach it? What would be my next step? And, a long list of other questions. You know something. Unless you take the first step, you wouldn’t know what the next step is. Unless you set your goal, mind and heart to take an action, it will never happen. You will contemplate and continue in your indecision yet time passes you by and all you do get deeper and deeper in debt, pay more for simple loans, get drowned in debt to a point that you will take your credit or financial anger on your loved ones. ALL BECAUSE YOU DID NOT MAKE YOUR DECISION IN DOING SOMETHING TO TURN YOUR LIFE AROUND.

My dear friend, stop feeling sorry. Here, I am pushing you to do something. Make a decision and do something about it NOW. It is never a bad idea to have a better credit so that you could have a better life and save more money. It took me several months to prepare the book that offers all you need to know about your credit. Believe me, I have seen so many credit reports that yours would not be half as bad as what I’ve seen. There is hope for everyone, especially you. You only become hopeless when you don’t get up, shack off feeling sorry and do something to turn your credit life around.

Please let it be now. Here are a few steps in what you can do.

1. Get copies of your credit reports. You must obtain recent copies for all three (3) credit bureaus. One credit report won’t do. Why? Different creditors and collection agencies report to different credit bureaus. See the book.

2. Compare each entry shown on your credit reports with the account statements you have. Whether it is an open account, closed account, a collection, a charge off or late payment account. You don’t know how many times, I seen credit reports where the consumer did not have any such account and it was creditor or credit bureaus mistakes. Read the book.

3. When you notice inconsistencies (whether it is an account you don’t recognize or misinformation about an account), call creditors and credit bureaus. Discuss, dispute and be persistent.

4. Ask for a conclusion, removal or correction letter.

5. Do NOT settle with collection agencies. If you do or have no other choice, you must do two things, settle for less or don’t pay unless they agree to correct the entry by removing it.

6. Do not trust a collection agent. They do NOT mean well.

There are so many things to talk about and so many techniques to offer. It is impossible to discuss all in this article. So, I ask you to do something useful and quick to improve your credit score, which is as a result of your steps in your credit repair. You don’t know how good it will do for you.

For a complete details of the list above and other topics use the knowledge base provided at link and pick up a copy of the book “Your Credit = Your Life, Fix It now!” I promise, visiting the website will worth every moment and/or penny and spent.

Best wishes

Mike Samadi

There’s a lot of bad credit repair offers on the web today making bold claims to “increase your credit score by 100 points in 30 days! Guaranteed!” Or something like that. But beware! These bad credit repair systems can end up making your credit worse in the long run.

So what do you do if you’re faced with extreme errors? For instance, a mortgage or car company that keeps reporting your payments as late, even though you’ve caught up (this happened to a friend of mine). These types of dings on your credit can keep you from getting good interest rates, and may even cause you to be turned down flat by lenders! It is estimated that 79% of all credit reports contain errors. That’s a lot of errors and these errors cost Americans millions of dollars in interest every year.

But going head on with a mortgage or auto lender is like the proverbial “tilting at windmills.” Once they ding your credit – they won’t write a letter to the credit bureau retracting it! That would open them up to all kinds of liability issues. This is when you need to seek credit repair legal advice.

But before you seek bad credit repair advice (from an attorney or any other company) we wanted to give you some helpful information so that you can make a more informed decision about what to do.

What Exactly is Credit Repair?

Credit repair is the term that refers to challenging inaccurate, misleading, or unverifiable information on credit reports to improve the credit score.

Is Credit Repair Legal?

Yes, but there are illegal credit repair programs you should be aware of! For example, while it is legal to challenge negative items on your credit reports that you believe to be inaccurate, misleading or unverifiable, the accurate information is supposed to remain on your credit report.

It is also entirely illegal to create a “new” identity by applying for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) to use instead of your own Social Security Number. An EIN number is the number that the IRS gives to a corporation for tax purposes. To use this for credit repair is called file segregation – in order to escape responsibility by hiding one’s credit history. The use of File Segregation is a crime and can result in fines or serious jail time. This is a road you don’t want to go down.

Why Should I See A Credit Repair Law Firm And Not Just Get One Of Those “Do It Yourself” Credit Repair Systems?

First off - major errors are very hard to remove on your own.

