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We all know that one of the most important aspects of our lives is our financial history and the ways we handle our money—or other people’s investments in us. This entails paying back creditors, managing open accounts or credit lines, keeping an even mix of credit—and especially for startup and small business owners—paying back lenders or suppliers on time.
As your credit specialist, our most important role is in reviewing your credit history reports with you, and starting the process of disputing negative or derogatory marks and inaccurate items on your financial reports. The next important job lies in providing accurate recommendations to follow, which will aid in speeding up the credit repair process, achieving a higher credit score. and keeping it. While we do our part, please take the following steps and advice to secure your future. You will soon see your score drastically improve if you do it right!
How Does Credit Repair Work? Is It Legal?
One of the first questions which will probably arise in most people’s minds when considering credit repair is the legality of fixing credit scores and financial reports. Is credit repair work legal? The answer is: Absolutely!
Credit repair is 100% legal. It works because of a law called “The Fair Credit Reporting Act.” The FCRA gives a person the right to dispute any item on your credit report. If the item cannot be verified within a reasonable time (usually 30 days) it must be removed. This means even negative items can often be removed or negotiated away. This law remains the basis of all credit repair and the foundation of our business!
7 Proven Steps To Increase Your Credit Score Fast
Step 1
The first step in securing your future is to order fresh, new copies of your credit reports form all 3 bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. We can help you with this.
Credit reports are constantly changing. Therefore, it is important request up-to-date versions of your credit reports. This will give you the ability to see you score through this process, as it grows. A good rule of thumb is: if someone else runs/pulls your score or reports, it will hurt your score. However, if you order your own credit reports (which we assist in) your score will not be affected. You also may want to pay for credit monitoring. This process will give you the ability to truly secure your future by providing transparency in seeing your reports and score changes, day-to-day, as they happen.
Step 2
The second step is to correct all inaccuracies on your credit reports.
Go through each of your credit reports very carefully. Pay close attention and look out for items such as late payments, charge-offs, collections or other negative items that aren’t yours. Accounts which are listed as “settled”, “paid derogatory,” “paid charge-off” or anything other than “current” or “paid as agreed” are red flags. Monitor factors such as whether or not you have paid on time and in full, and check for accounts than are still listed as unpaid or those included in a bankruptcy.
Negative items which are older than 7 years (or 10 in the case of bankruptcy) shouldn’t be listed either, as they should have automatically fallen off your report after a certain amount of time. Be careful with the last factor, as sometimes scores can actually fall down when bad items fall off your report. This is actually a quirk in the FICO credit-scoring software, and the potential effect of eliminating old negative items is often difficult to predict in advance.
Also make sure you don’t have duplicate collection notices listed. For example, if you have an account that has gone to collections, the original creditor may list the debt, as well as the collection agency. Duplicates must be removed!
Secure your future by ensuring the proper credit lines are posted on your credit reports. Often, in an effort to make you less desirable to competitors, some creditors will not post your proper credit line. Showing less available credit can negatively impact your score. If you see this occurring in a report, you have the right to raise awareness to the issue and bring it to their attention. If you have bankruptcies that should be showing a zero balance…make sure they actually show a balance of zero! Often times the creditor will not report a “bankruptcy charge-off” as a zero balance until it’s been disputed.
Step 3
The third step: if you have any negative marks on your credit report, negotiate with the creditor/lender to remove it.
If you are a long-time customer and it’s something simple like a one-time late payment, a creditor will often wipe it away to keep you as a loyal customer. Sometimes they will do this if you simply call and ask. However, if you have a serious negative mark (such as a long-overdue bill that has now gone to collections) you should negotiate a payment in exchange for removal of the negative item. Always make sure you have this agreement with the creditor established in writing. Also, do not pay off a bill that has gone to collections unless the creditors agrees in writing that they will remove the derogatory item from your credit report.
It’s also very important to note: when speaking with the creditor or collection agency about a debut that has gone to collections, do not admit that the debt is yours. Admission of debt can restart the statute of limitations, and may enable the creditor to sue you. You are also less likely to be able to negotiate a letter of deletion if you admit that the debt is yours. Instead, simply say “I’m calling about account number __________” rather than “I’m calling about my past due debt.” Again, as your credit specialist, we will guide you through this step.
Step 4
The fourth step is to pay all credit cards and any revolving credit down to below 30% of the available credit line.
This step alone can actually make a huge positive impact on your score. The credit scoring system wants to make sure you aren’t overextended credit, but at the same time, they want to see that you do indeed use your credit lines. 30% of the available credit line seems to be the magic “payoff vs. credit line” ratio to maintain.
For example, if you have a credit card with a $10,000 credit line limit, make sure that you are never using more than $3,000 (even if you pay your account off in full each month). If your balances are higher than 30% of the available credit line, pay them back down. Another solution to try is asking long time creditors if they will raise your credit line without checking your FICO score or your credit report. Tell them you’re shopping for a house, and that you can’t afford to have any hits on your credit report. Most lenders may not do this, but some will.
Step 5
The fifth step? Do not close your old credit card accounts.
Old established accounts literally contains your history, and tell about your stability and paying habits. If you have old credit card accounts that you want or need to stop using, just cut up the physical cards or keep them in a drawer, but keep the accounts themselves open.
Step 6
The sixth step is to avoid applying for new credit.
Do not apply for new credit! Each time you apply for new credit, your credit report gets checked. New credit cards will not help your credit score and a card account less than one year old may, in fact, hurt your credit score. Use your cards and credit as little as possible until the next credit scoring.
Step 7
The final recommended step is to have at least three revolving credit lines and one active (or paid) installment loan listed on your credit report.
The credit scoring system, after all, wants to see that you maintain a variety of credit accounts. It also wants to see that you have a minimum of 3 revolving credit lines. If you do not have three active credit cards, you might want to open some. Keep in mind, however, that if you do open new credit lines, you will need to wait some time before rescoring.
If you have poor credit and are not approved for a typical credit card, you might want to set up a “secured credit card” account. This means you will have to make a deposit that is equal or more than your limit, which guarantees the bank that you will repay the loan. This method is a highly effective way to establish credit.
Examples of an installment loan would be a car loan, or a monthly payment for furniture or a major appliance. In addition to the above, having a mortgage listed will boost your credit score even higher.
Throughout this process, always remember:
It takes up to 30 days for any of those items to get reported or for changes to show up, and often take longer to accurately reflect on your credit history reports.
It may feel like a slow process, but hang in there—because it DOES work!