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How Does Credit Repair Really Work?

May 2nd, 2011
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credit repair companies

Few people get through their entire lives without having a few credit problems. Unless you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth you are likely to suffer a credit complication or two. It’s almost inevitable in this day and age. Learning how to repair your credit report can help you to get a home mortgage, car loans, credit cards and more and having good credit can definitely make your life easier.

To repair your credit the first thing you will need to do is to know what is on your reports, not just one report but all three reports from the big three credit reporting companies, TransUnion, Equifax and Experian. Get a free report from each of them and see the bad credit that you have to contend with for yourself.

Next set out to improve your credit reports by actively working towards removing negative listings and improving the positive listings. A popular and effective way to remove negative credit is to dispute the negative accounts by writing the consumer reporting agencies a letter outlining the inconsistencies of the negative credit.

An often overlooked but very important aspect of repairing your credit involves creating more good credit and improving the positive listings. A good way to accomplish this is by requesting a higher credit limit with the lenders that you are in good standing with. Get a higher limit but do not use it! Keep your balance below 30% of the amount you are approved for in order to improve your credit scores.

Building a long-term solid history with creditors who will report your good credit to the credit bureaus will go a long way to helping you to establish long-term good credit. Make sure that the credit obligations that you now have remain current and try to stop using additional credit. Ironically the people who have the highest credit scores are the people who have a solid access to credit but don’t use it too much.

It is important to realize that you can do all of the things to repair your credit on your own. However, there are strong, successful and extremely useful companies who can help you for a fee. It may be worth it to investigate some of these companies as they specialize in credit repair and they have developed an expertise. If a specialized credit repair company can help you out and they can do it easier and faster than you can do it yourself it would probably be well worth saving the time and the headaches of doing it yourself.

Before you hire a credit repair company make sure that you check out the company and make sure that they are following the guidelines set by the Credit Repair Organizations Act. This is an act that was put into place to protect consumers from dishonest practices by organizations that claim to repair credit but do not. There are some credit repair companies who have been around for many years and these companies have good, solid reputations. Make sure that you are using a reputable company if you decide to hire a professional.

Whether you decide to do it yourself or hire a professional to help you with your credit repair it is a good idea to t

Now Pay Close Attention –

One bad mark on your credit report can ruin your score. But now there are two reasons you don’t have to suffer through a bad credit score:

[Reason #1] Under FACTA, you have the right to obtain one FREE COPY of your credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus every 12 months.

[Reason #2] With FREE Triple Safeguard Credit Monitoring with email alerts, you’ll stay in touch with your creadit report for free.

My Free Credit Reports has been providing free credit reports and scores from all three major credit bureaus since 1997. And FREE Triple Safeguard Credit Monitoring has been tried and tested and known to produce excellent results.

First: Click Here To Visit My Free Credit Reports
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Second: Sign Up For FREE Triple Safeguard Credit Monitoring
Most importantly unlike other monitoring systems there is no cost involved! You never need to pay anything!

You are literally seconds away from discovering My Free Credit Reports. You have the right to obtain one FREE COPY of your credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus every 12 months. And with FREE Triple Safeguard Credit Monitoring with email alerts, you’ll stay in touch with your creadit report for free. Visit: http://www.MyFreeCreditReports.org and obtain your one FREE COPY of your Free Credit Report from each of the three major credit bureaus for free.


Article from articlesbase.com

Are Free Loan Modifications Really Free? Are Non-Profits Really Who You Want to Stop Your Foreclosure?

Mar 29th, 2011
by admin.
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subsidized loan

We have all heard the saying, “You get what you pay for.”   So what do you get if you pay nothing?

In today’s troubled economy more and more people are feeling the financial pressures of paying the monthly bills.  The mortgage crisis has affected an amazing percentage of American homeowners.  Sub-prime lending and Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARM) are the main culprits.  Unfortunately, these “no proof of income” and ARM loans are beginning to catch up with those who did not have the fundamentals of these loans properly explained upon their originations.

