Quoted: You cannot "repair" your credit. You can only pay your bills on time--and the passage of time will improve your score. PAY THE BILLS YOU MAKE ON TIME!! It's the only way.
|
Good advice for living, but wrong about credit repair.
First of all, don't fall for one of these "scams" that promise credit repair. They can only "contest" certain items on your report and get the items removed while the authenticity is being researched. That being said, per the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1968 (hereafter referred to as "The Act') credit report items have a statute of limitations of 7 years, and 10 years for bankruptcies. So, if the debt is over 7 years old even if it is unpaid, you can contact the credit bureaus and demand that the individual items over 7 years old be removed.
NOTE: THIS MEANS 7 YEARS PAST THE LAST ACTIVITY! That means that the debt could be 6 years and 364 days old and if a collection agent talks you into making even a small payment in the 11th hour, the clock starts all over again for another 7 years!
Additionally,
UNSECURED DEBT, ie credit cards, medical debts, and other debts that cannot be repossessed or foreclosed upon usually have a statute of limitation of only 2-3 years in the state courts. (Check your individual state laws first!) This means that if you have a credit card debt that is over 2 years old, they can sue you with one hand and pizz in the other and we'll see which hand gets full first! Of course, the creditor will threaten to sue you, but they get paid only if they collect and letters are cheap. They usually won't really sue if the debt is over 2 years old because their chances of collecting their fee is almost nil and they know it.
YOU CAN FIRE YOUR COLLECTION AGENT! That's right, all you have to do is send them a "Cease and Desist" letter telling them politely but firmly that you have chosen to settle your debt with the original lender. And, if they call you again,
you will prosecute
them to the fullest extent of the law through your state's attorney's general consumer protection division. (The bill collector will threaten you with death when you pull that trick out of your sleeve, but the bill collector is "firing blanks" and their bullets can't hurt you!)
When you have
them over a barrel like this, call up the original creditor and offer them 10 cents on the dollar to settle the debt. (No, they won't accept it
but when asking for a kitten start with asking for a pony!) They will counter this by asking for the amount in full including interest.
DO NOT PAY INTEREST, PERIOD!!! And do not negotiate anything more that 50 cents on the dollar. They will usually accept your offer and say that they will have to have that amount by Fed-Ex the next day paid in certified funds. Tell them that you will send the amount immediately
AFTER you have received a written agreement that THE WHOLE DAMN THING WILL BE REMOVED FROM YOUR CREDIT REPORT AS SOON AS IT IS PAID, AND NOT ONE PENNY BEFORE YOU GET IT IN WRITING!They will say that they can't do that, then YOU hang up the phone! GUARANTEED, They will call you back in a day or two and agree to your terms. This gets the mess off of your report and your report is "Repaired" Note: Before paying-off ANY bad report on your credit bureau report, GET IT IN WRITING that they WILL REMOVE THE ITEM FROM YOUR REPORT AS SOON AS IT IS PAID. GET IT IN WRITING!!!
and last, but not least, if they CAN repossess or foreclose,
they will...If they can't, use the above.
There used to be a great book called "Back-Off!" by Benjamin Dover (pseudonim) that went into great detail about most of what I wrote here. I don't think that the book is in print anymore, but I've got 3 Platinum cards in my wallet and a composite credit score over 700 that says it works.