If youТve done any searching on the Internet for information pertaining to УCredit Repair,Ф youТve no doubt found that thereТs a great deal available. Unfortunately, thereТs also a lot of misinformation as well.
LetТs take a look at some of the most common misstatements youТll come across and examine them in detail.
MYTH #1
УCredit repair doesnТt work!Ф
While itТs true that credit repair is more УartФ than УscienceФ thatТs not to say it doesnТt work. If you undertake to repair your bad credit score, thereТs never any guarantee you can restore it to УperfectФ status. But sometimes you can, and in almost every case you can at least affect some improvement in your credit score, and often major improvement at that!
First of all, credit reports for the most part are filled with errors. While there seems to be no general agreement, itТs estimated that anywhere from 1/3 (Attorney General of NY) to as many as 90% (Charles Givens Organization) of credit reports contain errors.
Removal of erroneous negative information alone will go a great way toward improving your credit score. But thereТs more to the story, which brings us to myth #2.
MYTH #2
УNegative information that can be verified cannot be removedФ
This is one of those statements that are УalmostФ true, but taken literally is misleading. As is often the case, the inclusion (or exclusion) of one seemingly small word makes the difference in a truthful statement, and one thatТs not (or not necessarily) accurate.
LetТs take an analogy. Suppose itТs the middle of summer, and your grass has grown unusually high. LetТs also suppose that you own a lawn mower, itТs in good working condition, and has plenty of gasoline in the tank.
Now letТs say that youТre sitting on your couch and say to yourself УMy grass will get cut today because I СCANТ go outdoors anytime and cut it.Ф
So will your grass get cut? Not necessarily! Just because you УcanФ go outdoors and cut your grass doesnТt mean itТs going to get done. You can repeat this statement to yourself all day long, but your grass isnТt going to get cut until you actually go outside and DO it!
Likewise, because a negative item on your credit report УcanФ be verified doesnТt mean it will be. According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a credit bureau must investigate and verify Уwithin a reasonable period of timeФ any item in your credit report that you dispute. If the Уinformation is found to be inaccurate or can no longer be verified, the consumer reporting agency shall promptly delete such information.Ф
Now in this context Уcan be verifiedФ clearly means verified by the credit bureauТs investigation of the item, and the Уreasonable period of timeФ has been established (by subsequent rulings) to be 30 days. So if the credit bureau doesnТt complete its investigation of the disputed information within 30 days, or if for some reason the creditor fails to respond and verify the information, by law the disputed data must be deleted from your credit file.
MYTH #3
УCredit repair agencies are all scamsФ
ItТs true that there ARE a good many unscrupulous credit repair agencies. But there are also some corrupt police officers, lawyers, and politicians. Yet we donТt label all members of these professions as Уcorrupt.Ф
If youТre looking for help to repair your bad credit you do need to be careful and do your УhomeworkФ when selecting an agency. There are many honest credit repair companies that are not Уscams.Ф But beware of any who make promises as to results!
As stated above, itТs not always possible to restore your bad credit history to perfect status, and no one should be making any promises to that effect. Beware of any company that does! And while an agency will in all likelihood be able to improve your credit score, if any agency makes this promise, be sure itТs accompanied by a money back guarantee. Otherwise, look elsewhere. And donТt forget to ask for references and follow up on them.
MYTH #4
УYou have to hire a credit repair agency or lawyer to fix your creditФ
Going back to the analogy above, you can always hire someone else to cut your grass (or to do just about anything else) for your. And if fixing your own credit seems an intimidating task, you might prefer to hire a credit repair company to do it.
But itТs not really necessary that you do. First of all, credit repair agencies arenТt cheap. You can expect to pay anywhere from $2,500 to $5,000 or more. Plus, youТll be paying a high fee for something you can just as well do for yourself, which brings us to myth #5.
MYTH #5
УItТs too difficult or complicated to fix your own creditФ
A credit repair company isnТt going to do anything for you that you canТt do for yourself! Credit repair isnТt rocket science. It involves writing letters to credit bureaus and to creditors. If youТre able to write a letter, put a stamp on it and mail it, youТre able to repair your own credit.
УGiven the proper knowledge, you can fix your own creditФ
This statement IS true! YouСre entirely able to repair your own credit, given the proper knowledge. And given the proper knowledge, you can fix your own car, repair your own plumbing, or for that matter perform brain surgery.
While fixing your own credit is relatively simple and straightforward, you do have to know how to go about it. Essentially it involves getting a copy of your credit report and writing letters to the 3 major credit bureaus disputing negative information in your file.
But thereТs a right way and a wrong way to do it. In fact even some of the high priced credit repair agencies get it wrong, which brings us to myth #6.
MYTH #6
УYou improve your credit score by getting all the negative items on your credit report removedФ
ItТs possible to get all the negative items on your credit report removed and actually see you credit score go DOWN as a result! The reason? Your credit score depends on a number of factors, one of which is the length of your credit history. In some cases, youТre better off to NOT remove some negative items on your report, especially if they involve a few late payments in the distant past, but show timely payments during recent years.
While the Уnuts and boltsФ of credit repair is beyond the scope of this report, there are a number of sources of good information online. If you have bad credit, there are 3 major points you should keep in mind:
1. If you have a bad credit history, it can (and probably will) cost you many tens of thousands of dollars in higher loan interest over the years, as youТll be charged much higher rates than you would be with good credit. If your credit is really bad, you may not be able to get a loan at all!
2. The situation isnТt hopeless! In almost every case you CAN improve your credit score. You can easily do it yourself or find a reputable agency to do it for you. But in any case, GET IT DONE!
