There are few topics as polarizing as Credit Repair. Depending on who you talk to, credit repair is usually thought of as impossible, illegal, something you can only do yourself, or something you need professional help to perform. Rarely do you find someone with a perspective on credit repair that is not at the far end of one of these extremes.
The fascinating thing is that in most cases, whatever people believe to be true will be true for them.
The poster on the Yahoo! Answers forum who states that "there is NO SUCH thing as Credit Repair....it's a scam...." will never realize any benefits from repairing their own credit. By believing that credit repair is impossible, they are fulfilling their own prophecy by ignoring their rights to dispute their own credit. By not believing it can be done, they are proving their own point. This person, and every other person who ignores the possibility of credit repair, will fall into the category of people whose credit scores will only improve through the passage of time.
The same is true of people who believe that credit repair companies do not work. Another poster on Yahoo! Answers stated that
"There is no such thing as repairing your credit through someone else. If they can, they are doing this via an illegal way and be extremely careful, as it can end YOU up in jail and fined.
The ONLY way to repair credit is to do it yourself.
Pay your bills on time ;o)"
Along with being misinformed about how the credit repair process works, this person is letting their flawed knowledge keep them from so much as investigating the possibility that a credit repair company may be able to help them out. Once again, in believing that it is impossible for a credit repair company to provide any value, this person has assured that they will never receive any value from a credit repair organization.
It is truly astounding how many people out there believe that credit repair cannot work and credit repair companies are nothing but scams. It is also unfortunate that it is these voices that seem to be the loudest because not only are they making credit repair an impossibility for themselves, but they are convincing so many other people to not even attempt to repair their own credit.
What is equally astounding is how these people can be so passionate about outing credit repair as a pipe dream and a scam when there are so many other people out there who are living proof that credit repair does in fact work. These are the people who have allowed for the possibility that their credit could be repaired and realized the truth about their credit reports.
It is hard to believe that anyone could completely dismiss the idea of credit repair when there are stories like this:
"I signed up for [credit repair firm] a couple of years ago. They basically write a couple of letters a month on your behalf to either businesses or credit reporting companies asking for verification of debt, that kind of thing, or if you instruct them, actually challenging the debt. After a few rounds of this, negative credit items start to fall off your report. You can totally do this yourself, but it's been worth the cost to me (something like $40/month) since I am too lazy to regularly write this kind of letter. I also like how when the credit bureaus do bother to write back, they're always pretty whiny and pissy about it.
Some people seem to think this is some kind of scam (like, paralegals write the letters on your behalf instead of attorneys, and some people don't seem to understand that when you give an attorney "power of attorney," they can write letters as you), but I think it's a fair price for something I was too lazy to do myself. Ultimately, they pretty much got rid of all the negative items on my report except for the ones that were at least semi-legitimate. (I'm not going to pay a parking ticket I got five years ago in a state I'm not going back to.) The ones they did get rid of were things like AOL continuing to charge a credit card after a) I had cancelled the AOL account, and b) I had cancelled the credit card! It just wasn't worth my time to chase this down with AOL or the credit card company.
It's annoying that I'm responsible for fixing something that this bogus industry screws up in the first place, but other than that, I'm a happy "credit repair" customer."
People who believe that credit repair is impossible will never see any benefit from it. People who believe that credit repair can only be done by themselves will only see the benefits of their personal efforts. People who believe that credit repair companies do not work will never invite the opportunity to have a credit repair company work for them.
Ultimately, when it comes to credit repair, we all create our own truths. All anybody can ask of you is to perform your own research instead of letting others choose your truths for you.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Is the Ftc Wrong About Credit Repair?
Credit Repair has its share of detractors, and perhaps for good reason. The FTC campaign against credit repair scams makes perfect sense. But for every consumer that has been disappointed by a questionable credit repair scheme, there are so many more that have benefited from the service of a genuine credit repair professional. Is it time for the FTC to acknowledge the good guys in the credit repair industry?
The credit reporting system is not perfect. There is no debate about this. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) provides the legal process for consumers to correct errors on their credit reports and initiate a credit repair effort if necessary. How common are these errors? How difficult are they to identify and correct?
You may be aware of the often quoted Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) studies which conclude that three-quarters of all credit reports have errors. The Government Accounting Office (GAO) conducted a study of studies on the subject and also identified the severity of the issue. The real need for Credit Repair arises from the potential economic impact of these errors which translate into higher interest rates and less favorable terms for those affected.
To appreciate the need for credit repair you need only look at the numbers. Each of the three major Credit Reporting Agencies maintains data on approximately two hundred million Americans. Per the Public Interest Research Group studies, about one hundred fifty million Americans have errors on their credit reports. The PIRG studies conclude that although some of the errors will have little or no bearing on the credit classification of the consumer, a full twenty five percent of the errors are likely to result in outright denial of credit.
