Having bad credit can make life difficult. When you have bad credit you are denied many of the things that other people enjoy and it often seems like you cannot get ahead. You can wait it out if you have the time or you can take steps to improve your credit.
In 1970 the Fair Credit Reporting Act or the FCRA for short was enacted by Congress to protect consumers against inaccuracies and inconsistencies on reported credit. This act allows consumers to dispute inaccurate and untruthful listings on their credit report. It also allows the consumers to receive a free copy of their own credit report one time per year. An amendment in 2003 made it so that the consumer could receive this report at no charge.
The very first step to improving and repairing your credit is to get this report. There are many places online that offer you the opportunity to get this report but just remember that one report per year is free and you should not be paying anybody to get your one free report each year.
After you get the report you need to verify the information and check for inconsistencies. It is estimated that up to 75% or more of all credit reports are inaccurate and have mistakes. This is actually a benefit to you because you can dispute those mistakes and if they are not verified within a certain time period they must be completely removed from your report.
You have the right to dispute your credit and do whatever you can to improve and repair your credit. You can do it on your own or you can hire a professional company to help you out. In no way are you required to hire someone to help you and you may find that you would prefer to do it on your own. However, the process can be frustrating and time-consuming and you may appreciate the fact that someone else can help you get it done. Hiring a professional credit repair service is not something that you need to do but it can be a benefit if you have too much on your plate as is and you could use the convenience of letting someone else handle it to get it done in a timely manner.
Whether you do it on your own or with a professional you need to be aware that it is not legal to get fair and honest reporting removed from your credit. If you really do have the bad credit you would probably be better off trying to improve the credit you have left and improving your financial situation all around.
Do your homework as you are trying to repair your credit because there are some things that may surprise you such as the fact that it may hurt you more to pay off an old charged-off debt than to leave it alone. The reason why is because the negative credit stays on your report from the date of the last activity and when you pay off an old charge-off the time it stays on your report starts anew.
There are many different things you can do to improve your credit including repairing old and inaccurate reporting and doing things that will raise your credit score. The FCRA gave consumers the right to know and participate in what is reported on their credit report so take advantage of that fact if you have credit problems.
By: Karen Lynch
Posts Tagged ‘Benefit’
First Steps to Credit Repair
January 1st, 2010Credit Repair Attorneys – 3 Reasons You Should Use One to Repair Your Credit
December 22nd, 2009
It’s a shame that some people feel credit repair attorneys are all a scam. In truth if these people have judgments against them, charge offs on their credit report, or possibly repossessions a credit repair attorney could do wonders for them. If you’re still one of those people that has an open mind out hiring a professional to handle your credit repair read on. This article is going to offer 3 reasons you should consider hiring a credit repair attorney.
1.) How bad is your credit report? If you aren’t suffering from a horrible credit score or anything more then a couple of bad accounts on your credit report you probably don’t need a credit repair attorneys help. It’s for those of you that have charge offs, multiple collection accounts, and other public records such as judgements, foreclosures, repossessions, and bankruptcies that should seek out the help of a credit repair attorney.
If this sounds like you then there is a huge benefit to hiring a professional to help repair your poor credit score.
2.) Experience: I believe to many people focus on the cost of hiring a credit repair lawyer rather then looking at the benefits they offer. Of those the number one benefit is their experience. Consider this, if you’re to repair your own credit this is your first crack at it. You don’t know what to watch out for, what to not challenge or dispute.
In contrast most credit repair attorneys have handled hundreds if not thousands of clients. There fore they have a lot of experience to draw on when deciding how to handle your credit repair case. This is something you or I just do not have when trying to manage it ourselves.
3.) How much time do you have? Depending on your current situation maybe you have three years to repair your credit. How ever if you’re trying to make a big change in a year or less you’re going to need all the help you can get.
Hiring a credit repair attorney won’t expedite the time it takes for disputes to be resolved, but it will give you more options to repair your credit. Using other legal avenues some attorneys will go directly after creditors, collection agencies and the credit bureaus. It provides more fire power for your credit repair campaign, and can yield faster results then attempting to do it on your own.
In closing, if you’re going to seek the assistance of a credit repair attorney I suggest considering one of the many online companies offering credit repair services. If you are going to find someone local be sure to check them out with your local better business bureau office. While most credit repair companies are on the up and up it never hurts just to check.
By: Ian Henman
Credit Repair Services
December 16th, 2009
Credit repair services guarantee elimination of negative items from credit reports. Though there are many such agencies offering to help clear up credit problems, you must be cautious because many of the offers advertising credit repair are scams. These agencies use credit repair techniques that are unethical or even illegal.
However, some non-profit agencies are bona-fide credit repair experts, and they operate by assisting debtors to make payment plans and check to see whether bankruptcy is an essential step to getting out of debt. They will also advise credit bureaus to remove data that is not credit on credit reports. These agencies offer a legitimate service for those who may not feel capable of doing a self-help approach.
One form of legal, ethical credit repair is debt consolidation. In this scenario, the debt consolidation company pays off all of your debts for you, at which point the only remaining debt you have to pay off is the one to the consolidation company. The fact that your debts were payed off will go on your credit report, which is to your immediate benefit. But you absolutely must pay the cosolidation company according to the contract you sign with them, or else your credit will be worse off than before. If you think you can do this, try it.
To identify an illegal credit repair service, one must understand some of the agency’s danger signs. These include demanding payment in advance, advising the debtor to dispute the whole credit report, offering to get a new credit identity and failing to tell debtors their legal rights.
By: Damian Sofsian