Loan Modification is a rapidly growing solution for those with mortgage payments which are too large to fit comfortably into the monthly budgets.  There are numerous ways to address the process of a Loan Modification.  One of these is to attempt it on your own forgoing assistance from a professional company specializing in all forms of Loan Modification.  To do this, millions of Americans have gone to government subsidized sites such as hopenow.com.

President Obama’s Plan, which includes more than billion dollars of financial assistance through a Government Loan Modification Program, gives financially strained homeowners some much needed hope. However, there is a good possibility that the families who need this help the most will not be able to use HopeNow’s services to complete their modification. A recent Ezine article by Alfred Sant illustrates this:

“Because of the numerous and strict requirements enacted, plus the intense analysis involved, most of these needy families will be unable to meet the criteria for help.  Since there is so much red tape involved with the Government Loan Modification Program, only a small percentage of the homeowners affected by possible foreclosure will get any assistance from this Loan Modification Program.  Banks and lenders are not required to work with homeowners, since the Government Loan Modification Program is voluntary. However, depending on each case, if it is financially lucrative for the banks or lenders, then the homeowners have some hope of getting assistance.  After forms are completed, documents and paperwork processed and all questions answered in great detail, the banks will make a determination as to which borrowers provide the greatest reward and least risk to them financially.”

 
The fact is HopeNow has come up short (to say the least) in performing long term modifications for Americans who are no longer able to keep up with their monthly mortgage payments.  Don’t listen to me.  Do the research on line and see for yourself.

“One of the biggest disappointments of the foreclosure prevention fight has been HOPE for Homeowners, a plan Congress passed in an attempt to help as many as 400,000 underwater, delinquent borrowers from going into foreclosure.
In its first seven months, HOPE for Homeowners helped one family stay in its home.”

-CNNMoney.com
May 21st, 2009

HopeNow promotes itself as providing a place where distressed homeowners can attain a loan modification for free.  The issue then becomes who is helping you on the other end of the phone when you call for help.  What level of vested interest does this not-for-profit individual have in improving your financial situation by adjusting your mortgage rate/payment to a more manageable level?  What are they getting out of it?

“Hope Now, the coalition of regulators, servicers, lenders, and community advocates helping sub prime borrowers, is being criticized as ineffective and too narrowly focused.  Even its own members are piling on.  Sources associated with Hope Now, most of whom spoke on condition of anonymity, tick off a list of problems: infighting among members, inflated loan modification statistics, and empty public relations moves.   “Hope Now is nothing,” said a representative of a Hope Now member. “It’s hard for it to do anything. It has no authority over investors or even its own members. And, surprise, people have different ideas about the best way to proceed.”

-American Banker; February 2008

If the above wasn’t disturbing enough The Mortgage Insider states in a December 2008 article:

“According to a study published yesterday by the OCC, defaulting mortgages lucky enough to get modified are going back into default within six months 53 percent of the time. This is a shocking statistic to me as well as to the Comptroller of the Currency, John C. Dugan.  Mr. Dugan in the press release said, “After three months, nearly 36 percent of the borrowers had re-defaulted by being more than 30 days past due. After six months, the rate was nearly 53 percent, and after eight months, 58 percent,” the Comptroller said in remarks at the Office of Thrift Supervision’s National Housing Forum today.”  How can folks be so cavalier with their “second chance”?  Mr. Dugan speculated, “Is it because the modifications did not reduce monthly payments enough to be truly affordable to the borrowers? Is it because consumers replaced lower mortgage payments with increased credit card debt? Is it because the mortgages were so badly underwritten that the borrowers simply could not afford them, even with reduced monthly payments? Or is it a combination of these and other factors?”

In short, you get what you pay for.  Free is not always free. This trend of re-default is not due to the loan modification industry itself, it is due to incorrectly performed loan modification by individuals lacking the necessary knowledge and resources.  One would be wise to consider hiring a professional to negotiate the terms of a note held on the single largest asset they have.

