“How can I get a charge-off deleted from my credit report?” is one of the most frequently asked questions at the credit repair forum - and for good reason. Credit report charge offs can linger on your report and damage your credit scores for 7 years. It seems like an awfully long time to pay for a single slip up, but having just one charge off on your credit report can prevent you from getting a mortgage in some cases. If you are fortunate enough to be approved for a home loan, high interest rates could end up costing you $100,000 or more over your life time, depending on the house you choose.

What most people don’t understand is that credit reporting is voluntary. Your creditors don’t have to report your accounts to the credit bureaus. In fact, they can even pick and choose which ones they report to! Your creditors can also delete a charge off that they have reported if they wanted to. In fact, before you ever agree to pay a charge off, you should ask for the creditor to delete the reported charge off in exchange for your payment. Always get it in writing.

The problem with the “pay for delete” theory is that most creditors and collection agencies will blatantly lie to you and say that once it’s been reported they can’t remove it. This is obviously a lie because thousands of charge offs get removed on a daily basis.

If you have already paid the charge off, perhaps you could send the creditor a good will letter or make a call and simply ask them to delete it for you. Chances are they won’t (because the employees are told they can’t) but, it’s worth a try.

Another way, and perhaps the most effective way, is to dispute the charge off with the credit bureaus. There are right ways to do it and wrong ways to do it. In fact, some of the wrong ways can basically ensure that it stays on for 7 years. That is why I recommend letting a credit repair service do it for you; because they know what they’re doing! However, for the do-it-yourselfer's, I do teach people how to write credit repair letters at the forum. The biggest mistake you can make is just jumping into it. Do your homework, put in your time and repair your credit.

Labels: affordable credit repair, charge offs, credit repair letters, delete charge offs

Simply put, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is the federal law that governs credit reporting. The FCRA is enforced by the Federal Trade Commission. It was designed to protect consumers regarding the use, accuracy and privacy of consumer credit reports. The law was originally passed in 1970 to ensure that consumers have access to information being reported about them by the credit bureaus. It gave consumers the right to see the exact information that creditors, insurers and employers use to make decisions about providing credit and other services.

Amendments

Amendments to the FCRA were passed in 1996 to provide new consumer rights to improve the accuracy of credit reports. Another amendment was made in 2003, called the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA). Under FACTA, consumers are able to receive one free credit report a year.

Consumer Reporting Agency Guidelines

FACTA also gave the consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) new guidelines, including the following:

1. CRAs must take steps to verify the accuracy of information disputed by a consumer.

2. If negative information is removed as a result of a consumer's dispute, it may not be reinserted without notifying the consumer within 5 days, in writing.

3. CRAs may not report negative information for an excessive period. Most negative items must be removed within 7 years from the date of delinquency with exceptions to bankruptcies (10 years) and tax liens (7 years from the time they are paid).

Creditor Guidelines

Creditors and other information furnishers were also given new guidelines:

1. They must provide complete and accurate information to the CRAs.

2. They must to investigate disputed information by consumers.

3. They must inform consumers about negative information which has been or is about to be placed on a consumer's credit report within 30 days.

Users of Information Guidelines

Users of consumer information for credit, insurance, or employment purposes (including background checks) also have guidelines in which they must follow under the FCRA:

1. Users must notify the consumer when an adverse action is taken on the basis of such reports.

2. They must identify the company that provided the report, so that the accuracy of the report may be verified or contested by the consumer.

Civil Liability for Violations of the FCRA

A consumer may seek a maximum of $1,000 in statutory damages, plus actual damages, punitive damages and reasonable attorney's fees and costs for willful noncompliance of the FCRA. If you believe your rights are being violated you may consult with an attorney and file suit in state or federal court.

Labels: consumer credit repair, consumer reporting agency, FACTA, Fair Credit Reporting Act, FCRA

When it comes to credit repair, the law is on your side. The laws created by the FTC on credit repair are to protect you from the credit reporting agencies, collection agencies and credit repair companies. Legal credit repair methods are not only smarter (because you won’t end up in jail), but they are also less expensive.

Most unlawful credit repair companies have been taken down by the FTC; however there are still some in operation. If you are would like to repair your credit, it’s important that you don’t get lured in by illegal tactics and fraudulent companies. If you follow illegal advice and commit fraud, you may be subject to prosecution. Below is a list of illegal credit repair techniques to look out for:

Illegal Credit Repair Tactics

• Changing your social security number or starting a “new” credit file. Some companies will offer to teach you how to start a new credit file by applying for an Employer Identification Number to use instead of your Social Security number. Avoid and report such companies.


• Companies that ask you to pay for credit repair services before they provide any services.


• Companies that don’t tell you your legal rights and what you can do by yourself for free.


• Remember, it is also illegal to try to obtain credit by lying or making false statements on an application.

Now that you know what to avoid, let’s look at some of the things you can do to repair your credit.

Legal Credit Repair Tactics

• Dispute erroneous information on your credit report. Not only is it legal, it’s your federal right. The Fair Credit Reporting Act gives you the right to dispute items on your credit reports directly with the credit bureaus. The burden of proof is on the credit bureaus. If they can’t verify that information is correct, then it must be deleted.


• Debt validation is a tactic that’s used when dealing with collection accounts. The FDCPA gives you the right to demand that collection agencies validate any debts that they are trying to collect on.


