Credit Repair - Any suggestions?

[V4Vendetta]

I need to repair my credit, do yall have any suggestions for good companies to use?

[legion]

I don't understand your question. Company? Are you talking about getting a consolidation loan?

Are you talking about business or personal credit?

If personal credit, your only option is time.

I'd suggest saving up a bit of money and getting a share secured loan from a credit union. This is a mechanism by which you loan yourself money and it is reported to the credit bureaus.

[WilliamC]

Don't pay anyone to repair your credit, you're throwing your money away.

Just go to the three credit reporting agencies and directly request copies of your credit report from them.

If there is any inaccurate or false information request, in writing, that it be removed. The agency has a set period of time to do this so you have to check back to make sure it is done. Send the letter certified mail so they won't 'lose' it. Follow through until there is no more false or inaccurate information.

As for accurate information that is damaging to your credit only time will take that off.

[onlyrp]

Listen to Alex Jones, the GCN radio network and Republic Broadcasting regularly has advertisers that claim to fix your credit as long as you know how to write a letter (or something like it). They either have some insider information to credit, or use the fool proof Sovereign Citizens arguments (UCC creditors arguments). Good luck, I'm sure there aren't any people who sponsor Alex Jones and good patriot voices that would have any reason or motivation to scam their fellow Christian or patriot.

[Zippyjuan]

What is the problem? If it is something factual on your credit reports (like say a bankruptsy or default) there is nothing you can do but wait for time to go by I think that can be seven years in the case of bankruptsy. If there are errors on your reports, collect as much supporting evidence as you can and contact the various credit reporting agencies directly. Pay down any debt and be sure to make all payments on time. Get another credit card but keep a low balance on it and pay it off every month. Utilization of a smaller percent of your available credit can raise your score. Don't close out your oldest credit source- a long history helps.

None of this requires paying somebody to do this for you.

Some more tips from FICO: http://www.myfico.com/crediteducatio...yourscore.aspx

[Jordan]

1. Get your credit reports from annualcreditreport.com (free site operated by the gov)
2. Check for any inaccuracies
3. If anything is remotely inaccurate, go for a dispute on that particular item. A quick Google search for "how to dispute credit report" will give you a simple process you can do in 5 minutes.
4. If the dispute fails, look into a "pay for delete."
5. After disputing entries, and trying the pay for delete route, just give up and start building new credit. Open a credit card, and use it once a month for a small purchase.
6. Keep all other accounts currently open at less than 30% of the available credit when possible.

[centure7]

I have read the vast majority of the Fair Credit Reporting Act with the plan to eventually start a credit repair service. If you don't mind being a guinea pig for my research I'll help you for free. I also have some familiarity with the FDCPA (Fair Debt Collection Practices Act).

The reason I'm interested in such a service is that there is simply ZERO or very close to zero such services. Yes there are "credit repair services" but most of them are just scams. Yet I'm very confident virtually any negative items can be removed because there are a large number of technicalities that all have to be performed that usually are not performed for any given item and any given collector.

My core motivation is that I detest banks working with the Federal Reserve as immoral and I want them to see them suffer

[devil21]

Credit repair is a specialty of mine. Don't pay for a company to do anything. They don't do anything you can't do yourself with a little time and effort. Jordan's response is pretty accurate as you need to pull up your big 3 reports before you do anything else. Ordering paper copies (not printouts) is best! That creates a paper trail.

1. Go through the dispute process for anything that's derogatory on each report. You can dispute online usually. The first dispute is always "Not Mine"! The credit bureau processes your dispute and the furnisher of the tradeline has to reply within 30 (if you paid for your report) or 45 days (if a free report from annualcreditreport.com). If the furnisher fails to reply, which happens quite often, the tradeline must be deleted in it's entirety by the reporting bureau. This is the quickest method to higher scores.

2. Continue to dispute any derogatory information through other methods. For example, collection agencies often misreport intentionally to hurt your credit scores even further and these inaccuracies are a good angle of dispute. A good site for credit repair info is www.creditboards.com and newbies section to get started. Lots of good info there about how to dispute, why to dispute, legal aspects, etc.

3. Finally, you can file suit against a furnisher of information under the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act. They are federal laws and have pretty big teeth. Just be prepared to do your homework and do a lot of reading if you decide to undergo your own credit repair! It's really not hard but it is time consuming. Ive helped several friends clean up their credit to the point of getting good rates on cars and mortgages and other things they'd never have gotten otherwise.

Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions.


****ETA: You can NOT improve your credit by paying off collection items unless the creditor/collector agrees in writing first to a pay-for-deletion. This is rare however. A paid collection is no better for your credit scores than an unpaid collection!!! Never talk to collectors on the phone. US Mail, certified return receipt ONLY for all credit repair correspondence. You'll learn most of this as your start reading but it's the two biggest rules in credit repair.