We all choose to hire people, based on their expertise, to take care of those things in our life which we’re unable to do ourselves.  This may be due to lack of knowledge, time or patience.  Whatever the reason we trust these individuals will, in a professional manner, give us the service for which we pay.  That’s WHY we pay for them.  Would you opt for a free child care service or pay for a license facility to watch your children while you’re working?  Do we choose the free medical clinic if we are able to go to our family doctor instead?  Do we opt for the “discounted” meat or do we pay for the fresh stuff?

If, after considering all this, you still feel you want to tackle a loan modification on your own; be sure to avoid the following common mistakes.  Many before you have tried and inadvertently fallen into one of these pitfalls.  Unfortunately, for many of them, by the time they realized their error(s) their home is too far into foreclosure.
 

MISTAKE #1: Applying with your lender prior to knowing the way the entire system works and being unaware of lenders requirements in order to approve your application.

MISTAKE #2: Paying huge sums of money as upfront charges to a loan modification company before establishing its credentials and loss mitigation expertise. Many home loan owners have surrendered thousands of dollars without positive returns, instead of starting with their own do it yourself loan modification application process.

MISTAKE #3: Time is of essence. Do not end up wasting it by speaking to employees who under the pretext of assisting you end up extracting last dimes from your pockets. They actually belong to collections department and will probably never help you in providing an actual loan workout. You need to know the right contact person in order to derive the desired results.

MISTAKE #4: Unconvincingly written hardship letters will not help your cause. The description should be compelling in order for the lender to empathize with your situation. It is imperative to understand that if you do not convince your bank that you deserve a Loan workout plan due to circumstances which are beyond your personal control, your chances of approval are very minimal.

MISTAKE #5: Error of Omission – Incomplete information or omitting relevant fields on your application form can be the most common reason for the delay and in some cases even rejection of your proposal. Are you aware that your local bank shall verify all the information provided by you? It is a full disclosure procedure, in which, delays can be avoided by disclosing all your income and debts in totality. There is a method available to ensure that you do not leave or miss anything on your proposal.

MISTAKE #6: Submitting a Loan Workout proposal which does not meet the criteria or requirements set forth by your lender. Each lender has their own criteria that must be met. When your forms do not conform to set criteria of the banks, then in all probability your proposal will be declined. Ensure that you know your banks lending guidelines and then complete your loan modification forms. Are you aware of method to gauge your target mortgage payment so it is within your budget and also confirming to lenders guidelines for approval?

MISTAKE #7: Not providing your lender with the entire loan modification package that includes all forms and documents needed for their review. Remember, your lender has thousands of borrowers like you who need similar assistance.

MISTAKE #8: Not being persistent in communicating with your lender can allow for your case to fall through the cracks and remain un-resolved. You must ensure you are in constant communication with your lender to ensure you get a speedy resolution to your application.
Do know what happens to the package when items are missing or incomplete and cannot be further processed? It is brushed aside and relegated to the bottom of the pile which effectively barriers your chance for a possible loan workout program.

-Jonathan Gillham
ezinearticles.com

For more information visit http://www.pmcloanmodification.com

or call

Does Credit Repair Really Work?

Feb 7th, 2011
by admin.
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credit repair companies

As a well known credit guru people regularly ask me if credit repair really works.  Credit repair can be very effective if performed the right way.

The real issue is that many “credit repair” companies collect money from consumers for credit repair services.  But the services they perform are nothing more than mailing the credit bureaus simple dispute letters.

For example, it might be disputed that the item really doesn’t belong to the consumer or that the consumer never really went late on the derogatory item.

The hope is that the creditor will not respond to the dispute and the items will be removed off the credit report as a result.  These types of credit disputes depend on creditor ignorance or human error to be effective.

But over the last few years the credit bureaus have wised up to these credit repair methods.  To counter, the credit bureaus now use sophisticated computer systems named E-Oscar and OCR.

These computers sniff out letters which appear to come from credit companies and then automatically respond to those disputes calling them frivolous.  The credit bureaus’ E-Oscar computer then electronically processes the dispute nearly eliminating human error.

These credit bureau computers now render these types of disputes minimally effective.  Some items will get deleted to simply be placed back on the report a short time later, and typically the only accounts that will be permanently removed are older accounts creditors no longer care about.

