Credit Repair - What Are Your Chances?
Credit repair is not just a single activity or one-time event.
Some consumers have absolutely no problems with their credit report, but they are in the minority.
A July 2004 article in the "Los Angeles Times" reported the results of an independent consumer advocacy study that found that "8 in 10 credit reports contain factual errors".
About half of the errors discovered were so severe as to negatively impact a consumer's FICO (Fair Isaac Corporation) score and their ability to get credit.
Obviously this means that all consumers should be taking advantage of the FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) amendment from 2003 that requires the three major CRAs (Credit Reporting Agencies) to provide every consumer with one free copy of their report each year.
But when it comes time to dispute make sure you use a credit report that you paid for.
The small fee will be worth the 30 day time frame the bureaus will be forced to work in, as opposed to the 45 day time frame they get to work in when you use a free report.
That 15 days might not seem like much initially, but it will, trust me, and it won't take long.
The three key credit bureaus or consumer reporting agencies are Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax.
You may want to carefully look over each of your three credit reports at least once each year to ensure no errors or problems exist.
If there are problems, you'll want to discover how to get such invalid issues removed.
What if the negative issues are valid? You may ask.
This will mean doing credit repair yourself or hiring someone else to do it.
More and more people are seeing doing the credit repair yourself as a good thing because any consumer can question the issues on their report and ask for the documented evidence that the information is valid.
The burden of proof lies in the hands of the original creditor or the collection agency that they have sold the debt to.
You'll need to know the various steps that can be taken to challenge the validity of the items on the report, and how to get them deleted.
When an item is slated to be removed, this might mean that the item is removed without any further payment due, or that the debt will have to be settled.
Regardless of how it is achieved, however, the removal of negative items from a consumer credit report will quickly increase the FICO score and allow you to enjoy life on your terms.
Consider that higher FICO scores tend to make a lot more things possible and ease your financial responsibility in many areas including, insurance rates, interest rates on car loans, home loans, credit card rates.
That's a pretty convincing list of reasons for doing the credit repair yourself.
Some consumers have absolutely no problems with their credit report, but they are in the minority.
A July 2004 article in the "Los Angeles Times" reported the results of an independent consumer advocacy study that found that "8 in 10 credit reports contain factual errors".
About half of the errors discovered were so severe as to negatively impact a consumer's FICO (Fair Isaac Corporation) score and their ability to get credit.
Obviously this means that all consumers should be taking advantage of the FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) amendment from 2003 that requires the three major CRAs (Credit Reporting Agencies) to provide every consumer with one free copy of their report each year.
But when it comes time to dispute make sure you use a credit report that you paid for.
The small fee will be worth the 30 day time frame the bureaus will be forced to work in, as opposed to the 45 day time frame they get to work in when you use a free report.
That 15 days might not seem like much initially, but it will, trust me, and it won't take long.
The three key credit bureaus or consumer reporting agencies are Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax.
You may want to carefully look over each of your three credit reports at least once each year to ensure no errors or problems exist.
If there are problems, you'll want to discover how to get such invalid issues removed.
What if the negative issues are valid? You may ask.
This will mean doing credit repair yourself or hiring someone else to do it.
More and more people are seeing doing the credit repair yourself as a good thing because any consumer can question the issues on their report and ask for the documented evidence that the information is valid.
The burden of proof lies in the hands of the original creditor or the collection agency that they have sold the debt to.
You'll need to know the various steps that can be taken to challenge the validity of the items on the report, and how to get them deleted.
When an item is slated to be removed, this might mean that the item is removed without any further payment due, or that the debt will have to be settled.
Regardless of how it is achieved, however, the removal of negative items from a consumer credit report will quickly increase the FICO score and allow you to enjoy life on your terms.
Consider that higher FICO scores tend to make a lot more things possible and ease your financial responsibility in many areas including, insurance rates, interest rates on car loans, home loans, credit card rates.
That's a pretty convincing list of reasons for doing the credit repair yourself.
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