40CreditRepairSecrets

Page 1

Clever Credit Repair - 40 Credit Repair Secrets

Page 1 ©2007 Clever Clever Credit Repair Repair - www.clevercreditrep www.clevercreditrepair.com air.com - All All Rights Reserved Reserved

Page 2


1. Get a copy of your credit report from all 3 bureaus Because all 3 bureaus may have different data about your credit, it is a good idea to get a credit report from all 3 bureaus. Luckily you can get all 3 in a combined report. We have reviewed what we feel is the top 5 3bureau credit reports here here.. 2. Read your credit report and review for innacuracies Your credit report will be divided into 4 sections. Identifying information. credit history, public records and inquiries. Check over your personal information for innacuracies such as incorrect SSN number or credit lines that don't belong to you. 3. Myth: Checking your own credit will do damage to your credit This is false. Checking your own credit is considered a "soft inquiry" and will not be a blemish on your credit report. 4. Soft Inquiries vs. Hard Inquiries A hard inquiry is when a lender checks your credit. An example might be when you apply for a credit card. Too many "hard inquiries" can temporarily drop your score. Since very often you may be applying for many to many places at one time for a credit card or auto loan, all "hard inquiries" in a 2 week period are considered as one inquiry. A soft inquiry is when you check your own credit report and is not counted against you. 5. Pay your bills on time Probably the number one thing you can do to keep your credit in good standing is to pay your bills bills on time. Because even one 30 day late payment can adversely affect your credit, this is important. If you're not sure if a creditor or utility utility then pay it on time. Don't forget about the less less obvious bills like a gym membership or movie rental place. 6. Online bill paying For those bills you know report to a collection agency, it would be advisable to setup online bill paying. This way you know for sure those bills are being paid on time. 7. What if I'm not sure a creditor reports to an agency? If you are not sure which of your creditors report to a collection agency, then call them and ask. It's really that easy. Make a list of all the bills you pay each month. month. Call each one and check if they report to a collection agency.

ORDER THE CREDIT SECRETS BIBLE NOW TO IMPROVE YOUR CREDIT SCORE AS MUCH AS 249 POINTS


Page 3


8. What is a credit score and how does it help me? Your credit score is what lenders use to determine whether or not to extend you credit. A number too low and you will not get credit. A number that is average and you will will get a high interest interest rate. A good score and you will get credit at a decent interest rate. 9. Having a good credit score will save you thousands of dollars! Because you will be extended credit with the best interest rate, you will save tens of thousands of dollars on home mortgages and thousands of dollars on interest on auto loans and credit cards.

10. So what is a good credit score? Below 620 Poor Credit (in other words - hurting!) 620-660 You will be extended Sub-Prime financing. Still, ouch! 660-720 This is Average, but you will still be assessed higher rates. 720-750 This is Excellent. We all aspire to this. 750 + Champaign pours from the heavens. Perfect Score. 11. What is a FICO score and why is that important? There are many scores out there. A score is basically compiled from good and bad information from your credit report. The FICO score is a score compiled from software created by the Fair Isaac Corporation. Each of the major credit reporting agencies provides a FICO score. This FICO score is what is used by most lenders. All other scores attempt to simulate what your FICO score might be. 12. Who is the Fair Isaac Corporation? The Fair Isaac Corporation is the developer of the FICO score. Because each of the big credit reporting agencies is slightly different in the way they present your credit report, a different credit scoring program was written for each. Each credit reporting agency then will have it's own FICO score representing your credit. Since a lender may pull your credit score from only one reporting agency or a combination of scores, it's advisable for you to find out what your score is at each credit reporting agency. 13. What are the 3 big credit reporting agencies? The 3 national credit bureaus are Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. 14. Myth: Closing old accounts will improve my credit score. This depends. Old accounts typically have credit history associated with them, so removing them removes the history. Any negative items associated with that account will will not be removed. Most likely this will will have an adverse affect on your score. One possibility where it might help is if you have too many credit cards. Choose wisely which accounts to delete.


Page 4


15. Myth: Paying off creditors with negative data will help my score There are ways to remove negative data from your account. For information, see The Credit Secrets Bible for techniques on how to do this. Paying off an account will mark an account as paid. But negative items will remain on the credit report without attempting more advanced methods. 16. Co-signing a loan can be bad news Be careful when co-signing a loan. You take as much repsonsibility for paying the loan as the other co-signee. 17. Keep low balances on credit cards Keeping a high balance will affect your debt to credit ratio. To keep your score high, you need to keep you balances below 50%. Ideally you want to keep your score high, you should maintain a 30-35% balance and make your payments on time. 18. Debt to Credit ratio Keeping a proper debt proper debt to credit ratio will help improve your credit score. Believe it or not paying off your credit cards every month doesn't improve your credit score. It will actually drive it down slightly. Lenders look for balances on credit cards and someone who can make consistent monthly payments. 19. Are you saying keep a 35% balance on my credit cards? Yes and no. If you are in the market for an auto loan or home mortage/ equity line of credit, then I would suggest maintaining a 35% ratio on your credit cards (revolving credit) to drive up your credit score. Start this process about 3 to 4 months before applying for new credit. 20. Revolving Credit vs Installment Credit Revolving credit is credit from credit cards. Any credit that doesn't have a fixed length monthly payment is considered revolving credit. You can borrow and pay back at will. Installment Credit is fixed payment credit like an auto loan or mortgage loan. 21. PFD - Pay for Delete When negotiating with collection agencies, always try and get a PFD (Pay for Deletion). In a nutshell, they they have the ability to to remove the negative information from your credit report. In negotiation, always try for PFD. It would even be worth paying a little more to get the negative information deleted. ORDER THE CREDIT SECRETS BIBLE NOW TO IMPROVE YOUR CREDIT SCORE AS MUCH AS 249 POINTS


