There is one common theme to every credit repair discussion I have…PATIENCE! About 75% of the people I have talked to about credit repair over the last 15 years of my career need to have their credit report repaired in a short time frame. Everything from buying a house this month to I need to buy a car cause mine died, from trying to get a job in a specific industry to I am thinking about bankruptcy! I have heard just about all there is to hear.

What I tell people is, they didn’t get, build, and ruin their credit overnight. What makes you think that you can repair it overnight? The answer is…YOU CAN”T! There is nothing you can do to change that. The world of credit, credit repair, credit reports, and credit scores operate on a due process timeline. You have to allow the laws of our country handle your request in time.

The old “I don’t need credit, I pay cash for everything” doesn’t apply to most. If you don’t have a lot of money there is a real good chance you will need credit somewhere down the road. If you are rich you still may need credit, but what if you lost all that money…then you may need credit again. Even nation averages contribute to the overall big picture.

Start repairing your credit when you do not think you need to, start repairing your credit when you don’t need credit, or plan into your master scheme of things to allow 6 months or so to repair your credit. Don’t think about fixing your credit 30 days before you buy that house, or plan for that vacation, or need to buy that car. Think ahead, remember you need to exercise some patience and allow the laws to handle your request. No one is going to say “ooooo…here is Mr. Soandso’s request, let me handle this right now”. it doesn’t happen in the real real world.
You have to order your credit reports, and wait. Then sometimes you get a letter from the credit bureau asking you to verify your identity, so then you need to send that information…and wait. Then when you get your credit reports back you have to type all your letters and mail them back to the bureaus…and wait 30 days. Once that period in time lapses and you get your requests back 35 days or so later, you may actually have to type more letters in response to the bureaus letters. or maybe you have to send more disputes, so then you have to wait…another 30 days! Now after 90 days or so, you have determined that you need to work on settling your debts cause nothing you can do will get that item deleted from your credit report, then what? You call the collection agency or the creditor, offer a settlement, send the money (…and wait), now you have to either wait for the agency to notify the bureau that your bill is paid and the item gets updated, or you have to mail the bureaus a copy of your satisfied letter and request a manual update…and wait some more. Then to add insult to injury, you may have to wait another 30 days or more for it to actually start helping you, and worst of all…now you have to wait 7 years for that item to drop off your credit report!

So save yourself some stress, save yourself some agony, and learn where others have failed to learn. Exercise some patience in credit repair, it will do a lot for your sanity down the road, trust me!

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Created by Russell Simmons in 2003, the RushCard and BabyPhat RushCard have fast become a staple for building of new credit. Here is a card that will report on your credit report and build your credit, when everyone else is turning you down. Yes, the downside is it is a pre-paid card, however you run no liability with a card like this. Just use the card 1 time a month and it will reflect active. Pay it off every month and there you have it, a card that will show credit history without the liability or the crazy APR of a normal credit card. There is no extended line of credit.

Check out the new Black Diamond and Purple Diamond cards.

Remember you have to build time and keep the card balance under 50% of your current credit limit.

Anything you can pay with a credit card, put on this card and send the money the day you charge it. Keep the card active and make sure you are using it a minimum of 1 time a month. That way the card will show active current charges and payments. Even if you have to put a tank of gas, or buy a pack of gum 1 time a month, do it.

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If you have amazing credit, scores above 750 then you can pretty much call the shots on what credit card you get, what the terms are, and what kind of incentives you can get with it. If you have a 700+ score you are still in real good shape. About 42% of Americans have a sub 680 credit score, and that was last check. So what about those with tarnished credit? What about those with credit that is in the process of healing? How do you build credit when you have collections and accounts with bad history on your credit report?

I know it may seem like a uphill battle that may seem to never end. If no one will give you any type of credit instrument to build credit, go with a pre-paid card. Make sure that the card is reporting on your credit. Try to get a card with no annual fee (if possible), and find one you can afford! I know it may be a bit hard to make demands, as the old saying goes “beggars can’t be choosers”; and while that is true, you sill do not want to get ripped off in the process. Or we will call it, minimizing the collateral damage.

