Best do it yourself credit repair and credit repair tips

DO IT YOURSELF CREDIT REPAIR Now You Can Really Raise Your Credit Score up to 194 Points in Just 99 Days or Less

A no-nonsense guide to removing negative items from your credit report and adding good credit accounts by using proven strategies and creditors who want to work with you to help you get past your previously damaged credit.

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IMPORTANT NOTICE (The stuff our attorneys want us to tell you) This booklet has been written for informational purposes only and its contents do not represent any legal advice or a legal opinion on the part of its authors. The scenarios, methods and strategies contained herein are examples of the authors’ past experience and research only. If you choose to apply or utilize any of the methods or strategies contained in this booklet for the purpose of your own personal financial gain or to improve your personal credit report, the author will not be responsible for any results or lack of results that you may experience. (If you do great, we don’t get the credit and if you don’t do so hot, we don’t get the blame, capiche?) The authors of this document are not lawyers, or accountants and nothing in this booklet should be considered legal or accounting advice of any kind.

Nothing in this booklet implies or guarantees any specific results that may be obtained by use of this booklet or the information it contains. Nothing contained in this book is intended to encourage you to be dishonest in any way during your personal credit improvement efforts. Links to additional resources, government agencies and websites are simply convenient navigational links for your review. The authors of this booklet make no representations to the quality of those outbound links or companies they might direct you to nor do we specifically endorse the companies who own or operate those outside websites, however if you chose to use any of the companies referred to in this manual, the authors may or may not be compensated by those companies.

ANY UNAUTHORIZED DUPLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION OF THIS BOOKLET IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO REFER A FRIEND OR FAMILY MEMBER TO THIS CREDIT REPAIR BOOKLET, PLEASE DIRECT THEM TO REQUEST THEIR OWN COPY AT www.MyCreditandRepair.com

INTRODUCTION © 2017 Oaks Credit (All Rights Reserved)

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First of all, allow me to congratulate you on your decision to begin your own credit repair project. Good credit will change you life for the better and if like me, you once had good credit and then some circumstance of life has caused you to have bad credit, you already know the difference it can make. Rest assured that you can get that good credit back and do it much faster than you probably thought.

I wrote this step-by-step manual to make it as simple and easy as possible for you to understand and put the strategies into action in order to see improvement in your credit score right away. All of the steps in the manual have been tested and proven over and over again so if you have faith and follow the plan, you should see dramatic improvement in your credit score in a very short amount of time.

The basic idea of repairing your credit has two primary parts; First, start building new credit that will report your good payment history to the credit bureaus. Second, get rid of as much negative stuff as possible on your current credit report. Sounds pretty simple right? It’s going to take you a little time and effort, but if you put these practices into effect, I’m confident you will get a positive result which means a significant improvement in your credit score.

The great thing about today’s credit repair process is that most of the steps can be completed online and the old days of writing, stamping, mailing and waiting are nearly gone forever. It really is a lot easier than it was just a few years ago.

One of the biggest things that I learned during my own personal credit repair process was that you ABSOLUTELY MUST get some new credit accounts reporting your good credit history as you work on deleting the bad stuff.

Most commercial credit repair companies will tell you NOT to open any new accounts while you are working on fixing your credit, however I think they tell you that so you won’t have anywhere else to spend your money and therefore you’ll have more to give to them. I have found several companies that will give you new credit accounts regardless of your past credit and then report your good payments to the credit bureaus. Opening these new accounts is what will LAUNCH your credit repair efforts into overdrive. © 2017 Oaks Credit (All Rights Reserved)

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If you attempt to get rid of the bad accounts first, you will be wasting valuable time that could go into your credit report as “GOOD” credit history so make sure you apply for your new “GOOD” accounts before you start the removal process on the “BAD” accounts.

Some of the most important factors in your credit score are; 1. The number of revolving credit accounts that you have in good standing 2. The length of time that these accounts have been open 3. The amount of this revolving credit that is actually in use. (less than 30% is best) One important note on new accounts that I’ll also explain in detail later on is that there is a big difference between a “pre-paid debit card” or “Cash Card” and a “secured credit card”.

