Free Credit Repair Assistance

Thank you to all my blog readers and newcomers for all the compliments on my blog.  I enjoy helping you learn how to fight back and fix your credit.  I have done this for many years and love hearing about the many successes people all across the country, and sometimes people from other countries, have had because of the information I have freely shared.

I respond to many, many emails, many, many phone calls and tons of comments here on the blog.  I don't hold back and help give the best information I can.  I have done credit repair for  over  30 years and have been very successful for my clients.  I've shared tactics and strategies and legal information that almost no-one else shares, and certainly no one, as in credit repair professionals, ever shared the amount of information, knowledge, and secret strategies with others back when I began on my mission to educate others, and still to this day. 

I've had plenty of professionals contact me and tell me I should stop sharing so much information because then too many people will try to do for themselves what we do for our clients and it affects our income.  (I admit that I've shared so much information that it has cut into my income too).

Anyhow, it feels good to be able to have helped so many people, including other credit repair professionals that have needed guidance on how to proceed with their clients.  I have a favor to ask of all of you now.  I am feeling a bit awkward asking this but I feel I need to.

If you have learned anything valuable from my blog; if you have experienced success with your credit repair because of information I have shared; if you have made comments and I have responded with information that was useful to you and to others; if I have helped you through emails or phone calls, I'm asking that you please show your appreciation by making a donation.

I would also like you to make a comment on here to let me know what areas of fixing your credit you need me to write about.  Your comments and your donations will help me keep this blog active with relevant and needed information.  I appreciate you and I thank you in advance for your generosity. 

Credit Repair Law Firms? No Thanks!

One of the most famous credit repair law firms is Lexington Law.  Probably the next most famous one is Ovation Law.  There are many others.  I am completely for people utilizing legitimate credit repair companies, but I really take issue with ones like these that have monthly charges.  Also, though they may have started out as really good companies, they have just become big repair mills that don't personalize your disputes.  Also, they are not really "law firms" in the sense that they actually provide "legal services" other than credit repair. They mostly are credit repair companies that pay to use a law firm's or lawyer's name.

When you pay for a service that charges you monthly, you can bet they are going to do things that drag it out so they can keep getting that residual monthly income coming from you.  Most people want to see their credit improved as quickly as possible.  They don't want the service to write letters in a way that gets a "frivolous letter" response from the bureaus.  That can delay progress for months and sometimes, it really blows the opportunity of getting that item removed at all.

There is another thing I really don't like about these types of law firms.  They use "Good Will" letters to try to improve the credit. Why don't I like those?  Well, they are basically "Pay for Delete" letters and I am adamantly opposed to paying to delete bad credit.  Sometimes they delete, but many times, when they don't and you follow up to the bureaus and send in a copy of the agreement to delete, they get stubborn and refuse to take it off.  Sending in a copy of an agreement is like admitting that the negative tradeline is yours.  I don't ever recommending sending proof of an account to the bureaus unless it is a completely clean bit of proof that there were no lates and it was paid off completely.  You have to remember that the burden of proof lies with the creditors, collectors, and the bureaus. If they can't prove something, it has to come off.

Something else I don't like about these "Good Will" and "Pay for Delete" letters, is that you are basically offering to settle with the creditors and collectors.  This is so bad!  Once a trade line is bad, it is always bad. It just becomes a "paid" bad. If its a couple late pays that are making it bad, its best to try to remove the lates, then there's nothing bad. You have to remove the "bad".  Usually this means needing a deletion.  Plus, when you "settle" with one of these types of letters, they have the right to send you a 1099 tax form for the amount you didn't have to pay and then you get to pay taxes on that as if it was income. Not a good thing.

The other thing that I know they do, is to include a "Cease and Desist" to their clients' creditors. That is a very dangerous thing to do.  If it is not a time barred debt (outside of your state's statute of limitations) you are allowing yourself to be put in a position to be sued.  I use a "Limited Cease and Desist" paragraph in my letters.  This is what stops the phone calls to you at home, your cell phone, your work, and anyone you might possibly know that they would try to call.  It forces them to communicate with you in writing only.

I have a lot of second hand experience with these types of credit repair companies.  Second hand because many of my clients, past and present, have used them and came to me afterwards.  It is always the same story.  They've paid for months and months, past a year, spent upwards of $1500 and slim to zero results.   They then have me write letters for them and poof!, all of a sudden they start seeing results.  Credit repair is most successful when it is strategically done and both the creditors/collectors and the bureaus have consumer laws, case laws, and other legal documentation put in front of their faces.