Remember, you didn’t ruin your credit history overnight! You did not go out and run up all your cards and the very next day, woke up with terrible credit. NOPE, it happened over time. So just like trashing your credit, repairing and restoring your credit will take some time. I generally see people with tarnished credit having to spend about three times the amount of time repairing their credit, than they did destroying their credit (sometimes that figure is even higher)!

Most people have about a 6-12 month period where everything goes bad. The time frame will extend a bit further depending on some other factors like Bankruptcy, garnishments, judgments, and how long it takes to pay the bad debt on your credit report to 0. But as a general rule I normally see people spend 3-5 years restoring your their credit after they have stopped the bleeding!

Now there are two different schools of thought here. Some people will tell you to suffer the extra 2-3 years or so and wait out your debt to fall off your credit report. And the other half of people will tell you pay it off (or settle it). To be honest with you, it comes down to personal preference.

There can be circumstances where someone would want to wait it out and let it fall off. For instance, what if you didn’t make a lot of money, or have a lot of money. Your probably reading this right now and saying “well isn’t that most everybody?” Not really, depends on if you can afford to pay it back. If you don’t make a lot of money, all money you do have is dedicated to paying bills and living day to day, then you may not have the resources to pay off your debt. Sometimes people go through medical issues, failed marriages and businesses, or even a death in the family. I also have some friends who went into schooling debt, paying for tuition, books, and room and board; only to get out of school and find their degree to be 100% worthless! Happens a lot now with the economy being in turmoil.

I highly recommend paying your debt, making payments, calling your creditors and settling your debt. Sometimes a $0 balance card with a few lates can help your credit more than having NOTHING there at all. Being a credit ghost with a 0 FICO can suck too, without a credit score of any kind. I have seen people with terrible credit get approved for credit and watched people (including myself at one point in time) get turned down over and over with a 0.

Which ever route you decide to take, paying it or waiting it out; you have to make sure what you decide is what is best for you. Listening to people tell you what decision to make at this crossroads is the worst thing you can do! People who will tell you this do not know your situation, do not fully understand your morals (they may, but most likely will not), they do not have the same credit score you do, they do not have the exact same financial situation you have. No two situations are exactly alike, so do not trust anyone who tells you. Make your decision, stick to it, and hammer out a plan of attack.

I have set up an online resource, for the every day person to learn about credit. You can get the information you need as you need it. You can sign up for a FREE newsletter to stay up to date about all things credit. Check out The United Credit Authority! And if you have not gotten started on cleaning up your credit, then crab my 100% FREE Credit Repair Course. It has a step by step walk-through and 4 letters to get you going. If you want everything, all at once, all in one place; check out our Credit Repair Systems page. There I have reviewed some of the top web courses on the market…everything from an attorney’s handwritten course to a program that you point and click! It can be that easy, depending on what your time is worth!

As always, if you have any questions at all, just shoot me an email and I will respond within a day.

Good Luck!

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I cannot tell you how many times I have been asked how settling your outstanding debt effects FICO! People I speak with in all walks of life tell me “I was told that settling my debt will lower my credit score”. Well yes and no, let me explain.

When people say “lower my credit score”, I have to stop and ask them; “lower than what? Lower than it is now?” Chances are that if they have negative debt on their credit report, simply paying off a settlement will help their credit score. If they have a very high credit score to begin with then yes, it very well could hurt their credit score. Most people with high credit scores have good credit, have the money to pay debt, and probably should not have any reason to have bad debt to begin with anyway, in theory.

If they’re struggling day to day, paycheck to paycheck, or experiencing a hardship and do not have any way out in the near future. The simple act of paying the debt will reduce their debt to income ratio, and by doing this alone this can increase their credit score.

Now, I don’t have the formula for FICO, and I have read on the internet where other people seem to be able to calculate it. To be honest I have never met anyone who was able to give me a straight answer on how to calculate FICO and I have not met anyone who can calculate it themselves. So most of us are at the mercy of the bureaus calculating it and telling us what it is.

