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Q. How do you define
credit repair
and optimization?
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A: The credit bureaus, as
well as creditors, are required to follow
accuracy procedures before they can legally
place information on your credit report. Any
information that is not complete, or not
accurate, or not verifiable is not supposed
to remain. During the process creditors and
credit bureaus are forced to back up their
claims of accuracy. Once an error is
identified, if it can't be proven 100%
accurate, the item must be removed. There
are other methods also used in special
situations. These are explained on a
case-by-case basis.
Start by examining a client’s personal
credit file held by each of the major credit
reporting bureaus (TransUnion, Equifax and
Experian). Then, identify any accounts that
contain information that could be considered
adverse. Next, dispute all of the accounts
that contain inaccurate, erroneous, or
obsolete information on the client’s behalf
and have the accounts deleted or updated
accordingly. Finally consult your clients on
how to avoid future negative credit listings
while educating them with helpful tips on
how to use their credit to their advantage
and boost their scores.
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Q. Is Credit Repair
Legal? |
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A: Surprisingly, this is
still often asked. It is because of consumer
complaints about inaccuracies and incomplete
credit reports that congress passed laws
allowing for, and specifying the procedures,
for credit repair. This credit repair
process is 100% legal. In fact, one of the
key laws (The Fair And Accurate Credit
Transactions Act) was recently updated with
many important provisions. Congress has also
created law, The Credit Repair Organizations
Act, which authorizes a third party to
assist in challenging inaccurate credit
reports.
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Q: What are the
Laws
that affect The Credit Repair Process? |
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A: There are both Federal
and State laws that directly impact the
reporting on credit reports. Some have an
indirect affect by clarifying processes for
disputes and collection procedures between
consumers and creditors. Some of these
include: The Fair Credit Reporting Act, The
Fair Debt Collections Practice Act, The
Consumer Credit Reporting Reform Act, The
Consumer Reporting Employment Clarification
Act, as well as HIPPA laws.
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Q.
How long
does it take to repair and/or optimize a credit
file? |
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- A:
The length of time to complete the full
program will vary from client to client.
Each case is unique. The number of issues,
the type of issues, and the participation
level of the clients, creditors and bureaus
will all have an impact on the speed of the
process. Typically, the range will be from
3-4 months.
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Q. Do you suggest setting
up new trade lines, EIN #'s or
file segregation? |
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- A:
Absolutely not! File segregation is the
highly illegal process of creating a new
credit identity with the credit bureaus.
This new clean credit identity is then used
when applying for credit because it does not
contain any of the negative items on your
real credit reports. Any credit repair
company who offers to "repair your credit"
using file segregation is clearly operating
on the wrong side of the law and may get you
in legal trouble as well.
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Q: Does
paying off old bills
repair credit? |
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A: Old debts need to be
handled very carefully. It would take too
long to explain in detail here, but to
summarize one key problem: When you pay an
old debt off, it does NOT remove it from
your credit report, as many consumers
assume. Instead, it is updated as a PAID
collection or PAID charge-off, etc. This Is
better than unpaid, but not as good as it
being removed entirely. Sometimes PAID is
the best you can do, other times you can do
better. There are other factors that need to
be weighed before approaching old debts.
Collection statues need be considered and
will vary from state to state.
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Q: Is it
possible for an
item
that was removed to be put back
on a Credit Report? |
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A: It is possible, but
extremely rare. The credit bureaus are
required by law to send a 5-day notice
before placing something back on a
consumer’s credit report. In addition, there
is a higher burden of verification placed on
the credit bureau. Because of these added
provisions, it is extremely rare for the
same item to be reinserted.
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Q. We want to do the
credit repair and
optimization in-house. Do you have
solutions to help? |
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- A: Sending your clients
to a third party outside credit repair
company often means you risk your clients
going to the competition after they have a
repaired credit file. Reducing the time and
expense while maintaining quality
communication with your clients builds
customer loyalty!
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- CreditWinPro.com offers
multiple credit repair software programs,
The SOHO version, the Networked Version and
the Web version. Please go
HERE to learn more.
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Q. Can the client
do-it-themselves?
Do you have tools to help them? |
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- A: Of course consumers
can do credit repair themselves! The laws
are designed to allow them to do so. The
real question is will they? Our company does
offer a consumer version of our credit
software which my be branded with your
organizations information. This branded
consumer version may be used as a value
added or profit offering. Please contact us
at
sales@creditwinpro.com to discuss your
specific needs.
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