A TRUE STORY: I have a friend who filed for bankruptcy in New York. She paid off all her debts and the bankruptcy was discharged. About 6 months later a SECOND bankruptcy filing appeared on her credit, along with a discharge. Then a THIRD one! This made her look like someone who abuses the system (filing for bankruptcy to stop collections, then canceling it without paying her bills). Needless to say her score was absolutely tanked! It took her over 18 months to get just ONE of the mistaken bankruptcies removed. She’s still working on the second one today.

Secondly - these supposed “sure-fire” credit repair systems might ruin your credit! Many of them encourage you to (or claim they will do it for you) challenge everything on your credit (good AND bad). Unfortunately this can result in removing the “good stuff” also. And as any lender will tell you, NO credit history is often times worse than BAD credit history!

A TRUE STORY: I sell cars in Phoenix Arizona and imagine my surprise when I pulled a 52-year old customers credit one day and all that was there was his name! ZERO credit score, ZERO open loans (or closed loans for that matter). He might as well been born yesterday. The thing was, he had an open car loan! So the banks knew he had “washed” his credit, which made him look suspicious. Unfortunately no bank would touch him at any rate of interest so he went home without a new vehicle that day.You may think I made this up because you have been told it wasn’t possible, well, it is possible. I saw it with my own eyes.

This type of credit repair is illegal! If an item is old and questionable, that can be challenged and removed. A good credit attorney will know the difference and keep you out of trouble and get these items removed, thus improving your credit score.

Aren’t There Laws Regulating The Credit Repair Industry?

There are indeed. The most prominent one is theCredit Repair Organizations Act (CROA). This became law in 1996 to protect the public from unfair and deceptive advertising practices in the credit repair industry. Additionally, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigates complaints about credit repair organizations and takes appropriate legal action. Unfortunately it takes them a long time to operate and you could have your credit damaged further by using one of these companies.

Here Is How You Can Avoid Becoming A Victim Of Unscrupulous Credit Repair Companies.

· Avoid any credit repair company that will not tell you your legal rights and what you can do yourself for free.

· Avoid any credit repair company that tells you to relax and let them do it all. In other words, don’t contact the credit bureaus yourself.

· Avoid any credit repair company that tells you they will dispute everything (good, bad or ugly).

Avoid any credit company that suggests creating a “new” credit identity – and then get a new credit report by applying for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) to use instead of your Social Security Number. Remember – This is illegal and can have serious consequences.

Talk to a real credit repair agency. We have an excellent credit law firm on our site that specializes on LEGAL credit repair! I would invite you to go there and see for yourself how they can help solve your problems.

A list of ten credit repair tips follows. This is by no means a complete list, maybe just enough to get you started.

Credit Repair Tip #1 Look for free information before you buy anything. Did you know that the three major credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, are required to provide consumers with one free copy of their credit report every year? If not, you are not alone. Companies which sell credit reports and other credit repair tips are betting that most people do not.

Credit Repair Tip #2 Visit www.annualcreditreport.com. At this site consumers can view and print the information accumulated by the credit report agencies or credit bureaus. There is no charge for these reports, but the credit bureaus are allowed to promote the products that they sell, such as credit repair tips, on this site. Credit Repair Tip #3 There may be a lot of information on your credit report or just a little, depending on the types of credit that you have and the length of time that you have been using credit. Print the reports out and begin the process of reviewing the information that the credit bureaus have been accumulating about you. Use a yellow highlighter to highlight information that you believe may be inaccurate, misleading or unverifiable. This is information that you will dispute.

Credit Repair Tip #4 One of the credit bureaus has an on-line dispute system, but it is not very user friendly. The window is tiny and in order to read a sentence, you have to scroll from left to right. The best way to notify the credit bureaus of your disputes is to send them a letter. Letter writing suggestions are included in many books with credit repair tips, but you can view a perfectly usable example of a dispute letter at the Federal Trade Commission’s credit website.

Credit Repair Tip #5 Wait.

Credit Repair Tip #6 If you have not received a response from the credit bureau or bureaus within thirty days, send a follow-up letter: “Please remove these items from my credit report immediately. I have waited a reasonable amount of time.”

Credit Repair Tip #7 Wait.

Credit Repair Tip #8 If you receive no response from the follow-up letter, you will need to contact a lawyer, preferably one that specializes in credit repair issues. The credit bureaus are allowed to disregard disputes that they consider frivolous. There are no guidelines for disputes which might be considered frivolous. Credit Repair Tip #9 Sometimes options are recommended which are illegal, such as file segregation. Do not create more problems for yourself.