Twenty five percent represents fifty million people. As large a number as this is, it is only reasonable to extrapolate that there is an even larger group who suffer needless economic hardship from errors without experiencing outright credit denial. Between the two statistics are one hundred million Americans who may be paying premium interest rates as the result of errors; one hundred million Americans who may be paying higher mortgage payments, auto loan payments, and credit card payments. How far does the Fair Credit Reporting Act go to resolve this problem and aid or encourage the credit repair process?
The truth is that the Fair Credit Reporting Act does very little to mitigate the impact of credit reporting issues or support the credit repair process. The average person has difficulty reading a credit report, and beyond the face value of the information on the report lays the vast array of virtually inaccessible legal information that would facilitate their ability to manage the chore of credit repair. This includes the basic guidelines of the Fair Credit Reporting Act itself, reporting period limits, dispute rights, etc., as well as other legislation that may come to bear such as the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and individual state statutes of limitation.
The complexity of credit repair in and of itself should not be a problem. The tax code is no less difficult and we all manage to get our tax returns done. For that matter, most of us drive automobiles and have no clue about how an internal combustion engine works, much less how to fix one. The real problem is the public perception of the credit repair industry. Imagine if we were regularly persuaded that accountants were unnecessary; how would we get our taxes done? Or if we were told to stay away from auto mechanics; how many of us would be able to repair or maintain our automobiles adequately?
The accuracy of your credit report is important. Your credit score will determine the cost of every dollar you borrow, and its affect will determine the quality of your life. I understand the FTC campaign against bad credit repair operations. And I understand the importance of the media warnings against illegal credit repair schemes. But for all of the good intentions of the FTC, the result of their myopic anti credit repair attitude has been an enormous cost for millions of people that should have been encouraged to seek professional credit repair help.
For all of the bad publicity surrounding credit repair schemes, there are many excellent professional credit repair businesses. The services provided by these credit repair professionals are no less important than services offered by any financial expert and should be sought out by anyone in need of guidance. As important as the FTC warnings against abusive practices may be, it is time for them to acknowledge the good guys that operate in the credit repair field.
The credit reporting system is not perfect. There is no debate about this. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) provides the legal process for consumers to correct errors on their credit reports and initiate a credit repair effort if necessary. How common are these errors? How difficult are they to identify and correct?
You may be aware of the often quoted Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) studies which conclude that three-quarters of all credit reports have errors. The Government Accounting Office (GAO) conducted a study of studies on the subject and also identified the severity of the issue. The real need for Credit Repair arises from the potential economic impact of these errors which translate into higher interest rates and less favorable terms for those affected.
To appreciate the need for credit repair you need only look at the numbers. Each of the three major Credit Reporting Agencies maintains data on approximately two hundred million Americans. Per the Public Interest Research Group studies, about one hundred fifty million Americans have errors on their credit reports. The PIRG studies conclude that although some of the errors will have little or no bearing on the credit classification of the consumer, a full twenty five percent of the errors are likely to result in outright denial of credit.
Twenty five percent represents fifty million people. As large a number as this is, it is only reasonable to extrapolate that there is an even larger group who suffer needless economic hardship from errors without experiencing outright credit denial. Between the two statistics are one hundred million Americans who may be paying premium interest rates as the result of errors; one hundred million Americans who may be paying higher mortgage payments, auto loan payments, and credit card payments. How far does the Fair Credit Reporting Act go to resolve this problem and aid or encourage the credit repair process?
The truth is that the Fair Credit Reporting Act does very little to mitigate the impact of credit reporting issues or support the credit repair process. The average person has difficulty reading a credit report, and beyond the face value of the information on the report lays the vast array of virtually inaccessible legal information that would facilitate their ability to manage the chore of credit repair. This includes the basic guidelines of the Fair Credit Reporting Act itself, reporting period limits, dispute rights, etc., as well as other legislation that may come to bear such as the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and individual state statutes of limitation.
The complexity of credit repair in and of itself should not be a problem. The tax code is no less difficult and we all manage to get our tax returns done. For that matter, most of us drive automobiles and have no clue about how an internal combustion engine works, much less how to fix one. The real problem is the public perception of the credit repair industry. Imagine if we were regularly persuaded that accountants were unnecessary; how would we get our taxes done? Or if we were told to stay away from auto mechanics; how many of us would be able to repair or maintain our automobiles adequately?
The accuracy of your credit report is important. Your credit score will determine the cost of every dollar you borrow, and its affect will determine the quality of your life. I understand the FTC campaign against bad credit repair operations. And I understand the importance of the media warnings against illegal credit repair schemes. But for all of the good intentions of the FTC, the result of their myopic anti credit repair attitude has been an enormous cost for millions of people that should have been encouraged to seek professional credit repair help.
For all of the bad publicity surrounding credit repair schemes, there are many excellent professional credit repair businesses. The services provided by these credit repair professionals are no less important than services offered by any financial expert and should be sought out by anyone in need of guidance. As important as the FTC warnings against abusive practices may be, it is time for them to acknowledge the good guys that operate in the credit repair field.
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