Pre-paid cards are bad and secured cards are good – as far as your credit repair goes.

If you are currently putting money onto a pre-paid or pre-loaded card, you will do a lot better for yourself if you take that money and put it into a secured credit card instead. We’ll cover that in more detail later, but it’s very important and it’s one of the biggest mistakes that people with bad credit make when trying to improve their credit score.

Again, I’m both happy for you and proud of you that you’ve decided to take steps to clean up your credit and once you are on your way to a better credit score, you and your family will be much happier for your efforts.

Good Luck and Never Give Up! You Really Can Do This!

O.K. Here we go…………….

REFERENCE LINKS

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Throughout this credit repair manual are links to the websites that will provide you with new bank accounts, credit card accounts and other important accounts to help rebuild your credit. We suggest you visit these sites and apply for your new accounts as soon as possible so that you can start building the credit rating on these new accounts and keep that good credit building during the time that it takes you to work on removing negative items in your credit report. All of the creditors below have indicated that they approve new accounts for those applicants who have poor credit and therefore are not able to easily obtain such accounts with other creditors. Likewise the creditors below report your good payment history to the credit bureaus so you can start building new credit accounts today. Many of these creditors do not perform credit checks so you may apply to them freely without worry of excessive inquiries on your credit report.

The best way to use this report is to read it through from beginning to end and then come back to this section and select the accounts that you would like to apply for in order to start building your new credit.

We update the resources that are linked to on a regular basis so we do our best to keep you up to date with the best credit providers who will not only provide you with new credit, but help you build your credit score quickly and easily.

STEP 1 – KNOW YOUR CREDIT SCORE You can’t really even begin to repair your credit unless you know what your starting point is, so for starters you need to get your credit report and credit score. You can contact each credit bureau individually and request your free annual credit report, however they won’t provide you with your actual credit score unless you pay for it. You can also go through the link below to grab a FREE copy of your credit report AND FREE CREDIT SCORE. You will also get access to a lot of great information regarding how scores are calculated and which bad accounts are hurting you the most.

FREE CREDIT REPORT AND FREE CREDIT SCORE

STEP 2 – YOU NEED A CHECKING ACCOUNT! © 2017 Oaks Credit (All Rights Reserved)

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If you have been turned down for a checking account and or reported to ChexSystems or Telecheck, you can still open a new account through the second chance bank account below. You will need to get a checking account at some point in order to have the best chance for a successful credit repair project.

SECOND CHANCE BANK ACCOUNT

STEP 3 – YOU NEED MORE CREDIT CARDS This may sound crazy because most people got in credit trouble by over use of credit cards in the first place, but if used responsibly, they are one of the best ways to rebuild damaged credit FAST ! Ideally, you will get at least 3 new credit card accounts with either standard credit cards or a mix of standard, secured and/or merchandise cards.

Now that you have a new checking account set up, you should begin by getting a standard credit card and even if you don’t think you can get approved, there are cards out there that will approve new applicants with past credit problems an even those with FICO scores in the low 500 range. Basically, if you have a source of income and a checking account, you should apply.

CREDIT CARDS SPECIFICALLY FOR BAD CREDIT

STEP 4 – SECURED CREDIT CARDS If you have bad credit or have been turned down for standard credit cards, you will want to get one or more of the following secured credit cards. These cards will allow you to make charges wherever you want as they are real Visa and Mastercard products.

Unlike a prepaid card however, these cards will report your payments to the credit bureaus and give you “GOOD” credit accounts.

A PREPAID CARD WILL NOT HELP YOU REPAIR YOUR CREDIT !

I recommend setting up a new account with these cards to get yourself started with your first new good standing accounts.

SECURED CREDIT CARS

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STEP 5 – MERCHANT CREDIT CARDS An important part of your credit repair project is to get your new credit accounts opened and aging as soon as possible. We understand that if you are approved for a standard unsecured credit card, your credit limit(s) may not be very high to start and you may only have a hundred or two hundred dollars with which to open your secured credit card accounts. That being said, those are good accounts to have, but you will most likely start out with low credit limits. If you have much higher credit limits, your fico score will increase much more quickly than if you only have a few hundred dollars in new credit.