• Negotiating directly with creditors is a tactic that is sometimes used to ask the creditors politely to remove the negative items from your credit report.

If you would like to have professionals repair your credit, check out the top legal credit repair services. If you prefer to do-it-yourself, the credit repair forums are a great place to start!

Labels: collection agencies, credit repair, credit repair forum, credit repair service, credit reporting agencies, debt validation, dispute bad credit, do it yourself credit repair

If you are being harassed by lowly debt collectors, there are ways to stop them cold! You have legal rights and you do not have to endure any type of degrading treatment from these leeches of society. It's not bad enough to them that you are obviously experiencing some financial difficulties; they need to accentuate the problem - it's just in their bloodlines. Check out the following tips to stop debt collector harassment quickly.

Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), debt collectors have their boundaries explained to them. You can use these guidelines to understand what they are allowed to do and what they are not. You should also download a free copy of your credit rights from the Federal Trade Commission's website. Alternatively, you can call 617-542-9595 (National Consumer Law Center) and request a copy of "What You Should Know about Debt Collection".

After you educate yourself about the debt collection realm, you can start ridding your life of any debt collector that has been bothering you. The first thing to do is to record your conversations. Tell the collector that you need a minute to get your recorder turned on. Flick the switch into the microphone of your telephone so that they can hear it. This alone will put you on a whole new level of conversation. Suddenly, they won't feel so brave with their disrespect and lacking professionalism. A tape recorder will definitely put any debt collector in check.

Keep excellent records of your phone conversations with debt collectors. Ask for their names. Write down the times of the calls. Write down the dates. If you are not recording the conversation, take accurate notes of what is said.

If you enter into any payment agreement with a debt collector, tell him that you will be happy to stick to it as soon as you receive it in writing - no other way. If you fail to get your deal in writing, you really have no deal at all. Avoid talking to them on the phone.

Send a letter to the collection agency outlining your understanding of the deal that has been made with the debt collector. Send it to them certified with a reception receipt requested. Show them that you are paying attention and demand professional courtesy and respect. Make sure to keep the copies and receipts in your records.

Add the following if you pay by check: "Cashing this check constitutes payment in full." Write this right on the check itself.

Request that the negative item be removed from your credit report. At a minimum, ensure that the item will be marked as "Paid in full" and not left as unpaid. Again, get everything in writing.

Never let yourself be bullied or rushed. Debt collectors will pressure you greatly to act immediately to remit payment. Tell them no - not until you have everything that has been agreed to in writing. Again, avoid talking to them on the phone altogether. The best way to communicate with them is in writing.

You can stop debt collectors from harassing you and make them show proper respect and professionalism!

Labels: bill collectors, debt collectors, debt settlement, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, FDCPA

Having bad credit in the US is a nightmare. There are do-it-yourself credit repair tips that can help to restore your credit rating to a level that you can be proud of. Our journeys through life sometimes lead us into difficult times. It is not very hard to get behind. Once that happens and your credit rating drops, it will take some time and effort to get it back up. Don't let it get to you though, you can do it. Here are some do-it-yourself credit repair tips to help you along:

Tip #1: Know what you're dealing with. If you want to restore your credit to a given level, you have to know where to start from. You are entitled to a free copy of your credit report once every year from each of the 3 major credit reporting agencies, but if you're looking to do some credit repair, you should purchase them from each credit bureau separately.

Tip #2: Once you know what you are dealing with, you can begin your credit repair efforts. Do-it-yourself credit repair is all about having negative items removed or updated to a positive account. Even if the accounts are "really yours", they must be removed if they are not verified within a reasonable amount of time - normally 30 to 45 days.

It's important to go through your report and dispute negative items in the correct order. Your first letter should be disputing any contact information that is not current. In your second letter, you can start disputing the negative accounts. It's not wise to dispute more than 5 accounts at the same time.

It's up to the credit reporting agency to investigate the information at this point. They do so by contacting the originator of the negative complaint. If that individual or organization does not respond and verify the item in time, the law states that it is to be immediately stricken from your report. Additionally, there is a statute of limitations on almost all credit report items. They are automatically to fall off after a given time period. Check for them and inform the CRAs of any discrepancies.

Tip #3: You need to keep good records. You want to always be a thorn in the side of these reporting agencies. Clerical errors, human laziness, company mergers and bad record keeping are but a few of the reasons why your negative items may not be verified in a timely fashion. This is what you want to happen! Also, send in your dispute forms at the busiest times of the year like major holidays and the peak of tax season.

Tip #4: After you send in the dispute letters, go about your business and make sure that you are not creating any more negative issues concerning your credit. Make your payments on time - every time. After 30 days, the credit bureaus should have sent you another copy of your credit report. They don’t always do this. If not, you may need to call them or write them and request it. Go over it again and check to see if every dispute that you filed has either been removed or verified. The statistics say that around 40% will have disappeared. That's great! Sometimes, it's a lot higher.

Do-it-yourself credit repair is a simplistic endeavor. It only requires organization and a plan. With some attention to detail and patience, your do-it-yourself credit repair efforts will save you thousands of dollars as compared to hiring the services to be done for you. Your credit rating will be enhanced and your life will begin to flow smoother. When it comes to repairing your credit, do it yourself!

Labels: dispute bad credit, dispute credit reports, dispute letters, do it yourself credit repair