BUT, all hope is not lost…

TRUE credit repair is actually very effective, but it also is time consuming.  Accounts have to be disputed to the credit bureaus in a mythological manner and the most effective disputes are done direct with the creditor themselves.

There are hundreds of consumer protection laws such as FACTA, The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, HIPPA, The Fair Credit Billing Act, and many more.

Many creditors blatantly ignore and violate these laws with the hopes that you will not have the knowledge or time to be able to challenge them.

And they are right; you would have to spend endless time learning all of the hundreds of consumer protection laws to know enough to challenge your creditors successfully on your own.

But, using these law violations as leverage to force the creditor to delete the negative items is a VERY effective tactic to use to repair your credit.  Credit companies who use this tactic and participate in direct creditor disputing typically see deletion rates of 70% or higher.

The drawback is in order to effectively dispute and delete your negative accounts, you will spend countless hours learning how to dispute and delete your negative credit items.

Or you can find a highly recommended professional company to do it for you instead.  But make sure you find a reputable company.

There are only a few 100% legal credit companies in the U.S.  One of the most well known companies who produce the strongest and fastest results is Elite Credit Inc out of the Tampa Florida area (www.perfectcreditfast.com.)

I have personally seen their dispute methods and results, and even I am impressed.  You won’t find faster or stronger results at such a low price anywhere else that I have seen.

Or you can visit online credit forums and start learning how to go at it alone.  Whatever you decide to do, DON’T decide to do NOTHING at all.

Bad credit is estimated to cost an individual consumer over ,000,000 in a 30 year time period.

Strong dispute methods should remove over 70% of your negative items, and this could be the difference between you just struggling living paycheck to paycheck or living the life of your dreams.

Blake Kinsing has spent over 13 years in the finance and credit arenas. He has been solely responsible for lending millions of dollars to consumers in need.

Blake has also spent much of his career helping his clients overcome finance and credit issues. He has been operating his own Credit Forum for 7 years teaching others how to repair their own credit.

Blake has spoken in front of groups of realtors and mortgage professionals about credit and credit repair.

Blake prides himself as being a true advocate for consumer credit rights. He is viewed as one of the top credit authorities in the country, with thousands who loyally follow his advice and receive his popular credit newsletter.

You can visit Blake’s credit log for more information on improving your own credit or finding a reputable company to assist you.


Article from articlesbase.com

Credit Repair Magic Review – Does It Really Works or Scam?

Feb 1st, 2011
by admin.
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credit repair companies

Can Credit Repair Magic really improve your credit score and drive your score up? According to feedback from various users, the program ‘Credit Repair Magic’ own by Business Service Group, Inc look very promising.

The credit score improvement secret…

The secret to improved credit is to dispute negative entries on your credit report. As most companies unable to verify the information on your credit report, deleting all negative entries make your credit score rise. Sound good, doesn’t it? Credit Repair Magic not only saves you thousands of dollars to improved your credit score but it is user friendly and simple written for anyone.

Click here for more info on Credit Repair Magic

Credit Repair Myths And Facts

Credit repair isn’t legal – Credit repair is legal and you are guaranteed these rights by the Federal Fair Credit reporting Act.

I can easily fix my own credit – Disputing the credit report is easy but getting results can be complex and infuriating.

Credit repair doesn’t work – Negative listings cannot appear on your credit report for longer that seven years or 10 years for bankruptcies.

Need to hire a credit repair service to fix tour credit – It actually takes more of your personal time with credit repair service than with Credit Repair Magic.

How Credit Repair Magic helps:

This program uses a trademarked “point and click” program to guide you through the entire credit repair process. You’ll be able to dispute negative or erroneous entries on your credit report within minutes of receiving the program, and do it in the right way, so as not to antagonize your creditors or the credit reporting agencies. It also teaches how to get free copies of your credit reports from the 3 major credit reporting agencies in the country.