These merchant cards offer generous credit lines of up to $5,000 which you can use to purchase merchandise like electronics, jewelry and household goods from their websites or catalogues. They will report your unsecured credit line which will be a much higher amount than your other cards, therefore giving you another “GOOD” credit account reporting to the major bureaus. These cards are extremely effective at raising your credit score in a short amount of time. Even if you don’t use the cards, the new positive accounts in your credit report will help your credit score immensely.

MERCHANT CREDIT CARDS Most of the card and credit accounts listed here don’t require a credit check up front so it doesn’t hurt your credit score for excessive inquiries and once they start reporting your good credit history, you’ll be on your way to raising your credit score quickly.

On thing to keep in mind is that once you open these accounts, you shouldn’t go maxing them out right away (or ever for that matter). You see, credit scores are calculated using a formula that looks at your credit usage as a percentage of your available credit.

Let’s say you get one of the cards above and you have a credit line of $3,500. If you only have a balance on that card of say $200 in current charges, that will be better for your credit score than if you have say a balance of $2,000 in current charges because in the first scenario you are using a lower percentage of your available credit and your credit score likes that a lot ! If you can keep your usage of available credit below 30%, that’s what the credit scoring system likes to see.

STEP 6 – TV’S, FURNITURE AND APPLIANCES – RENT TO OWN Another great way to add high credit limit accounts to your credit report is to leverage rent-to-own accounts to get the things you need by making weekly or monthly payments on items like big screen TV’s, jewelry, laptop computers, appliances, furniture and home

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decor. These high-limit credit accounts are easy to get and if used wisely (keep your balance as low as possible), they will help boost your credit score rapidly.

RENT TO OWN CREDIT

STEP 7 – AUTO LOANS CAN HELP TOO Most of us need a vehicle to get around and a lot of people also have auto loans as one of the major accounts on their credit report. It’s usually a pretty large number and can have a pretty significant impact on your credit score. When your car loan is paid late or behind, it’s very bad for your credit score and when it’s paid up on time, it’s very good.

If you need help with a car loan and have bad credit or no credit, you can still get financing from one of the auto lenders below.

A lot of people with damaged credit continue to drive around an unreliable automobile simply because they think that their bad credit will keep them from getting financed for a newer, more reliable vehicle. These lenders specialize in helping you get a decent car at a decent payment.

They can even help you find your car and by applying to each lender, you will be able to get a clear picture of the kind of rates and total loan amounts that you can qualify for.

All of these lenders specialize in getting you a car regardless of your past or present credit and some offer loans up to $30,000 and rates as low as 2.99%.

PRE-QUALIFY FOR AUTO LOANS

STEP 8 – PERSONAL LOANS Another interesting strategy that can help your credit score is to leverage a personal loan that does not report to the credit bureaus to pay off your credit and loans that do report to the credit bureaus. You can apply for several different types of personal loans from $1,000 on up to several thousand dollars if you need it. Most of these personal loans don’t report to the major credit bureaus and you can still get a sizable loan with damaged credit.

PERSOANL LOANS

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STEP 9 – BETTER CREDIT CARDS If you have O.K. credit and want to take a shot at an unsecured credit card with a little bit higher credit limit or even some kinds of rewards programs, the cards below are typically the easiest to qualify for with past credit problems. I’ve seen people get approved for these cards with credit scores under 600.

LOW CREDIT SCORE CREDIT CARDS

The cards and credit / financing offers above will get you started on several new accounts that will report good payment history to the credit bureaus and increase your current available credit which will begin to raise your credit score immediately. I realize it seems like a lot, but as you are building your new credit score you can still get financing just by showing that you have a lot more “GOOD” credit accounts than “BAD” credit accounts. There is no such thing as too many “GOOD” credit accounts if used wisely.

Now that you have set up a few “GOOD” accounts let’s begin to fix the “BAD” stuff.