There is a hidden clause that most people and creditors will not tell you about when dealing with settling debt. The IRS repercussions, yep that’s right; Uncle Sam has his hand in this cookie jar too! By IRS (federal) law, anything more than $600.00 can be reported to the IRS as unearned income. Think about it, the creditor is due this money, the debt has been created; the creditor has 2 choices here…they can pawn the debt off on you and make you pay taxes on it or they can pay the taxes themselves. Since they are not receiving any compensation for the write-off amount, they don’t want to pay the taxes on something they never recovered. So most companies will 1099 (IRS tax form that you will get at the beginning of the year) you for the difference in the outstanding balance and the amount you settle the debt for.
FREE Credit Repair Course.

Clay Bowden has been a debt collector for 15 years, and is now the owner of Epic Internet Ventures. Which “Empowers People With Information So They May Help Themselves”. You can also visit The United Credit Authority to learn more about credit and credit repair laws.

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Greater than 50% of Americans require some sort of credit repair. Some of them do not have the time to work on their credit or put in the time to research the laws. So how does one go about locating a reputable credit repair company?

You should begin by going to the FTC, and doing a search for the person or the company and see if they are listed on the FTC website. If you find something it will normally not be favorable, but take the time to read the information.

Next, simply Google, Bing, MSN, or Yahoo search the company. Have a browse through your search results and read what you find. You may see bad and good here, so take some time and be thorough with this research.

You should also ask the company or person if they are a member of the Better Business Bureau. Most people will say they are not, and that is not entirely bad; however you should still go to your local BBB website and conduct a search to see if anything negative is posted. But a company that is a member of the BBB will be a good sign normally. The BBB will not allow a company that has a lot of complaints to stay a member of their network.

Another thing you can do is check the company out on the Ripoff Report website. They have over 400,000 listed complaints against companies and people who have scammed or just flat out under delivered.

What if the company is a new company or what if the company has just changed their name? Then how do I go about researching them?

If a company is this type of company they are not going to have anything positive or negative listed. The best thing to do in the event that you feel you need to get more information or you don’t think something is right is walk away. You can also contact the local chamber of commerce, look up their business license with the state, or seek an attorney’s advice on how to handle the situation.

I will tell you though, if something doesn’t feel right or it continues to not seem right, it probably isn’t.

The most trustworthy way of having your credit repaired is doing it yourself. There is a lot of free information out on the web that with as little as a couple of hours research you can do it yourself. If you are interested in repairing your credit yourself there is a FREE Credit Repair Course.

Whatever you do, make sure you do some research to ensure you are making the right choice for you! You can start by checking the your state credit and collection laws at The United Credit Authority.

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I took a survey in July 2009 and found that out of 1000 people, 67% of those people either admitted not never checking their credit report or knew they were in need of some sort of credit repair. Now out of those 670 people, 92% of them said they didn’t want to bother with credit repair due to it being too complex or they thought it was too hard to learn.

Most people look at laws as if they were standing on the south side of Mount Everest looking up. Do you realize you don’t need to know all of the laws? You don’t even need to know half of the laws to fix your credit. With most people I encounter, they only need 2-4 subsections of the FCRA to fix their credit report. What turns people off is they believe they need to read through page after page of legal jargon that they need to get an attorney to explain. The credit bureaus have made this a bit easier over the years, they send you the laws in layman’s terms when you order your credit report.

Another common mistake I see a lot is, people will hire someone to fix their credit and they will either promise the world and underperform or they will charge a mountain of fees and do nothing. Yes, that’s right; people fall for the easiest scam in creation…the pay and get nothing scam. Credit Repair is something everyone can learn to do with a small amount of time invested. With the wealth of information you get in return you will be very secure in knowing that if you ever have to go back and fix something, you can do it again with minimal effort.

Procrastination also seems to be another big reason people do not want to bother with repairing their credit. You have to be motivated to do something that is going to help you in the long run. If you want to spend the rest of your life paying hundreds and sometimes thousands more than everyone else, keep procrastinating.

So what is stopping you from learning it now?

If you are a “get it done kind of person” and want to learn to repair your credit yourself you can grab a Credit Repair Guide here. If you have questions and want to get more information stop by The United Credit Authority to learn more about your rights and the laws.

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Countless Americans every year hire credit repair companies to fix their credit. Is this a good move or bad move? Let’s go over some of the pros and cons.

The Pros that they present to you:

1. “I don’t have to do anything but sign up”. This is a complete fallacy, people believe that out of sight, out of mind; but it literally is not the case. You constantly have to keep in touch with them. You will see more of this as the list goes on.

