When you have a charge-off record, it only means that you are not a good candidate for credit. You will probably be denied each time you apply for credit cards, housing loans or even car loans. Your credit history would even be scrutinized if you want to borrow money for business. If you do not want such inconveniences, you should make sure that you have a charge-off-free credit report. But if you already have one, then restoring your financial credibility should be your goal.
There is actually one way you can restore your credibility after your creditor has considered your debt a charge-off and that is to settle it.
First Step: Check Financial Capability
To pay your debt resulting to this Credit Card Charge-Off - What Does It Mean and What Should You Do About It?, you must be aware where your finances stand. You will have an idea how you will manage your charge offs if you know where to get the money to pay for it. This is the time that you will have to take a really good look on the way you spend money, how much debt you owe and how you prioritize debt payments. You can choose to pay the debt in full or in partial payments depending on the outcome of your
Second Step: Create a Repayment Plan
Of course, it would be wise if you would have a repayment plan that you will present to your creditor. It would be considered to be a responsible thing to do and it would show how committed you are in removing the charge-off record on your credit report. Your repayment plan should be realistic. Do not make any offers to make a payment that you can not really make. Remember, that your creditor will give you just this one chance to correct your past credit mistakes.
Third Step: Negotiate with Your Creditor
As soon as you have a repayment plan, you are now ready to face your creditor and offer to pay the Credit Card Credit Card Charge-Off - What Does It Mean and What Should You Do About It? - What Does It Mean and What Should You Do About It?. You should make sure that you are speaking directly to an authorized representative of your bank. Also important is to document everything that will be agreed on. In cases where the charge-off is paid, it would appear on your credit report as "paid as agreed".
Once you have removed the charge-off record on your credit report, your financial credibility will be re-established. You will no longer be inconvenienced everytime your credit report is reviewed for a loan. Now, all you have to do is to make sure that these mistakes be prevented in the future.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
5 Simple Steps of How to Remove Charge Offs From Your Credit Report
1. Be aggressive in repairing your own credit.
Credit repair is not going to just happen. Bad credit is not something you can ignore, hoping that it will work itself out. Things like credit card charge offs, accounts that went to collections, and late payments will stay on your credit report for 7 years. But once bills have been paid off it is much easier to have them removed. The easiest way to remove a charge off is to send the credit bureau a challenge letter, also called a dispute letter.
2. Dispute the items you want removed.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act gives you the right to dispute any negative items on your credit report. This means you can challenge repossessions, charge offs, collections accounts, bankruptcies, foreclosures, judgments, tax liens, and anything else you disagree with. The thing to keep in mind is that the law says you are allowed to dispute anything, so go for the charge offs for sure.
3. How to dispute items on your credit report.
First contact the credit bureaus and request a free copy of your credit report. You are entitled to one free report each year from each bureau. So as long as you have not already requested one this year, you can get a free one. Send each bureau that lists the negative item a letter telling them to remove the specific item you want removed, and why. Make a photo copy of the credit report and circle each of the items you are disputing. Put a number next to each circle, that number should correspond to a number on your letter. This makes it fool proof for the bureaus to figure out which item you are talking about in your letter.
4. The investigation process
There is nothing for you to do now but sit back, relax, and wait. The credit bureaus have 30 days to investigate the items you dispute. That time starts when they receive the letter. They will contact the original creditor notifying them of your dispute and asking them if they agree or disagree with you. From there the credit bureau must provide proof through documentation that the entries are valid. If the entries can not be validated within 30 days from the time they receive the letter, it must be removed from your credit report.
5. Following up
It is critical that you follow up with the credit bureaus. A trend that is starting to emerge with them is they simply don't remove items that have not been validated, or sometimes they don't even conduct an investigation. So if you don't get a letter within a couple weeks after the investigation should have been complete, make a call to them and find out what happened. Whatever they say, ask them to send a letter for your records.
So lets recap what you need to do. First, get a copy of your credit report. Second, review your credit report and make note of any items on the report that you want removed. Third, write your dispute letter then circle and number each item on the report that you are disputing. Fourth, sit back and wait for the investigation to be completed. Fifth, follow up if you have not received an answer within 6 weeks.
Follow these simple steps and you will be well on your way to easy credit repair. To make things even more simple, order a set of proven credit repair letters from an expert. The reason you should do that is their letters have been proven to work, because they have used them successfully to dispute items for their clients. A well written dispute letter will practically guarantee success.
Credit repair is not going to just happen. Bad credit is not something you can ignore, hoping that it will work itself out. Things like credit card charge offs, accounts that went to collections, and late payments will stay on your credit report for 7 years. But once bills have been paid off it is much easier to have them removed. The easiest way to remove a charge off is to send the credit bureau a challenge letter, also called a dispute letter.