“DO IT YOURSELF CREDIT REPAIR” Congratulations. You now belong to a select group of individuals who have decided to stop being held hostage by the credit system and are willing to do something about it.

This report will show you step-by-step how to obtain your credit report, read and understand your credit report, as well as how to challenge incorrect or unverifiable items within your credit report in order to have them removed. Always remember that no credit report is beyond at least some level of repair. You will learn several effective methods by reading this booklet and applying the suggested strategies.

The best way to utilize this booklet is to read through the entire booklet first. Then go back through it in a step-by-step process to start your credit repair and begin to establish new credit accounts.

Throughout this entire manual you will notice several words, phrases and resources highlighted and underlined in blue. That means that the words and phrases are direct links to internet web pages. Please feel free to click on these links to proceed directly to the website for more information and applications.

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In order to achieve the most effective results to repair & build your credit, you will need:

Current copies of your Credit reports Current FICO score An organized place to work and keep detailed records In addition to the proven credit repair methods outlined in this booklet, this report will also show you valuable ways to improve your credit score by adding credit accounts to your current credit profile. To help you determine which credit offers to apply for based on your current credit situation, we have broken these credit options down into three categories You will find the categories and preferred credit application links later on sorted by: Poor Credit Fair Credit Good Credit

(FICO of 575 and below) (FICO of 576 - 649 (FICO above 650)

OBTAINING YOUR CREDIT REPORT If you do not have a current copy of your credit report you MUST get one (preferably all three) before you do anything else. Recent laws state that every US citizen is eligible to receive one free credit report from each of the 3 major reporting agencies per year.

These reports contain information that potential creditors will have about you when they decide whether to give you credit or not, and it is the most powerful tool you have in a credit repair project. There are three major credit reporting bureaus that maintain national credit files and several hundred local agencies that maintain local or regional files. For our purposes, we will concentrate on the ‘Big Three’, which are listed below.

Experian 1 888 397-3742

Trans Union 1 800 888-4213

Equifax

NOTE: At the time of this writing Experian is attempting to initiate a system that would Centralize credit information accessed by the three major credit reporting agencies. But as it stands now you may have an account that is listed with one bureau without being listed with the other two, so it is a good idea to request your reports from all three agencies in order to get a clear picture of your complete credit profile. There is also a strategy of applying for credit with creditors who only draw reports from one bureau if you know in fact that one of the three bureaus has less negative information in their report on you.

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You can either request a copy of your credit report from each company via their respective websites or you can visit the site CREDIT SEASAME where you can request a free copy of your report from all three companies at once WITH NO CREDIT CARD REQUIRED You may also contact the bureaus by telephone and request a copy of your credit report.

In addition to your free annual report, the agencies listed above are also required by law to provide you with a free updated credit report any time you are denied credit for any reason.

FICO Score One thing that has become increasingly important over the past few years is your personal FICO score, which is based on a formula developed by the Fair Isaac Corporation. This score is used by financial institutions as a barometer to assess your overall credit worthiness. Many factors are taken into account when calculating your FICO score and it is commonly accepted as the standard for consistency in credit measurement.

New Changes in 2014 will now make any unpaid medical bills a lower factor in determining your overall credit score. If you have bad medical debt accounts you may soon see a rise in your credit score without you making any changes yourself.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE Generally, the credit bureaus do not automatically include your FICO score with your credit report so you will most likely have to pay an extra fee to receive it. You can purchase your score on a one-time only basis from the credit bureaus or if you prefer to keep track of your FICO score over time you can visit CREDIT SEASAME once your FICO is constantly changing, we highly recommend that at least during the time you are actively trying to improve your credit that you consider the on-going comprehensive credit and FICO monitoring option.

CreditSeasame.com will send you automatic updates anytime there is an inquiry on your credit report or a change in your FICO score. This way you will be able to immediately see the effectiveness of your credit repair efforts as your FICO score climbs.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN – Approach this as an on-going project. Clean up and repair your credit. Build your credit and improve and maintain your credit. You’ll be surprised to find that after time, caring for your credit becomes an almost effortless daily habit. You’ll be rewarded with a dramatically improved credit score resulting in much lower interest rates and stronger buying power. A better credit rating can save you several percentage points in interest rates, which can © 2017 Oaks Credit (All Rights Reserved)

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equate to tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in interest payments over your lifetime.