Credit Repair Tip #10 Visit creditrepairsoft.com for more credit repair tips. This site also shows how different actions affect your credit score.

There are several sources on the internet for credit repair tips. As with most information, there are hundreds of books full of credit repair tips, software programs with credit repair tips and credit repair specialists that charge for their credit repair tips, but there is a lot of free information as well. For more credit repair tips, vistit the Credit Repair Blog at

Choosing a credit repair company is a big decision. Choosing the wrong company could cost you hundreds or even thousands of dollars, and if they are not successful, you have delayed your goal of a good credit score by months or even years. And if that wasn’t enough, using a fraudulent credit repair service could even get you in legal trouble.

So to help you through this process and help keep you safe from getting taken advantage of, here is a guide to shopping for a credit repair service. Below are some tips you can use to make sure you end up choosing a legitimate credit repair company to help you work towards achieving your credit goals.

Know how the credit system and credit repair work

Before you even begin searching for a credit repair service, you should know the basics of how the credit reporting system works. After all, you wouldn’t go shopping for a new car if you didn’t know anything about how to drive or how cars operate. So make sure before you begin looking for a credit repair service you understand the basics of how the credit bureaus operate, how your credit reports are created, and how they are used, and why it is your responsibility to ensure their accuracy.

Know what a credit repair company can and cannot do

Despite what some credit repair providers would like you to believe, there are no secret tricks to repairing your credit. Credit repair companies use the same methods to clean up your credit reports that are available to you as a result of the numerous consumer protection statutes enacted to help protect you from being taken advantage of by creditors and the credit bureaus. The only difference is that an experienced credit repair company already has the knowledge and experience necessary to take advantage of these credit repair tools. In comparison, it may take you many hours of research and a few months of practice to figure out how to go about effectively restoring your credit.

Look at the services being provided

A credit repair company is legally able to provide all the same credit repair services you can perform for yourself, but this does not mean that all do. Many credit repair services only provide credit bureau disputes which can be effective for some people, but are typically less successful and take more time than pairing credit bureau disputes with other credit repair tactics.

Look for experience and results

While no credit repair company is perfect and ultimately the success of any credit repair effort is dependent on your creditors and the credit bureaus, an experienced company will likely produce faster and more meaningful results than a relatively new company that is still learning the nuances of the system.

Look at the price tag

The goal is then to get the best value for your dollar. To determine this, take into account what services you will be getting for your money and make a best estimate of the relative quality of these services. This should help you get a feel for how companies compare to each other. For example, if one service charges $49 per month for credit bureau disputes and has been operating for only 2 years, you are probably better off using a competing service for $20 more per month that also provides creditor interventions and has been in business for a decade.

Use your common sense

Just as you would at any other time when someone is asking you to part with your hard earned money, when you are looking at a credit repair service, trust your instincts and remember the old adage of anything that sounds too good to be true, probably is.

You should be completely confident that you are making the right decision. It is your credit that is on the line and your money that is being invested. Don’t let anyone pressure you into something that doesn’t feel right.

Getting started with repairing your credit is one of the very best things you can do for your financial well being. At the hands of the credit system, you are being abused in the form of inaccurate reporting and an unfair credit scoring model. Through credit repair, you can do your part to make sure you get the credit score you deserve - a credit score that is truly indicative of your credit worthiness.

Choosing the right credit repair company to help you achieve your credit goals is pivotal. What follows are tips and things you should look for when choosing the best credit repair company for you.

1) Look for a credit repair company with experience

An experienced credit repair company will have taken the time to learn what tactics work best for each type of dispute. Having a large number of clients and a track record of removing many items means that a credit repair company has enough information to know what works and what does not.

2) Look for a credit repair company that has been in business for a while

Credit repair, like many other industries, has it’s fair share of scammers. Preying on desperate people who long for a better credit score, fraudulent “credit repair” companies promise amazing results but the only thing they manage to do is take off with your money.

Fortunately, these companies never last very long. They are either run out of town or shut down by the FTC or local law enforcement. What this means for you is that you can usually trust a credit repair company that has been in business for a number of years.

3) Check out the company’s BBB report

To start with, look for the BBB’s rating of the company and their explanation of this rating. For example, the BBB report for the credit repair company Credit Bureau Experts shows the company as having an unsatisfactory rating because of unsubstantiated advertising claims made on their site.