2. Dispute the items you want removed.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act gives you the right to dispute any negative items on your credit report. This means you can challenge repossessions, charge offs, collections accounts, bankruptcies, foreclosures, judgments, tax liens, and anything else you disagree with. The thing to keep in mind is that the law says you are allowed to dispute anything, so go for the charge offs for sure.
3. How to dispute items on your credit report.
First contact the credit bureaus and request a free copy of your credit report. You are entitled to one free report each year from each bureau. So as long as you have not already requested one this year, you can get a free one. Send each bureau that lists the negative item a letter telling them to remove the specific item you want removed, and why. Make a photo copy of the credit report and circle each of the items you are disputing. Put a number next to each circle, that number should correspond to a number on your letter. This makes it fool proof for the bureaus to figure out which item you are talking about in your letter.
4. The investigation process
There is nothing for you to do now but sit back, relax, and wait. The credit bureaus have 30 days to investigate the items you dispute. That time starts when they receive the letter. They will contact the original creditor notifying them of your dispute and asking them if they agree or disagree with you. From there the credit bureau must provide proof through documentation that the entries are valid. If the entries can not be validated within 30 days from the time they receive the letter, it must be removed from your credit report.
5. Following up
It is critical that you follow up with the credit bureaus. A trend that is starting to emerge with them is they simply don't remove items that have not been validated, or sometimes they don't even conduct an investigation. So if you don't get a letter within a couple weeks after the investigation should have been complete, make a call to them and find out what happened. Whatever they say, ask them to send a letter for your records.
So lets recap what you need to do. First, get a copy of your credit report. Second, review your credit report and make note of any items on the report that you want removed. Third, write your dispute letter then circle and number each item on the report that you are disputing. Fourth, sit back and wait for the investigation to be completed. Fifth, follow up if you have not received an answer within 6 weeks.
Follow these simple steps and you will be well on your way to easy credit repair. To make things even more simple, order a set of proven credit repair letters from an expert. The reason you should do that is their letters have been proven to work, because they have used them successfully to dispute items for their clients. A well written dispute letter will practically guarantee success.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Free Credit Repair Info - How and Where to Get It
The credit repair industry is enormous at present. It seems like companies are showing up all over the place. There are also websites showing up all over the Internet about credit repair. Many of those are intended to give you information for free to confuse you to the point where you click on an ad for a credit repair company. Others really do mean to give you useful help and valid free credit repair info. The fact is that credit repair is pretty simple once you understand it and if dealing with credit has been part of your profession. But to the layman, it can be overwhelming.
Having researched the topic I would like to provide some suggestions for good resources to look into for free credit repair information. One top place to go is the FTC. Simply search "FTC credit repair" and their site will be the top link in the results. Read that page and look over the PDF page too.
Another great place to visit is credit repair forums. Many exist on the internet. The users often ask questions, and more experienced people, even credit repair professionals, will answer the questions. However, you could read for days on these forums. They will all offer you the basics and they all go into depth on different aspects of free credit repair info. These may be well worth your time and energy.
One other excellent thing to seek out is website that provide software people can use to create personalized credit repair letters. There are a few of them out there, but there may be some searching involved in finding them. After all, since they're free services, they won't have ads all over the web. Just keep in mind that there are sites where you can use this software for free. And you should not have to download anything to your computer to do so. If you are asked to enter your credit card information or to download anything, my recommendation is to leave that website. Look for "self credit repair" and keep an eye out for services that offer truly free use of online software. They can allow you to make your credit dispute letters in a fraction of the time.
Having researched the topic I would like to provide some suggestions for good resources to look into for free credit repair information. One top place to go is the FTC. Simply search "FTC credit repair" and their site will be the top link in the results. Read that page and look over the PDF page too.
Another great place to visit is credit repair forums. Many exist on the internet. The users often ask questions, and more experienced people, even credit repair professionals, will answer the questions. However, you could read for days on these forums. They will all offer you the basics and they all go into depth on different aspects of free credit repair info. These may be well worth your time and energy.
One other excellent thing to seek out is website that provide software people can use to create personalized credit repair letters. There are a few of them out there, but there may be some searching involved in finding them. After all, since they're free services, they won't have ads all over the web. Just keep in mind that there are sites where you can use this software for free. And you should not have to download anything to your computer to do so. If you are asked to enter your credit card information or to download anything, my recommendation is to leave that website. Look for "self credit repair" and keep an eye out for services that offer truly free use of online software. They can allow you to make your credit dispute letters in a fraction of the time.