Your credit report(s) will come with instructions on how to read the information provided within the body of your credit report. Be sure to read each and every item carefully, it is up to you to check for accuracy on all of the entries. Since there are close to 300 million people in the United States you will need to check your personal data carefully. One of the most common errors contained in credit reports is mixed information between persons with the same or similar names.

One of the primary (and easiest) strategies that can be used in repairing your credit revolves around the fact that the credit bureaus make mistakes. It is up to you to find those mistakes, challenge them and get the negative items containing those errors removed.

Start keeping detailed records of everything you do, say, or write in an attempt to clean up your credit. - I suggest buying a cheap 3 ring binder, add notebook paper where you can make notes and keep copies of any correspondence that you send or receive to/or from creditors. You might want to insert dividers for each creditor as well. This may sound like a lot of work, but it is really a very inexpensive and simple way to keep track of your progress in getting derogatory listings removed from your report.

Dates of correspondence are very important as the credit bureaus must respond to you within specific time limits and when you include copies of past correspondence, it forces the credit bureaus to take you seriously and adhere to their time commitments.

The credit bureaus now have systems in place that allow you to challenge items online via a secure website, however we feel that doing all of your challenges in writing the old fashioned way forces the credit bureaus to take more action and can be more effective than the new online system. The logic is that if you do your challenges the old fashioned way on paper, a real person must look at your request and respond. If you do it online, there may simply be a computer programmed to respond to you based on your inquiry.

To start, grab a highlighter pen and completely review all of the information in each entry of your report. People are not mistake proof. Often times, considering the millions of pieces of information that the bureaus are dealing with, they make mistakes that can be used to your advantage. There have been cases where people have found that their credit files are completely wrong. A woman in Southern California once won a settlement of over $200,000 because one of the bureaus reported that her cousin was her spouse, and the credit reports were co-mingled. Mark anything that looks like it could have been mistakenly reported, and later we will discuss how to have those mistaken items removed. Be sure to highlight every detail that could be a mistake including mistaken spellings and wrong addresses or numbers.

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When reviewing your credit report(s), here are things to look for:

1. TIME LIMITS: Verify that all items are still valid according to legal time limits.

This is one of the fastest and easiest ways to get negative items removed from your report.

According to the FAIR CREDIT REPORTING ACT there are specific legal rules for the amount of time that items can remain on your credit report. Once an item has reached its respective time limit, the bureaus must delete that item immediately. One of the first things to check is the date that any items were entered into your file. Check them with the limits given below and mark them if they have been on your report too long.

7 YEAR ITEMS Unpaid bills and slow payments to creditors Credit card charge offs Chapter 13 bankruptcies Law suits Repossessions Paid tax liens Bills sent to collections Bills incurred as a result of a criminal indictment 10 YEAR ITEMS Chapter 7 bankruptcies NO TIME LIMIT ITEMS Unpaid tax liens Credit problems of over $50,000 Employment history if the salary is over $20,000 Any favorable information Credit bureaus do make mistakes and entries that should have been removed may still be on your credit report. Please check the dates carefully.

THE TIME LIMIT STARTS FROM THE DATE OF YOUR LAST PAYMENT, NOT FROM THE CHARGE OFF DATE !!

There could be a two, three or four-year difference in these two dates. This is the reason many collection agencies will do almost anything to get you to make a small “good faith” payment. That little payment starts your seven-year reporting period all over again. If you made your last payment in March of 2006 and the account was charged off in June of 2007, the legal reporting period is 7 years from March of 2006, NOT June of 2007. If you are in the process of negotiating with a creditor or collection © 2017 Oaks Credit (All Rights Reserved)

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agency, remember that if you make even a small payment, your seven year reporting period can start all over again from the date of the last payment even if it has been years since the previous last payment date.