Also look at the number of unresolved complaints to see if the company has been responsive to their customer’s problems. Almost all companies will have some complaints, and the larger the company the more complaints it will have, but it is how they deal with these complaints that is important. Look for a company that addresses the concerns of its clients as opposed to a company like Credit Fix Now (see BBB report) who has an unsatisfactory rating with the BBB for not responding to to complaints.

4) Get the details on the company’s payment policy

A common tactic of fraudulent credit repair companies is to charge you a large fee upfront and then either disappear with your money or otherwise not perform the agreed upon work. Many of the companies have been known to charge several hundred or even thousands of dollars before they will do any credit repair work.

Even though the practice of charging large upfront fees is illegal, there are still a number of smaller credit repair companies that try to get away with it. For example, the companies Credit Clean and Today’s Credit Solutions are perfectly content to charge you one time fees of $1223 and $499.99 respectively for a year’s worth of credit repair service. Granted, these companies may offer money back warranties, but that will be of little use to you if the company goes out of business or otherwise disappears.

5) Watch out for companies that guarantee to raise your credit score

To help protect you against credit repair companies who make impossible claims, the Credit Repair Organizations Act also forbids any credit repair organization from making guarantees about the results of their service when it pertains the the effect it will have on your credit reports.

While searching for a credit repair company, take note of any claims to “increase your credit score by 100 points”, “lower your interest rates”, or “remove all negative items from your credit reports”. No company can legally make these claims and any company who implies they can should be avoided.

Every day, consumers pay huge sums of money to credit-repair service companies that promise a quick credit fix in an effort to handle disputes, improve their ratings and get a good FICO score. And almost all of the time, they find that their money is completely wasted.

Having good credit can help you get much better interest rates for a car or home loan as you may know. A bad credit history can leave you stuck with loans that carry sky-high interest rates and bad terms that are tough to get out of. At times some of your bad credit can cost you a needed job.

The offers you find may seem attractive but ‘let the buyer beware’! Some legitimate credit-repair companies exist but many of the claims that you hear advertised are usually false and just a way to part you with your hard-earned money.

If you’re thinking about signing a contract with any credit-repair service you should at least know your rights. Please be aware of the following five reasons why you should not commit:

1. If the credit-repair company charges an upfront fee - do not commit. Under the federal Credit Repair Organizations Act - which was enacted to take care of deceptive and abusive credit repair business practices - it makes it illegal for companies to charge consumers BEFORE they perform any credit-repair services. So it’s against the law for credit-repair companies to seek payment from you until they have fully completed the repair services they have promised.

2. If the credit-repair company says it will, on your behalf, dispute information in your file, including items you know are correct, then beware. If the service’s plan is to lie, or dispute what you know to be accurate information then it’s not a reputable company. While YOU can dispute any information in your credit files that you think is incorrect, no credit-repair company has the right to remove any accurate, current information from anyone’s credit report.

And if the information in your file is totally correct good or bad, only the passage of time can reduce the impact of any negative information. Negative information such as late payments can stay in your credit file for as long as seven years. And a personal bankruptcy filing can take as ten years. Any negative information on your credit scores lessens as the years pass by.

3. Before you sign any contract, the company has to provide you with a free copy of the FTC’s “Consumer Credit File Rights Under State And Federal Law.” These guidelines clearly outline what the service can and cannot do.

4. The company may tell you they can get you a new credit identity by applying for an employer identification number, or EIN, from the IRS (Internal Revenue Service.) They may tell you that you can use this number instead of your Social Security number. But if you don’t own a business, then this isn’t a legitimate way to repair your personal credit history. And it’s a federal crime to get an EIN under false pretenses.

5. If the credit-repair service tells you not to directly contact any of the credit-reporting agencies or credit bureaus, you don’t want to hire them.

Simply put, you can easily clean up your credit report and repair your credit report history yourself. Everything a credit-repair company promises they can do that is legitimate, you can do yourself. You do not need a credit repair service. Many are unethical and will just take your money and run. Some will even charge you a monthly fee for ongoing credit repair.

With these tips you should be well-informed before making a decision about hiring any credit-repair service. You can easily get your business or personal annual credit report online free. Why not order and get your newest free credit report from Equifax, Experian or Trans Union, the 3 credit bureaus or reporting agencies, do a little research and fix your credit history yourself? It’s really not hard at all.