3. If you choose to repair your own credit (recommended) there are good books and eBooks available that can walk through the process. Get hold of one and get started NOW!
LetТs take a look at some of the most common misstatements youТll come across and examine them in detail.
MYTH #1
УCredit repair doesnТt work!Ф
While itТs true that credit repair is more УartФ than УscienceФ thatТs not to say it doesnТt work. If you undertake to repair your bad credit score, thereТs never any guarantee you can restore it to УperfectФ status. But sometimes you can, and in almost every case you can at least affect some improvement in your credit score, and often major improvement at that!
First of all, credit reports for the most part are filled with errors. While there seems to be no general agreement, itТs estimated that anywhere from 1/3 (Attorney General of NY) to as many as 90% (Charles Givens Organization) of credit reports contain errors.
Removal of erroneous negative information alone will go a great way toward improving your credit score. But thereТs more to the story, which brings us to myth #2.
MYTH #2
УNegative information that can be verified cannot be removedФ
This is one of those statements that are УalmostФ true, but taken literally is misleading. As is often the case, the inclusion (or exclusion) of one seemingly small word makes the difference in a truthful statement, and one thatТs not (or not necessarily) accurate.
LetТs take an analogy. Suppose itТs the middle of summer, and your grass has grown unusually high. LetТs also suppose that you own a lawn mower, itТs in good working condition, and has plenty of gasoline in the tank.
Now letТs say that youТre sitting on your couch and say to yourself УMy grass will get cut today because I СCANТ go outdoors anytime and cut it.Ф
So will your grass get cut? Not necessarily! Just because you УcanФ go outdoors and cut your grass doesnТt mean itТs going to get done. You can repeat this statement to yourself all day long, but your grass isnТt going to get cut until you actually go outside and DO it!
Likewise, because a negative item on your credit report УcanФ be verified doesnТt mean it will be. According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a credit bureau must investigate and verify Уwithin a reasonable period of timeФ any item in your credit report that you dispute. If the Уinformation is found to be inaccurate or can no longer be verified, the consumer reporting agency shall promptly delete such information.Ф
Now in this context Уcan be verifiedФ clearly means verified by the credit bureauТs investigation of the item, and the Уreasonable period of timeФ has been established (by subsequent rulings) to be 30 days. So if the credit bureau doesnТt complete its investigation of the disputed information within 30 days, or if for some reason the creditor fails to respond and verify the information, by law the disputed data must be deleted from your credit file.
MYTH #3
УCredit repair agencies are all scamsФ
ItТs true that there ARE a good many unscrupulous credit repair agencies. But there are also some corrupt police officers, lawyers, and politicians. Yet we donТt label all members of these professions as Уcorrupt.Ф
If youТre looking for help to repair your bad credit you do need to be careful and do your УhomeworkФ when selecting an agency. There are many honest credit repair companies that are not Уscams.Ф But beware of any who make promises as to results!
As stated above, itТs not always possible to restore your bad credit history to perfect status, and no one should be making any promises to that effect. Beware of any company that does! And while an agency will in all likelihood be able to improve your credit score, if any agency makes this promise, be sure itТs accompanied by a money back guarantee. Otherwise, look elsewhere. And donТt forget to ask for references and follow up on them.
MYTH #4
УYou have to hire a credit repair agency or lawyer to fix your creditФ
Going back to the analogy above, you can always hire someone else to cut your grass (or to do just about anything else) for your. And if fixing your own credit seems an intimidating task, you might prefer to hire a credit repair company to do it.
But itТs not really necessary that you do. First of all, credit repair agencies arenТt cheap. You can expect to pay anywhere from $2,500 to $5,000 or more. Plus, youТll be paying a high fee for something you can just as well do for yourself, which brings us to myth #5.
MYTH #5
УItТs too difficult or complicated to fix your own creditФ
A credit repair company isnТt going to do anything for you that you canТt do for yourself! Credit repair isnТt rocket science. It involves writing letters to credit bureaus and to creditors. If youТre able to write a letter, put a stamp on it and mail it, youТre able to repair your own credit.
УGiven the proper knowledge, you can fix your own creditФ
This statement IS true! YouСre entirely able to repair your own credit, given the proper knowledge. And given the proper knowledge, you can fix your own car, repair your own plumbing, or for that matter perform brain surgery.
While fixing your own credit is relatively simple and straightforward, you do have to know how to go about it. Essentially it involves getting a copy of your credit report and writing letters to the 3 major credit bureaus disputing negative information in your file.
But thereТs a right way and a wrong way to do it. In fact even some of the high priced credit repair agencies get it wrong, which brings us to myth #6.
MYTH #6
УYou improve your credit score by getting all the negative items on your credit report removedФ
ItТs possible to get all the negative items on your credit report removed and actually see you credit score go DOWN as a result! The reason? Your credit score depends on a number of factors, one of which is the length of your credit history. In some cases, youТre better off to NOT remove some negative items on your report, especially if they involve a few late payments in the distant past, but show timely payments during recent years.
While the Уnuts and boltsФ of credit repair is beyond the scope of this report, there are a number of sources of good information online. If you have bad credit, there are 3 major points you should keep in mind:
1. If you have a bad credit history, it can (and probably will) cost you many tens of thousands of dollars in higher loan interest over the years, as youТll be charged much higher rates than you would be with good credit. If your credit is really bad, you may not be able to get a loan at all!
2. The situation isnТt hopeless! In almost every case you CAN improve your credit score. You can easily do it yourself or find a reputable agency to do it for you. But in any case, GET IT DONE!
3. If you choose to repair your own credit (recommended) there are good books and eBooks available that can walk through the process. Get hold of one and get started NOW!
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