The Credit Repair Magic is proven to have following benefits:

Eliminates a lot of manual work if you do it by own, thus allowing you to complete the entire process with your home computer.
Save more money instead paying a credit repair company to do work for you.
Has an Automated Dispute Tracker System that is personalized to your needs and eliminates the possibility of you losing your track.

Click here for Credit Repair Magic

No doubt your local credit repair service or lawyer is making nice living charging their services month after month. It’s unusual for it to take several years before you see results from these companies.

There’s no reason to be stuck in bad credit report forever. What if you can dispute negative entries on your credit report  and  boost up your credit score… one where you’ll see a change in credit score within 2 – 3 weeks (depends on every situation and some people have reported an increase in as little as a few days!).

Click here to learn more about Credit Repair Magic and how you can improve your credit score in shorter time and economically.

Ian Rush has been writing articles for nearly 4 years. Now his latest interest is to write reviews on credit repair program on Credit Repair Magic.


Article from articlesbase.com

Related Credit Repair Companies Articles

Credit Repair Services – Do They Really Work?

Jan 23rd, 2011
by admin.
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You’ve made some unwise financial decisions, lost your job, or have had medical expenses. You were late with loan or mortgage payments and now your credit rating is bad. You want to repair your credit, but what’s the best way to do this? Can you do this on your own, or is a credit repair service a good option?

A quick Internet search for “credit repair service” yields 13 million results. It’s a big business! But what exactly does a credit repair service do? The claims can seem too good to be true. A credit repair service typically asserts that if you need good credit to buy a car or get a mortgage, the service has insider techniques for erasing bad credit. But the sales pitch is very carefully worded. They say they can help resolve questionable items, or clear up inaccuracies, or eliminate costly errors on your credit report. All at a low, affordable fee. 

The Federal Trade Commission

Fortunately, at the very top of your Internet search result is a website you can trust: the U.S. Federal Trade Commission at ftc.gov. The FTC is blunt: they say that you should save your money because most credit repair services are scams. 

Here is what the FTC says about anyone’s ability to erase accurate and timely information on your credit report: “It’s illegal: No one can remove accurate negative information from your credit report.” 

The fact is that credit repair services have no more legal rights or abilities than you do. If you want to pay a hefty fee to have a service try to accomplish what you could do yourself, it’s your choice. But remember that credit repair services cannot guarantee results.

What to Watch Out For

If you are considering a credit repair service, here’s how to tell if the company behind it is a scam: 

You are asked to pay in advance. Under the Federal Credit Repair Organizations Act, credit repair companies cannot demand payment until they have performed the promised service.
You are told to dispute every item in your credit report regardless of its accuracy.
You are not told that you could repair your credit report yourself for free.
The company asks you to apply for credit under a different identity. This could be a felony!
The company insists that you do not contact any of your creditors directly. 

What Can You Do?

In the United States there are three major credit bureaus: Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. These three companies report on consumer credit to lenders. It is their reports and the underlying information that you can examine and, if necessary, repair. 

According to federal law, once a year you are entitled to request a free copy of your credit report from each of the three agencies. According to the U.S. Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), you are also entitled to receive a copy of your report if a lender takes “adverse” action against you. To receive your reports, log onto www.annualcreditreport.com, or call 1-877-322-8228. 

Examine the reports carefully. If you see any erroneous entries, or examples of good credit that have been omitted, then you must write a letter to the credit bureau. Explain exactly what you think the error or omission is. Send your letter by certified mail, return receipt requested. Send a copy of your letter, along with copies of relevant receipts or statements (do not send originals!), to the company that originally reported the transaction—a credit card company, your mortgage lender, or a retail store. 

Unless they consider your request to be frivolous, the credit bureau has 30 days to investigate and reply. If an error is detected, federal law requires that consumer credit agencies and their sources follow a strict procedure to notify you and make corrections. 

The bottom line is that a legitimate credit repair service will do nothing more than what you could do for yourself. It’s your choice.

ConsumerFinanceReport.com features an extensive library of articles providing information, commentary, and guidance on a variety of personal finance issues and topics, such as the article on credit repair services. Additional content helps consumers understand bankruptcy facts and ways to pay off debt.


Article from articlesbase.com

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