How Repair Credit Help Products Can Improve Your Credit
Understanding how repair credit help products and services work and how different they are from one another is your first step with addressing your strategy to improve your credit rating. If you are going to improve your score rather easily, you first must know how to pick the right product for your situation. Considering how important our credit is to us in today's society, it's a wonder how anyone can survive with bad credit these days. From getting a job to finding a descent place to live, bad credit can adversely effect all aspects of your life in today's world.
You also need to know how repair credit help services can change all that for you. By taking care of your problems now, you could prevent so much more problems down the road. Most people who are in need of repair credit services generally don't know where to begin to look for some qualified help and just wind up getting ripped off, and without seeing any kind of improvement with their situation at all.
When first deciding and then trying to learn about how repair credit help products and services can actually help you, it's best to use a source with a proven track record and is reliable for you to begin with. If your serious about improving your credit, you must be prepared to do a lot of independent research as well in order to begin. The earlier you get help with your credit issues, the easier it will be down the road to fix.
By finding a source who is familiar with how repair credit help products and services actually work, and what are the best ones will prove to be invaluable to you. credit repair services Not only would they know the best options for every particular situation, they most certainly would also know the best products or services needed to achieve this particular issue.
Whether you decide to use a reputable source with a proven track record, or if you plan on learning how repair credit help services work through your own independent research, you must make sure you fully understand what these services actually specialize in, and whether or not they can help you. A big mistake people make is they never really learn how repair credit help products and services differ from each other. And because of this, they never really learn how to fix their credit issues effectively.
Learning and understanding all the variations of how credit repair help products and services are available on the web these days is no easy task. It's important that you are prepared to learn and be willing to educate yourself as to what the differences are, and how they fit into your own situation. Also, if you find a resource that you trust make certain that they also give you lots of options to choose from before making a final decision of the service your going to use. Never just look at one company or product and decide they must be the chosen ones because you have a good feeling towards them. That would be a big mistake.
Seeing as how repair credit help services are all around us, please understand however, they are not all equal. When deciding which product or service is right for you, make certain you fully understand all aspects of your situation and what each offer pertains to that uniqueness.
You also need to know how repair credit help services can change all that for you. By taking care of your problems now, you could prevent so much more problems down the road. Most people who are in need of repair credit services generally don't know where to begin to look for some qualified help and just wind up getting ripped off, and without seeing any kind of improvement with their situation at all.
When first deciding and then trying to learn about how repair credit help products and services can actually help you, it's best to use a source with a proven track record and is reliable for you to begin with. If your serious about improving your credit, you must be prepared to do a lot of independent research as well in order to begin. The earlier you get help with your credit issues, the easier it will be down the road to fix.
By finding a source who is familiar with how repair credit help products and services actually work, and what are the best ones will prove to be invaluable to you. credit repair services Not only would they know the best options for every particular situation, they most certainly would also know the best products or services needed to achieve this particular issue.
Whether you decide to use a reputable source with a proven track record, or if you plan on learning how repair credit help services work through your own independent research, you must make sure you fully understand what these services actually specialize in, and whether or not they can help you. A big mistake people make is they never really learn how repair credit help products and services differ from each other. And because of this, they never really learn how to fix their credit issues effectively.
Learning and understanding all the variations of how credit repair help products and services are available on the web these days is no easy task. It's important that you are prepared to learn and be willing to educate yourself as to what the differences are, and how they fit into your own situation. Also, if you find a resource that you trust make certain that they also give you lots of options to choose from before making a final decision of the service your going to use. Never just look at one company or product and decide they must be the chosen ones because you have a good feeling towards them. That would be a big mistake.
Seeing as how repair credit help services are all around us, please understand however, they are not all equal. When deciding which product or service is right for you, make certain you fully understand all aspects of your situation and what each offer pertains to that uniqueness.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Free Credit Repair Advice - How to Repair Your Own Credit
When you are trying to repair your credit, it may be best to try to fix it yourself. If you suffer from bad credit you will find that numerous firms will contact you claiming to be able to assist you in rebuilding your credit for a fee and once you hire them they will take care of everything. However, the truth of the matter is that fixing your credit on your own may be the best thing you could possibly do.
