It seems like more and more credit restoration services are popping up by the minute. You can spot the advertisements for them online, on television and on the radio almost everyday. While I believe the awareness of credit repair and the help available to consumers is a good thing, it can also be very confusing on who to turn to.
When choosing a credit restoration service, one should always research the company’s reputation. Many of the new services that are popping up mean well, but they are not as advanced as some of the credit restoration services that have been around for awhile. I would recommend sticking with a service that has been around for at least a couple years. The more you can find out about them, the better.
Do-it-yourself credit repair is another wise way to mend your credit history and can be a little less expensive. I say “can be” because if you are able to get the same results as a credit restoration service, you are obviously going to save yourself some money. However, if you are not able to get the same or better results as a credit repair service, it may end up costing you hundreds and even thousands of dollars in the long run. I’m not saying that to scare you, but you should take caution when trying to attempt repairing your credit on your own.
Most websites are eager to tell you that credit restoration should be done individually by the consumer. I agree that it should be as well, but encouraging consumers to just jump right in to it without warning them of the horrible consequences that could happen is just very bad advice. The way I look at it is this: Either way you are going to spend time and/or money if you have bad credit, either by paying higher interest rates, spending the time to learn credit repair, or paying for a credit repair service to fix it for you. It’s your choice, but let it be known that sometimes when you try to skimp on things this important it can end up biting you in the end.
By: Chane Steiner
Posts Tagged ‘Chane’
Credit Restoration Tips
April 9th, 2010Bad Credit Repair
January 20th, 2010
“Bad Credit Repair” is one of the top searched keywords online when it comes to consumers searching for solutions to bad credit. Unfortunately, many consumers with bad credit are also searching for “bad credit loans”, “bad credit lenders” and similar terms. The reason I say its unfortunate is that most of these people don’t realize that the worst thing they can do for their financial situation is a get a loan with bad credit.
If they succeed in finding what they’re looking for, they are going to pay extremely high interest rates and that is not the intelligent way to go about repairing your financial situation. It’s certainly a good idea to want to get new positive accounts reporting on your credit reports, but it’s definitely not a good idea to pay such high interest rates. It can make it even harder for a person to meet their financial obligations and lead to even worse credit.
If you have bad credit, you should first see what you can do to get negative items removed from your reports. After you have done everything to get the negatives removed, then it is wise to start rebuilding your credit. You want to start off small when rebuilding your credit, especially if you are strapped for cash. Start with a couple secured credit cards or contact your local credit union and see if they will give you a low limit unsecured credit card. After about 3-6 months of paying, your credit scores will slowly start to climb up and your payments should only be $10-$20 per month.
It’s possible to repair your credit a little quicker if you have more money available, but this is the best way to repair bad credit when you’re on a budget. Remember, the first thing you should do is try to remove the negatives from your credit report.
By: Chane Steiner
Credit Repair Letters
October 20th, 2009
The best way to repair your credit is to write letters to the credit bureaus and collection agencies. These letters are commonly referred to as “Credit Repair Letters”. There are many different credit repair letters for many different situations. The most popular credit repair letters are dispute letters, debt validation letters, pay for delete letters and cease and desist letters.
Dispute Letters
Dispute letters are written to the credit bureaus to dispute an account, public record or personal information. Dispute letters are incredibly effective. There are many sample letters available on the internet; unfortunately most sites offer letters that state much more than they really need to. They quote the Fair Credit Reporting Act and other laws in hopes of “scaring the credit bureaus” into removing negative accounts. Some of the letters even make threats of litigation. All of this is unnecessary and will usually end up hurting your case more than it helps. Keep your dispute letters simple and to the point.
Debt Validation Letters
Debt Validation Letters are written to collection agencies to ask a collection agency to validate a debt. Debt validation is simply a consumer’s right to challenge a debt and/or receive written verification of a debt from a debt collector under the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).
Pay for Delete Letters
A pay for delete letter is usually written to a debt collector in hopes of negotiating to pay on an existing account in hopes of having the account removed or updated as positive on your credit report.
Cease & Desist Letters
A cease & desist letter can be sent to anyone, usually a debt collector, to request that they immediately stop contacting you. These letters should be sent certified, return receipt so that you have proof that it was received by the collector should you ever have to provide the evidence in court if they violate your federal rights.
By: Chane Steiner
