Credit Repair: How To Help Yourself
There are a lot of misconceptions about credit repair. One misconception that many people seem to have is that the work on their credit would be better off in the hands of a credit repair company. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Credit repair companies are extremely limited in what they can do for your credit. Legally, they can really only send letters to the bureaus on your behalf. What makes this worse is that the bureaus, in turn, may flag any dispute as "frivolous" that they suspect comes from a credit repair company. With the extremely limited scope of tactics available to credit repair companies it probably is easy to see how most consumers will be much better off if they choose to help themselves instead.So that brings us to the question:
How can you best help yourself with your own credit repair?
The first thing you can do is make sure the information you get is reliable and up to date. In the last 5 years, countless credit repair "gurus" have sprung up selling everything from $7 eBooks to $500 courses. At best, the majority of these just re-use the same information that has been covered over and over. At worst, they are plagiarized rip-offs, or even worse yet, are loaded with illegal tactics (such as CPN numbers) and false information that could leave you worse off than when you started. I've been in this business over 15 years and I've learned that the best and most affective approach to credit repair is both honest and legal. Based on this sense of ethics, we've developed powerful techniques that aren't found anywhere else (though copycats and plagiarizers do exist!)
The second thing you can do if you plan to do your own credit repair is to make sure you have a good source for help and support. Years ago, I used to sell a "credit repair book" just like everyone else. I soon realized that to be successful, consumers needed hands-on support to help them apply the credit repair information they were learning.
The third thing you can do to help yourself with your own credit repair is to NEVER used "canned" or pre-written template dispute letters. These letters used to be great... they saved time, they help people who weren't good at writing to get the job done, and they WORKED. Things have changed now, though.
Now the bureaus are using OCR technology to compare every letter they receive against hundreds of thousands of letters that they have already received and scanned. If they find the letter to be a canned or pre-written letter that they've received thousands of times, they can deem it to be "frivolous". Guess what that means for all those canned pre-written dispute letters out there? Frivolous! There are, of course, ways around OCR technology like hand writing your disputes.
How can you best help yourself with your own credit repair?
The first thing you can do is make sure the information you get is reliable and up to date. In the last 5 years, countless credit repair "gurus" have sprung up selling everything from $7 eBooks to $500 courses. At best, the majority of these just re-use the same information that has been covered over and over. At worst, they are plagiarized rip-offs, or even worse yet, are loaded with illegal tactics (such as CPN numbers) and false information that could leave you worse off than when you started. I've been in this business over 15 years and I've learned that the best and most affective approach to credit repair is both honest and legal. Based on this sense of ethics, we've developed powerful techniques that aren't found anywhere else (though copycats and plagiarizers do exist!)
The second thing you can do if you plan to do your own credit repair is to make sure you have a good source for help and support. Years ago, I used to sell a "credit repair book" just like everyone else. I soon realized that to be successful, consumers needed hands-on support to help them apply the credit repair information they were learning.
The third thing you can do to help yourself with your own credit repair is to NEVER used "canned" or pre-written template dispute letters. These letters used to be great... they saved time, they help people who weren't good at writing to get the job done, and they WORKED. Things have changed now, though.
Now the bureaus are using OCR technology to compare every letter they receive against hundreds of thousands of letters that they have already received and scanned. If they find the letter to be a canned or pre-written letter that they've received thousands of times, they can deem it to be "frivolous". Guess what that means for all those canned pre-written dispute letters out there? Frivolous! There are, of course, ways around OCR technology like hand writing your disputes.