Fixing your own credit can be a difficult process but many who opt to fix their own credit do not find it that difficult to do. More and more people are beginning to repair their own credit. If you want to go this route you need to first contact one or all the three major credit reporting agencies, Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian. Ask them to send you a free credit report. The FACT act was passed in 2001 by Congress and the act lets every consumer obtain one free copy of their credit report annually. credit repair advice
Once you have obtained a copy of your credit report, you will need to take some time to check all the information for accuracy. You will most likely find some mistakes. These discrepancies may be due to the fact that that an old account that you had has been paid off but it is still being reflected on you current statement. credit repair advice
Once you have made a list of all of the mistakes on your credit report, mark them on the credit report or on a sheet of paper. Send a copy of the report to the agency you obtained your credit report from. You may want to contact them by telephone as well. When they receive your complaint they will ask for proof that what is on the report is indeed an error. This is why it is best to send a copy of your credit report to be on the safe side. When they check the error they will notify you saying that they have fixed the mistake or that they do not have enough proof to take the mistake off of your credit report. If you want to successfully improve your credit you need to be stringent when it comes to making sure that all the information on the credit report is correct and reflected on your statement.
A big part of beginning any type of credit repair plan, whether you are repairing your credit yourself or using a debt counselor, is making a long-term plan to keep control of your finances so that you will not make the same mistakes you made with your credit in the past. Credit repair counselors are there to assist you but what is the use of paying their fee if you later find out the firm is not reputable? credit repair advice
Repairing your credit is very time consuming and it will require that you take it very seriously. Over a period of time, you will see the positive and favorable results. You will soon know that these results came about through your own motivation and your own efforts. There is absolutely no better feeling.
Source......
Link Building Service
Fixing your own credit can be a difficult process but many who opt to fix their own credit do not find it that difficult to do. More and more people are beginning to repair their own credit. If you want to go this route you need to first contact one or all the three major credit reporting agencies, Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian. Ask them to send you a free credit report. The FACT act was passed in 2001 by Congress and the act lets every consumer obtain one free copy of their credit report annually. credit repair advice
Once you have obtained a copy of your credit report, you will need to take some time to check all the information for accuracy. You will most likely find some mistakes. These discrepancies may be due to the fact that that an old account that you had has been paid off but it is still being reflected on you current statement. credit repair advice
Once you have made a list of all of the mistakes on your credit report, mark them on the credit report or on a sheet of paper. Send a copy of the report to the agency you obtained your credit report from. You may want to contact them by telephone as well. When they receive your complaint they will ask for proof that what is on the report is indeed an error. This is why it is best to send a copy of your credit report to be on the safe side. When they check the error they will notify you saying that they have fixed the mistake or that they do not have enough proof to take the mistake off of your credit report. If you want to successfully improve your credit you need to be stringent when it comes to making sure that all the information on the credit report is correct and reflected on your statement.
A big part of beginning any type of credit repair plan, whether you are repairing your credit yourself or using a debt counselor, is making a long-term plan to keep control of your finances so that you will not make the same mistakes you made with your credit in the past. Credit repair counselors are there to assist you but what is the use of paying their fee if you later find out the firm is not reputable? credit repair advice
Repairing your credit is very time consuming and it will require that you take it very seriously. Over a period of time, you will see the positive and favorable results. You will soon know that these results came about through your own motivation and your own efforts. There is absolutely no better feeling.
Source......
Link Building Service
How Does a Credit Repair Advice Company Work? Are They Trust Worthy?
A lot of people are unaware that credit repair advice companies fall into 2 distinguish types. People believe that all the credit repair bureaus are exactly the same, but the difference between the two types is big. In this article, we will take a close look at the difference between the two types, and also try to find out if they are of any good use for you.
Firstly, let's get rid of the scammers. The first type of repair advice companies, is what I will call the scammers. These are the "con men", and "con women", that have ads, all over the Internet, claiming to be able to remove any negative credit information from your credit report, including bankruptcies. credit repair advice
Seriously, do you really think that is possible? As you already probably know, bankruptcy is a process of federal law. If it was possible to remove the information about them earlier than the statutory 10 years that the information has to stay on your credit report, don't you think the government would step in and close the loophole?
I mean, It is the US government that has decided that this kind of information has to be on your credit report for that period of time. And let us also consider that, by some amazing magical way, it was possible to withdraw bankruptcy or bad credit information from your file. What would happen next time when you applied for a credit or a loan?
I mean, when you are asked on the application; "have you ever been made bankrupt?", what will you answer? Will you lie to them? If you use your common sense here, you do understand that this is impossible. My advice for you is to stay away from companies who claim they can fix your credit report or credit score, this way. credit repair advice
The second type of credit repair companies, however, operates quite legally.
They make it absolutely clear that the only information, they can erase from your credit report is the incorrect kind of information. What that means is that if you find that someone has placed incorrect information on your credit file, you can get it removed under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, also known as the FCRA.
