Bad credit repair advice should come with a WARNING label. Who’s giving the advice about cutting up & canceling your credit cards? Who’s telling you about “guaranteed” A+ credit repair or about paying off a collection to improve your credit?
Beware the well-intentioned “experts” dropping credit repair “bombs” all over the Internet!
Thank goodness the Internet didn’t exist when I got whacked with ID Theft back in the 80′s.
I assure you, I would’ve been so screwed up I’d still be paying “shrinks” and suffering from U-G-L-Y credit.
Everywhere you click today, you stumble upon people (all well-intentioned, I’m certain) freely offering their version of credit repair and credit improvement advice.
Today, I stumbled upon a personal finance website run by a guy named Jeremy. Jeremy’s “15 Ways to Establish and Improve Your Credit History and FICO Score” caught my attention.
Click Read More for Jeremy’s 15 strategies. More importantly, check out my response to several well-intentioned people whose comments could hand you serious problems if you followed their advice.
ROAD TO HELL IS PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS
1. Pay Your Bills on Time
2. Don’t Bounce Checks
3. Start Small
4. Visit Local Lenders (**that is, pursue credit opportunities at your local bank)
5. Apply for a Secured Credit Card
6. Apply for a Small Loan or Credit Card with a Co-Signer
7. Review Your Credit Report Once a year
8. Review Your Credit Report a Few Months Before Requesting a Major Loan (**this is one of the biggest mistakes I see people make. YOU pull your credit before you give anybody else permission to pull your credit. You could lose leverage if you find unpleasant “surprises” on your reports!)
9. Avoid Letting Accounts be Turned Over to a Collection Agency
10. Avoid Having Judgments Filed Against You (**judgments are as bad as bankruptcy)
11. When Denied Credit, Review Your Credit Report
12. Try to Avoid Constantly Switching Employers (**stability matters to potential creditors)
13. Try to Avoid Frequent Changes in Residence (**same as above)
14. Work to Increase Your Income (**um, okay, I’ll do this right away
15. Work to Decrease Your Debt
All good suggestions, Jeremy. What you see below are my responses to INACCURATE ADVICE offered by people commenting on Jeremy’s post:
@Edgar 30% of your FICO derives from how much revolving debt you carry. You better believe a high credit utilization KILLS your scores! Of course, you’re asking about CREDIT improvement,not about insane interest paid for carrying debt. Hit a grand slam: pay down the card debt AND improve your scores. BTW, banks en masse are SLASHING credit limits on everyone (it seems), regardless of your credit and payment history. Don’t take it personally, unless your scores drop 90 points overnight when you’re in escrow for a new home. Yep, happened to a guy named Mitch the other day. He was livid when he asked me for help.
@Jeremy Unfortunately, how LONG a judgment scorches a person’s credit file depends on the subject STATE’S laws (click here for your state’s collection laws). It’s the STATE in which you live. Yes, judgments are BAD news. The good news though is that many judgments can be vacated, i.e. process serving “errors” to name one.
@payday quick cash Seriously, that’s BAD advice (and I say this with all respect). Do NOT think about living a cash existence. We don’t live in the early 20th Century with money stored under your mattress. EVERYONE needs a credit history. Email me or challenge me if you don’t believe me. EVERYONE!!!! In fact, while you have me fired up, do NOT cancel “seasoned” credit cards. I’m not writing a book here, so I’ll leave it at that.
@creditscoreadvance Why do YOU guys always use the word “guaranteed”? When my real estate customers and I see the word guaranteed from a credit DISrepair person, I tell them to sprint away. GUARANTEED in credit repair is (or should be) a 4-letter word. Don’t believe me: go to www.ftc.org
The only guarantee I give about credit help is to do my best. Credit is NOT a one-size fits all!
@Tom paying off a collection (or however it’s reported now) will NOT improve your scores! You MUST negotiate a “pay for favorable reporting.” Don’t fall for the uninformed credit “experts” polluting the Internet preaching “delete this, delete that.” A deletion “might not” be the preferred solution, especially on a seasoned account. On a seasoned account, negotiate a Pays As Agreed. The credit union will hug you for not stiffing them and will report “pays as agreed” even if they initially tell you the bureaus won’t allow it.
@Jim Sorry, Jim, the company that did such a great job for you managed to get two of my real estate customers SUED. Your glowing recommendation for the “expert-credit-advice” folks (https://expert-credit-advice.com) is not universally felt. Sorry!
It’s no wonder so many people are distrusting of the “credit” information they receive. Among these comments alone I could get ammunition for a year on what NOT to do or how to avoid getting sued. The 10 recommendations provide a (obvious) starting point. For instance, it’s almost a “DOH” reaction to hear someone say, “Pay your bills…and on time and you’ll help your credit.” Ah, okay! Kinda seems obvious, doesn’t it? What isn’t obvious is the HUGE penalty for carrying revolving debt ~ 30% of your credit scores get whacked. What’s considered “high” credit card debt? I constantly see credit pretenders copying each other saying 30% is high. I say 15%. How do I know? I’ve reviewed 1000s of credit reports. However, keep in mind, no two credit files are the same, so advice for Jonny might not be applicable for Susie.
Also, it’s not logical for your credit scores to DROP once you pay off a collection. You would think you pay off a collection and your credit scores go up. NOT SO!!!!! Absolutely do not believe a debt collector or a credit repair “expert” when they try to convince to do “what’s right for your credit.” BS
Bad credit repair advice destroys bad situations. Bad to worse really fast. Please scroll down & leave me a comment. Tell me about your credit situation. If you have recovered from a credit meltdown, what worked for you? Did you push a button and wake up to good credit?
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