Page 5


22. How do I establish credit in the first place? Credit is a two way street. Every time you apply for credit, the lender will pull your credit report and score from one, two or all three credit bureaus. Based on the information they see they will perhaps extend you credit in the form of a credit card or loan. Once you have credit established the lender will then report to these same credit agencies any negative information such as late payments. 23. You will need a balance of credit types in your record In order to maintain a good credit score you will need different types of credit history in your credit report. You most likely won't be extended a $500k loan if you only have a few credit cards. Lenders like to see installment loans as well (even ones that have been paid in full) like auto loans, school loans and mortgage loans. 24. Myth: My credit report is identical between credit bureaus. This one is false. Because lenders aren't required to report your credit activities, they may report to only one, two, all three or even none of the credit bureaus. For this reason, each of the credit bureaus is most likely maintaining different credit histories on you. 25. Credit Monitoring Most of the services today that you can order a copy of your credit report from also offer a service called credit monitoring. monitoring. Credit monitoring monitoring allows you to do several things. things. Some allow you to view view your credit report at anytime while on their service. Most allow alerts to be setup in the event of major changes to your credit report or score. This can help you identify the possibility of Identity Theft. 26. Where can I go to establish Credit Monitoring? We have done an extensive review of credit monitoring sites here here.. 27. Identity Theft and credit monitoring Monitoring your credit is certainly one way to detect Identity Identity Theft. Most of the credit monitoring services offer alerts that can indicate the possibility of Identity Theft as well. 28. Shred all those credit card offers Shred all those credit card offers. One of the easiest way for someone to steal your credit (identity theft), is to hijack pre-approved credit card offers and fill them out in your name. 29. Shred anything with an account number or an SSN I hope this is an obvious one but before throwing away anything with an account number or SSN, shred it first!


Page 6


30. Disputing Negative Information If you have bogus negative information on your credit report you will need to submit a dispute with each credit agency ag ency that is reporting this information. Contact each of the 3 big bureaus for the necessary dispute forms. I suggest filling out the forms by hand and sending certified mail. The credit agencies have 30 days to verify and remove the erroneous information. All these advanced techniques are covered in the Credit Secrets Bible

31. What do I do if my Identity is stolen? Keep good records. Send everything by certified mail and keep a record of all correspondence and communications. You may need it if you find find yourself in a lawsuit. Call the police. Report whatever was stolen. Although most likely they won't be able to help you, the police report may be able to help convince creditors of what has taken place. Contact the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC's identity theft hot line is 877-438-4338. Call them and file a complaint. This may help to lead to law enforcement action. Continue to check your credit report. New accounts don't show up for sometimes 1-month up to 6 months. Contact each of the credit bureaus and put a fraud alert on your file. file. This will aid in preventing new accounts to be opened without your express permission. Freeze fraudulent accounts. Make contact with all all the creditors, banks, utility companies etc., and have them freeze all the fraudulent accounts. You will probably only be liable for only $50.00 of the fraudulent charges against you.

32. Contacting Experian

PO Box 2002 Allen, TX 75013 (888) 397-3742 Web site: www.experian.com

ORDER THE CREDIT SECRETS BIBLE NOW TO IMPROVE YOUR CREDIT SCORE AS MUCH AS 249 POINTS


Page 7


33. Contacting Equifax

P.O. Box 740256 Atlanta, GA 30374 (800)-685-1111 Web site: www.equifax.com 34. Contacting TransUnion

P.O. Box 2000 Chester, PA 19022 (800) 888-4213 Web site: www.transunion.com 35. What factors make up your credit score? 35% of your score is based on Payment History. 30% of your score is based on Amounts you owe. 15% of your score is based on Credit History 10% of your score is based on New Credit (new accounts and recent requests) 10% of your score is based on Credit in Use (types of credit - mortgages, auto a uto loans, credit cards, etc.)

36. What is the Credit Secrets Bible? In this ebook, we have barely tapped some of the really great ideas and trade secrets revealed in this bible of credit repair. Here are a few more examples. Sub-Prime Merchandise Cards for establishing credit Advanced Credit Profiling Forms, Forms, Forms (and good ones!) It basically lets you repair credit like the pros! Check it out here here.. 37. What if you if you just just don't want to do it yourself?

There are many credit repair services services out there. Probably the most trusted and used would have to be Lexington Law Firm. 38. You can always file for Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy is something to avoid at all cost. Other options might be consolidated loan payoffs or negotiating with creditors on an individual basis. basis. Although bankruptcy might seem like an option, please make it your last resort.


Page 8


40. You have to hire a lawyer to fix your credit

You might be surprised to find out that lawyers and credit repair agencies don't have any more clout in in cleaning up your credit than you do. What they do have are the right forms and strategies for attempting to remove negative information from your credit report. You too can have access to the the same strategies and forms the pros have here here..


40CreditRepairSecrets

Recommend Documents