The thing is that you need to know what the information is which incorrect, and to find that out you need to get hold of an "up to date" copy of your credit report. Once you've done that and found the part in your report which requires changing, all you need to do is to raise a dispute with both the credit bureau and the company which placed it there, in the first place. In fact, the credit repair agencies only handle that dispute part on your behalf so the question is; why would you pay them to do something so simple, when you can easily do it yourself? credit repair advice
As you have read in this article, the only credit repair companies you should be involved with, is those who can provide you with the information you need to be "up to date" with in your credit file, not those who claim to resolve or remove something that by law not can be fixed. Start of with a new fresh up to date credit report, and take it from there.
Source......
Link Building Service
Firstly, let's get rid of the scammers. The first type of repair advice companies, is what I will call the scammers. These are the "con men", and "con women", that have ads, all over the Internet, claiming to be able to remove any negative credit information from your credit report, including bankruptcies. credit repair advice
Seriously, do you really think that is possible? As you already probably know, bankruptcy is a process of federal law. If it was possible to remove the information about them earlier than the statutory 10 years that the information has to stay on your credit report, don't you think the government would step in and close the loophole?
I mean, It is the US government that has decided that this kind of information has to be on your credit report for that period of time. And let us also consider that, by some amazing magical way, it was possible to withdraw bankruptcy or bad credit information from your file. What would happen next time when you applied for a credit or a loan?
I mean, when you are asked on the application; "have you ever been made bankrupt?", what will you answer? Will you lie to them? If you use your common sense here, you do understand that this is impossible. My advice for you is to stay away from companies who claim they can fix your credit report or credit score, this way. credit repair advice
The second type of credit repair companies, however, operates quite legally.
They make it absolutely clear that the only information, they can erase from your credit report is the incorrect kind of information. What that means is that if you find that someone has placed incorrect information on your credit file, you can get it removed under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, also known as the FCRA.
The thing is that you need to know what the information is which incorrect, and to find that out you need to get hold of an "up to date" copy of your credit report. Once you've done that and found the part in your report which requires changing, all you need to do is to raise a dispute with both the credit bureau and the company which placed it there, in the first place. In fact, the credit repair agencies only handle that dispute part on your behalf so the question is; why would you pay them to do something so simple, when you can easily do it yourself? credit repair advice
As you have read in this article, the only credit repair companies you should be involved with, is those who can provide you with the information you need to be "up to date" with in your credit file, not those who claim to resolve or remove something that by law not can be fixed. Start of with a new fresh up to date credit report, and take it from there.
Source......
Link Building Service
Friday, September 17, 2010
Start Your Recovery From Bad Credit NOW
Credit has a very important place in most people's lives today. A good credit rating is essential for many of the things we do everyday, such as, use a credit card, rent an apartment, qualify for financing for large purchase department store items, or buy a car, just to name a few.
If, for whatever reason, you don't make timely payments to a creditor or miss a payment, your creditor reports this to the credit bureau, and it is added to your credit report. credit repair services If you do this too often, or default on a loan, you will have a bad credit rating and a low credit score. Once you have a bad credit rating, many doors will be closed to you: you will be unable to obtain most kinds of loans, and without a credit card you won't be able to shop online, or rent a car or do many of the other things you have grown accustomed to doing.
For these reasons it is important that you protect your good credit rating. However, if misfortune causes a change in your circumstances and your credit worthiness becomes an issue, you should begin your credit repair as soon as possible.
How to Repair Your Credit Rating
Credit repair is usually a slow process requiring you to build your credit rating little by little over a long period of time. Although you might consider going to a reputable company offering credit repair services, you can effectively repair your own credit.
A good place to start repairing your credit is to get your credit report from the credit bureau, and examine it carefully for errors. If there are no apparent errors, you can then begin your credit repair.
First, obtain a secured credit card and use it regularly but sensibly. Pay your monthly installment amounts in full and on time. Secured credit cards are issued by companies that usually cater to people who have bad credit. These types of credit cards usually require that you give an initial deposit equal to the card's credit limit. For example, you give the company $500 for a card with a $500 credit limit. They have the right to use that deposit against any balance you have that remains outstanding for too long.
Using this formula, the credit card company assumes no risk because you will never owe more money than they are holding as your deposit. Secured cards also require annual fees that regular credit cards do not.
Using secured credit cards and paying the bills on time is one of the best ways to improve your credit rating. You develop a history that shows lenders that you take your debts seriously, and that is what lenders want from you -- to be paid in full and on time.
To your advantage, paying bills on time not only helps in establishing a good history for you, it eliminates late fees and other financial penalties that make paying your bills so difficult.
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