2. “They have a more professional touch and they are able to achieve things the everyday person cannot”. Not true, everything they can do for you, you can do yourself.

3. “You don’t have to worry about the learning curve involved in the laws and staying up to date on the laws”. Well, there is a small amount of laws out there that you really have to learn. The odds of you having to learn and understand an entire statute to fix your credit is slim. Not to mention with all the free help put there, why hire someone?

4. ”They have all the letters and the know how to deal with the credit bureaus”. Again, this isn’t exactly true either. The bureaus have become much more consumer friendly and are more willing to help the consumer than ever before. The letters can be downloaded off the internet all over.

The cons, or what they will not tell you:

1. You pay them to do what you can do for free. They don’t have a magical wand they wave and make your bad debt disappear! The majority of these credit repair companies operate in 1 of 2 ways.

                a) They charge you by the item they get removed or fixed on your credit report
                b) The charge you upfront fees and then don’t perform the way they told you they would

2. They make guarantees they cannot keep. There is no way anyone in the credit repair industry can make you any guarantee they will get anything removed from your credit report! I am sure you have seen or heard this before and I am sure you are asking yourself right now, why? Well the truth is the credit bureaus are not required to remove anything from your credit report. Most of the time you have to rely on a creditor not responding to the credit bureau’s request for information or the item not being yours in the 1st place and therefore it will be removed because it cannot be verified.

3. You have to order your credit report, you have to receive your credit report, you have to mail your credit report to the people who are fixing your credit report, and you have to communicate with the people who are fixing your credit. If you work on repairing your credit yourself, everything comes directly to you anyway; so there is no one else to mail or send anything to. In the above listed example YOU become the middleman! Why go through all of that when you can spend a few hours researching credit repair laws, download a few letters and you will be on your way.

As you can see, they really are not doing anything for you but saving you a few hours of time and taking your money. I guess each of us has to put a price on our time and assign a dollar figure to our time to determine what is best for each one of us as individuals. However I will tell you, if you are going to use one of the many credit repair companies that are out there, make sure you do some research and find the right one. Do not accept what a person or a company says as the be all end all.

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The FCRA says that anything that is inaccurate on your credit report can by disputed, however anything that is not inaccurate cannot be disputed. You want to be careful though, you do not want to dispute everything on your credit report if it can be avoided.

By disputing everything you may turn yourself into a credit ghost. Having no credit will make you a ghost and it is VERY hard to establish credit without having any credit. Some financial advisors tell people that having no credit is worse than having bad credit. You have to start all over again, get a secured credit card or a department store credit card and build your way back. This could take 6 months to a year.

I ran a survey over the summer of 1000 and asked what was their target time frame on a resolution to raise their credit score. over 85% of the people responded with 30 days or less. it was apparent that the majority of the people I surveyed were looking for a quick fix because they wanted to purchase something. Normally this is a house or an asset of substantial value.

So you have your credit in your hand, and your looking t all the numbers on it. What now?

• Make sure the account numbers all match (yes, go pull out your old bills or credit cards in your wallet! This is a very common mistake, believe it or not).
• Check your 24 month aging, make sure that if there are any late pays you were truly 30+ days late those months. You can refer back to my post on “What Do All Those Numbers On Your Credit Report Mean?” for a breakdown.
• Is the account even yours? More and more items are appearing on people’s credit report that aren’t even theirs. With the growing number of fraud cases doubling every year for the past couple of years, this has become more common. Make sure someone is not using your social security number.
• Is the balance correct?
• Id the Date of Last transaction correct?
• Do you recognize all of the companies that have inquired on your credit report?
• Is the date of birth correct?
• Are there multiple social security numbers listed? You may find the social from your significant other listed here also.
• Are there any addresses that you never lived at?
• Places of employment you never worked at?

All of these above could be dragging your credit score down. That is why it is important to ensure your credit report is 100% accurate. Any of this information that is not accurate is subject to be disputed by you.

Make sure that when you send your dispute letters to the bureaus, you send them return receipt requested. you need to have record of when the bureaus receive your report and start their investigation.

Free Credit Repair Course

The United Credit Authority – Online Resources For Credit, Debt and Credit Repair

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