Who looks at my credit report?
Potential creditors will always review at least one of your credit reports before allowing you a line of credit. Today it is increasingly common for insurance companies to review your credit before extending auto or health insurance. Many employers now check credit before they consider you for a position. If you rent, you may have already been through a credit check to determine your worthiness as a renter.
How does bad credit affect you?
As little as one negative account listed on your credit reports can result in a bad credit rating. Of course, it depends on what type of negative account it is. An example is that you may have perfect credit for years but one month you forget to pay your auto note on time. This is going to lower your credit score instantly, thereby costing you more money.
What is a charge off?
When you become very delinquent on an account, the creditor will probably charge it off. This means that they have written the debt off as a loss, for tax purposes. The creditor is now likely to sell the unpaid debt to a collection agency. Charge offs are very negative listings, but they can often be settled through debt settlement for much less than you owe and the collection company usually is very willing to do so. We can help you with this process.
How long does it take to see my credit scores improve?
Depending on your current credit and financial situation you can see an increase in as little as 60 days. Your credit report is different from most everyone else's. So the time frame will vary, although it is usually no more than six months.
How do you do this legally?
We follow the guidelines set forth in the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. You, as a consumer, have the right to improve your credit situation by disputing any and all inaccurate, obsolete and erroneous information placed on your credit report. We represent you in this process.
What if deleted items reappear on my credit report?
On occasion, a recently-deleted negative listing will eventually be verified by the creditor. The new Fair Credit Reporting Act requires that the credit reporting company inform you before they re-report a previously deleted listing. The FCRA also makes it more difficult for credit reporting companies to re-report listings. Because of these factors, it is fairly rare for listings to reappear once they've been deleted. If an item is re-reported, it simply requires challenging the listing again at a future date, pressing for permanent deletion.
Does it hurt my credit when I miss a single payment?
By paying your bills in a timely manner you establish a payment history which, in turn, improves your credit scores on your credit reports. When you don't make those payments on time you are neglecting an obligation you have agreed to pay when you were extended credit from the creditor. By missing ONE payment you have shown that you are a risk and this action factors negatively toward your credit, resulting in lower scores with the credit reporting agencies.
Does paying off old collections and charge offs help my credit scores?
Unfortunately, the credit reporting system doesn't work that way. When you pay an old debt, the negative credit listing doesn't disappear. In fact, it re-ages your accounts with that negative listing. In most cases a paid, current negative listing is not any better than an unpaid negative listing.
How do I keep up with the process?
Credit reports will arrive at your mailing address first and then you will forward them to us. You will see the results of the investigation before we do. It is imperative that you forward the improved credit reports to us to continue the investigative process.
Can I correct my own credit?
Yes. You must be persistent and patient though. This is a very tedious job.
What makes you different from the others offering credit help?
We not only want to assist you with inaccurate, obsolete, and erroneous information being reported to your credit reports. We also want to help you establish and maintain good credit by developing new credit trade lines with creditors that we work with. We are happy to refer you to them as clients of ours.
What is a credit report?
Whenever you apply for any type of credit or financing, a credit report is pulled from at least one of the three major credit-reporting companies. While there are hundreds of smaller credit reporting companies around the country, virtually every credit reporting company is affiliated with Experian, TransUnion, or Equifax.
These credit-reporting companies collect and maintain information on the vast majority of consumers. However, they are not affiliated with the government in any way. The credit reporting companies are for-profit corporations and they sell your personal information for money.
Credit reporting companies receive your personal information through the same lenders who grant you credit. The reporting companies have agreements with each credit grantor, requiring the grantor to inform them of everything that occurs in your relationship with that grantor. If you make a payment late, the negative credit listing is quickly reported to at least one of the three major credit-reporting companies and is added to your credit history. Credit reports are not just a record of how you are currently managing your credit accounts; a credit report is a history of everything you are doing with your credit now, and everything you have done in the past.
The credit reporting companies collect this information, list it on your credit report, and then sell it to other credit grantors who wish to see your credit history before they decide to lend you money. The credit grantors who review your credit are especially interested in any negative credit. If you have shown any tendency to pay late, or to disregard your financial commitments in the past, then the creditors' computers will immediately reject your application.
What kind of information is listed on a credit report?
MERCHANT TRADE LINES
These include all regular credit lines such as department store cards, auto loans, mortgages, and credit cards. If there is any history of late payment, or if the trade line was included in a bankruptcy, charged off, or put into repossession, the listing will be considered negative by all credit grantors.
COLLECTION ACCOUNTS
When an account is referred to collections because of delinquency, it appears on the credit report as a collection account. Collection accounts can appear as paid or unpaid accounts. Any type of collection account, whether paid or not, is considered negative by all credit grantors.
PUBLIC RECORDS
Court records include bankruptcies, judgments, liens, divorce, satisfied judgments, and satisfied liens. All court records, including satisfactions, are considered negative by all credit grantors.
INQUIRIES
Every time a potential credit grantor looks at your credit file, a credit inquiry appears on at least one of your credit reports. If the number of inquiries is very few over the last two years, then there may be no negative effect on your credit worthiness. However, if there are many recent inquiries showing on your credit report, credit grantors may become nervous and deny you credit.
How long will negative information remain on my credit report?
The Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires that most negative credit items be deleted from your credit file in no more than seven years, except for bankruptcy, which can be reported for up to ten years. These are the time limits for reporting negative credit. However, the creditor or the credit reporting company can choose to have the negative credit information deleted whenever they please. Inquiries usually remain on the credit report for up to two years.
WHO MAY LOOK AT YOUR REPORT?
• Any creditor to whom you have applied for credit
• A prospective employer
• A mortgage lender, when you have applied for a home loan
• Any current employer on a need-to-know basis
• Any person, firm, or agency to which you have given permission
• Any person, firm, or agency with a legitimate need to know (with your consent)
• An insurance company, when you have applied for any type of insurance
• YOU, as a consumer
PUBLIC RECORDS
Information that appears on your Credit Report may include some of these items, which are a matter of Public Record.
BANKRUPTCY:
A Chapter 7 bankruptcy appears on the credit report for ten years. A Chapter 13 bankruptcy can, by law, appear for ten years, but the credit reporting companies generally choose to show it for only seven years. In a Chapter 13, the debtor usually agrees to pay all or part of the outstanding debts.
FORECLOSURE:
A foreclosure remains on your report for 7 to 10 years. If a deficiency balance remains after the foreclosure, the creditor usually files a judgment.
JUDGMENT:
A judgment remains on the credit report for seven years, or the state limit, whichever is longer. A creditor may renew a judgment if the debt remains unpaid. A judgment may not be renewed if the account has a $0 balance. A creditor has up to four years to file for judgment on a delinquent account.
TAX LIEN:
A tax lien usually remains on the credit report for up to seven years from the date of $0 balance on the account. Unpaid, it can remain indefinitely.