PLEASE CALL US AT 952-285-4319
The FIRST STEP in repairing credit is seeing what is being reported against you and correcting any erroneous information. You would be shocked how often wrong data is being reported. In our tab "Free Credit Report" you will be given instruction on how to go about obtaining your credit report for free. You can request your report once per year. While the free report is useful and of course "Free" you might want to consider paying for a Tri-merge credit report which will show all three credit bureaus which will show not only the credit history but also the credit scores. This will cost you approximately $15-$25. If you would like us to do this for you, you will need to contact us at 952-285-4319 and we'll send you out a credit authorization form which you would fill out and return to us with payment. We would then pull the credit report and send you a copy.
Once you have obtained your credit report and reviewed it for accuracy, you can take the next step. If everything is reporting correctly, that's great. On the other hand, if you find something that is wrong, you need to begin to dispute it. Each bureau will have a dispute procedure you will need to follow. Generally this will involve writing letters and providing the correct information to the bureaus so they can make a correction.
If you don't want to do this work on your own, you may want to use a company to assist you. These are credit repair or credit restoration companies. There may be licensing procedures for these companies within your state. For example, in Minnesota these companies need to be licensed through our commerce department. Feel free to check with the state as well as the Better Business Bureau before hiring any company to help you.
TURN LEMONS INTO LEMONADE-BAD CREDIT CAN BE FIXED WITH BOTH TIME AND EFFORT ON YOUR PART IN RE-ESTABLISHING A POSITIVE HISTORY OF DEBT REPAYMENT. DON'T GIVE UP!
If you like what you see when your're done with the slide show, contact us at 952-285-4319. We work as an affiliate of Armor Credit and can help enroll you in the program. We have had great success with individuals removing false information and re-establishing credit. The key is starting and completing the program. Click on the link:
We work with a company called Armor Credit Services. Click on the link to watch a slideshow explaining their credit score improvement program:
GO FROM THIS :-(
TO THIS :-)
ALSO, did you know that the State of Minnesota publishes a number of consumer booklets that are very educational and FREE? One is titled The Credit Handbook -Click and Feel free to download your own copy. This is just one of the reports available from the state-visit the website listed in the handbook for a complete listing of reports that are available. Take advantage of this great resource from our state.
Services for Credit Restoration and Rebuilding – What You can do to Help Yourself Repair Your Credit
Getting into a position to improve credit is not as difficult as it may seem at first. There are a number of ways that you can improve your credit and repair your credit history and you do not have to do it alone. Consumer credit counseling and debt counseling services are available to you to help you accomplish your goals of setting your credit back on the right track. The first thing to do is make sure that you contact a debt consolidation service as soon as possible if you are having trouble with your credit. The sooner you begin repairs the sooner you can see an improvement in your credit history. There are a number of things to consider when you are looking into consumer credit counseling and accepting a service to assist you in making repairs to your credit history.
The first thing to do is go through and do a search for counseling facilities, many of them have websites making it easy to find what you are looking for. It is important that you fit with the company you are working with and that you are comfortable with the service that you receive. Just because you have, bad credit does not mean that you should simply accept what someone tells you. Research and educate yourself so that you find the best option available to you.
Before getting started, the first thing that you are going to need to do is to collect all of your bills. These should be all the bills that report to your credit as well as all the bills that you need for your every day expense. Go through them prior to talking to a consumer credit counseling agency. The reason for this is that it will speed the process up considerably. You should sort your bills out by type. These should be credit cards or revolving credit. Revolving credit is credit that you can reuse as you pay it off. Installment bills, these are things such as car payments, mortgages and medical bills. You are going to want to create another category that involves utility bills, factor in the average over the space of a year. This incorporates both the high and low seasons where air conditioning and heating costs cause your expenses to rise. You should do this for phone, water, electric and any other essential expenses.
You will also want to do this with food expenses. Many people spend an average at the store every month. Factor this average or even take the time to record how much is spent on non-food items such as cleaning supplies and personal hygiene and how much is spent on food. Most credit counseling organizations are going to ask for this information. After this you are going to want to sort all your nonessentials, these are bills you can cut out and still have your car, home and so forth. These are things like eating out, trips to the movies, or the other nonessential items you may purchase for the house or yourself that are not strictly necessary. Most agencies will ask you to cut out most of all of these depending on the type of service or expense it is.
The reason for this cut is because it increases the amount of disposable income that you have coming in. This in turn may be enough for you to start repairing your credit. However, there are many cases where this will not be enough to help you repair your credit. This is where debt counseling services can provide you with the necessary tools to get out from under overwhelming debt and repair your credit. After you have eliminated all unnecessary expenses and totaled up your payments, you may find that your debt payments exceed the disposable income you have after you take out expenses. This is where consumer credit counseling can come in and assist you.
There are usually some considerations and conditions for these services. The first is that you may find some services require a certain amount of overall debt after expenses. This is not monthly based but total amounts. For example, they require a minimum of $10,000. Some require less others more depending on the service. Research the service to find out first if they can help you and what their conditions are, this information is usually available online but you can also obtain it by calling the individual services. Consultations are usually free and they usually are willing to supply you with a repayment plan that shows how they can help you free of charge.
Keep in mind that most organizations are going to charge you a service fee. This is usually attached to your monthly payment and is designed to defray the costs the company takes for negotiating with your creditors, handling payments and so forth. There are two main types of debt counseling services. The first is going to work out a repayment plan. These are going to be companies that work out a reduction in your overall bill, interest rates and other fees in order to make the payments more manageable. They may or may not consolidate those into a single payment, which you pay to them. They in turn make your payments for you to each of the creditors. The other type of company usually involves debt settlement. These consumer credit counseling services will pay off the debt at a negotiated price and then you pay it off to them. Similar to a buyout by a collection agency, the fees are then reduced and the interest payments usually become the payment for the services rendered.
Credit counseling and debt counseling services can go a long way to helping you repair your credit by working with you to repay your debt in a timely fashion and restore your positive credit history with credit reporting agencies. Conditions for these services do apply so it is important to research each likely service to ensure that they are offering you the best deal as well as the service you need.