Many people make the mistake of making a small payment on an account that is 5 years old just to get the collection agent to stop harassing them. This payment can now re-start the 7 year reporting period for that account. Even if you pay the account in full, it will still show as a paid collection for seven years from the date you made the payment, instead of disappearing from your credit report in two more years! (When it would reach the 7 year limit) IF YOU DID NOT UNDERSTAND THE PREVIOUS TWO PARAGRAPHS GO BACK AND READ THEM AGAIN. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT. **If there are any items listed beyond the legal reporting date, you can write a letter of explanation and have it removed. (See example letter A)

2. Verify that all name, address and contact information is accurate.

Look at all of the entries to confirm that each account listed is yours and does not belong to someone else with the same name. Check the spelling, initials, and street address very carefully. If even one letter is off in spelling, this creates a situation that is valid for a challenge of the entire entry. (If the negative item is reported for John Doe and you spell your name JON Doe, This item should be challenged for accuracy) If the name is wrong how will they prove that everything else is correct?? The same scrutiny should apply to addresses. If the street address is spelled incorrectly or the house number is not listed correctly, challenge the entire entry. These challenges revolve around the assumption that if they can’t get the address correct, how could anything else in the entry be reliable information?? If the address is misspelled, you can write a letter to the credit reporting agency and provide proof of your real address and tell them that the original bill never arrived at the correct address. How can a company list your payment as late if they didn’t bill you correctly? (See example letters B-1,B-2,B-3) We have seen many cases where a street number or zip code is only one digit off from the real address and when properly challenged the entry comes off immediately because the bureau can’t verify the accuracy of the complete entry. In other similar cases, the credit reporting agency may refuse to remove the item, but then the original creditor was confronted with the mistake and forced to write a letter to the credit bureau informing them that the original billing statement may have been sent to the wrong address. This works most often in cases of medical bill accounts and other similar “onetime” charges. If there had been ongoing payments on the account prior to the mistake in street number or zip code, it would be difficult to make a case that just one bill didn’t arrive and you had no knowledge of the account. You can attempt this type of challenge for any negative item, but some situations will work better than others.

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Remember that items which are correctly reported as well as those items that can be confirmed by the original creditor cannot be legally removed by anyone except the creditor until the 7 – 10 year period is up. Your main focus should be to try and find erroneous entries and then properly challenge those that can’t be confirmed. (We’ll talk about negotiating valid entries for pennies on the dollar later.)

3. – Verify the inquiries shown on your report.

Check the credit inquiries in the report – they usually appear towards the end of your report. If you have a lot of inquiries on your report it will be considered a negative signal to potential creditors. The lender will interpret numerous inquiries as you trying to go on a credit shopping spree. This will cool off many would-be lenders. Generally, inquiries will stay on your report for only six months. If you have five or more inquiries in any sixmonth period it will probably negatively affect your chances of obtaining credit. Check the report for duplicate inquiries from the same company. Simply write to the bureau and request that they remove these inquiries. (See example letter C) Some inquiries that show up on your credit report do not show up to potential lenders when they request your report from the bureau. These inquiries are those that are made by credit card and retail companies that are pre-screening your credit profile for special offers. If you do not want to be pre-screened for any offers, just write to the bureau and let them know that you do not wish to receive any unsolicited inquiries.

They must abide by your request.

The inquiry section is one of the first places that many people notice potential credit and ID theft before it happens. If you belong to a credit monitoring service, they will send you an e-mail whenever a company does a credit inquiry on your social security number. If you don’t recognize the company, you should contact the credit bureau immediately as this may be an inquiry by a dishonest person using a shell company who is looking for an identity or credit profile to steal.

If you are interested in an ongoing credit monitoring service, you may want to contact the following providers:

CREDIT SEASAME 4. – The challenge and removal process.

Once you have thoroughly scrutinized your report, you should have a list of highlighted items to start with for your challenge letters.

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We like to start with the easiest ones first – challenge entries that are clearly past the legal time limit, entries that have incorrect name spellings, incorrect addresses, incorrect account numbers, etc.