My goal with credit repair is to help people see deletions and improvements as fast as possible.  There is no sense in dragging it out.  If you truly want to help people, then you would want what's best for them.  If you are only interested in making a load of money off of people's bad credit, then you charge them up front and drag it out, month after month, year after year.

Credit repair can be done for yourself.  Hopefully, if you're looking to do this, you will look through the different posts I have here so you can see how to do it most effectively. Credit repair is an undertaking that you have to stay on top of, be consistent, keep records and send disputes that fall within the legal timelines so that you don't accidentally give the bureaus more time to stall and drag their side out as well.  For many people, its just a lot of work they would rather delegate to someone else to do.

If credit repair is something you need, but you just don't want to have to be writing letters all the time, I would love to help you. I provide help completely legally and use many different laws and tools to implore them to remove the bad credit from your reports. Contact me through my email or phone number above anytime if you would like some help with repairing your credit or just need some guidance while you do it yourself.

The Season to Not Worry About Your Credit!

Well, the Christmas season is here and I imagine many people are out using their credit cards to purchase gifts for loved ones.  It is wonderful to be able to have the credit available to be able to do so.  But many people are not so fortunate, and when I say many, I mean the majority of people.  Credit card companies are being very tight with giving credit, giving decent credit limits, and boy do they love to pack on the fees.

I'm not trying to be a downer, so I apologize if it comes across that way.  What I am actually getting at though, is that it is best to have good credit so when you do use those cards, you are getting the best rates and the highest credit limit possible.  Lower rates save you money and high credit limits are great for improving your credit, if you don't max out the cards. The better the debt ratio, the higher the fico score.

Now, if you have used cards or credit and are struggling to pay the bill, don't fret.  If you are behind on your payments, or you've stopped paying altogether and they have charged off or are getting ready to charge off, more power to you.  I'm not advocating not paying bills, but when the burden is too much and you have more important liabilities that need your hard earned money, credit cards are the last thing you should be paying.  Its much more responsible to pay car payments and rents or mortgage payments than credit card bills.

If you are still paying the bills but are struggling, call them up. Most will give you an extension, and many will actually work out payment plans with you, if even just for a temporary amount of time.  If they have charged off and you are starting to get harassing telephone calls and letters from collectors, you hold the power in your hands.  By the way, what I mean by "harassing", is any call or letter that you just don't care to get. You will need to respond, but only respond in writing.  Don't talk to them on the phone more than you have to.  In other words, tell them that you don't talk business on the phone so they will need to put down in writing and mail something to you.  If they want your address, tell them that since they seem to think you owe them something, they should have your address on some contract you supposedly signed with them.  That's it.  Don't give them any information other than to tell them to put whatever they had to say to you in writing and throw it in the mail.

For those who are now dealing with collectors, or you're pretty sure that you're going to be real soon, you need to know what I'm about to tell you.  If they are not the original creditor, YOU HAVE NO OBLIGATION TO PAY THEM!!  Yes, it looks like I'm shouting but I want you to take notice of what I'm saying.  You DID NOT sign any contract with them.  They are not on your original contract.  They bought an alleged debt that they were not a party to.  They did so voluntarily and they did it on their own behalf, not yours.  The law is very clear about this.  It calls them "Voluntary Payees" when they pay a debt (purchase it) when not asked to do so by you (think Refinance).  

When you are in the above situation, please don't just ignore them, that is hazardous to your wallet, your paycheck, your bank account, and your credit report.  Immediately send them a letter demanding validation. What this means is you need to demand that they prove that they have documentation that shows you entered into an agreement with them.  They don't have it and they can't produce it.  They will try to send you some stuff maybe, like paperwork from the original creditor.  Fine, but that shows a contract between you and the original creditor - NOT THEM!  Usually though, they will send a bill.  When you demand validation, a bill does not meet the criteria.  They have now violated the law. Why? Because, until they provide full, legal validation (which they are incapable of actually doing), they are prohibited from continuing or resuming collection activity.  You have also just given yourself a level of protection against being successfully sued by them,

So, that's my little tidbit for today. Now, go enjoy your shopping, breathe a sigh of relief about trying to pay illegitimate and financially overwhelming obligations.  And, remember the true reason for the season, the real purpose for gift giving - to symbolize God's gift of his Son Jesus, who died to save us.  That's what Christmas is really all about!

Feel free to contact me if you need more information or help with your credit repair.  My contact info is above.