Once you’ve done this, you can go on to challenge additional negative entries that could possibly be removed as well. In challenging these other items, simply send a challenge letter to the agency requesting that they “verify this account”.

The potential of an item NOT to be verified as correct information is the best way to have additional negative information removed from your credit file. If, for instance, the creditor has changed locations or merged with another company, chances are that the records have been moved around and shuffled so much that if you claim that the reported information is wrong or request that it be “verified” the creditor will not be able to locate the proper documentation that will prove that it is in fact correct.

Therefore, if the reporting creditor receives a letter from the credit bureau (in response to your challenge letter to the credit bureau) requesting verification that the debt and negative entry is valid they will have to either provide documentation that verifies the negative entry or inform the credit bureau to delete the item from your report. (This type of removal happens a lot more often than you would think.)

Much like our court system, you are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. You can also use this challenge approach for items that are more than three years old in hopes that records that are old are kept somewhere else or even deleted from the files.

You see, if you request that the credit bureau investigates the legitimacy of an item, they must do so and respond within 30 days that they have investigated the account that you challenged and found it to be valid. If they are unable to validate the account for any reason, they must delete the item from your file. You must always give a reason for the challenge or the credit bureau can claim that your challenge is frivolous and not follow through with the investigations. At the very least, you may state your belief that the account is not yours or you do not recall ever doing business with that company.

Even if the credit reporting agency sends you a letter confirming the account, if you still think that you have a chance of the original creditor not having back up information, you can write another letter to the credit reporting agency and request the signed contract from the original creditor. “Show me where I signed my name to receive this credit that they say I’m delinquent on.” This strategy works well with smaller businesses like cellular phone shops, used car lots, etc.. who may have placed negative account information on your credit report, but do not have a large accounting department or sophisticated computer programs to keep accurate records. This strategy also works with the smaller collection agencies who often take on delinquent accounts and never receive copies of the original contracts as back up. If they can’t produce the original contract, you have better than a 90% chance of getting that negative item removed.

(See example letters D1-D2-D3) Once you send in a letter challenging an item or items in your report, the credit bureau is required to respond within 30 days. If you do not hear back from the credit bureau

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within say, 35 days, write them an additional letter, (include a copy of the dated first letter), and demand that they remove the entry from your report due to the fact that they have not been able to verity the information within a reasonable amount of time and it is negatively effecting your credit and good name.

The FAIR CREDIT REPORTING ACT (FCRA) specifically states that a credit agency must respond to requests like this within 30 days or they must remove the item that has been challenged. (See example letter E) Sometimes the Credit Bureau will say that your request is frivolous and they will not investigate. According to the FCRA, you have rights under the law to have these items investigated and if they do not comply you can report them to the CONSUMER PROTECTION AGENCY and the FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION. While the credit bureaus have gotten much better about investigating entries challenged by consumers, sometimes you have to advise the agency that you plan on filing a complaint before you can get a satisfactory response from them. Write them a letter telling them that if they don’t perform a proper investigation, you will report them to the FTC and CPA and possibly sue them in court!

(See example letter F) The key is to be persistent in your challenges and to keep good written records. There are many reasons that a record may not verify, so try to put the burden of proof on the creditor. Try challenging 2, 3 or 4 items at a time. (Always with separate letters for each account challenge.) Each challenge letter should be slightly different in the way it is written, but keep it simple. You can use the text of the form letters contained in this booklet as an example of what a challenge letter might look like. If the credit reporting company responds and states that the item has been verified, write them another letter and request the exact contact information of the person with whom they verified the account at the office of the original creditor. (See example letter G) This is a very important step as it forces the credit bureaus to do a REAL investigation into the challenge and gives you a second chance at having the item removed. Persistence is your frined!

The Fair Credit Reporting Act allows you to request this information and the credit bureaus must comply. If they fail to provide you with the SPECIFIC contact information of the source they used to verify your account, write them another letter and demand that the item be removed from your report as they have failed to fulfill their obligations according to the FCRA. If they do provide you with the contact information, you should then attempt to contact that person just to see if they are still with the company. If for some reason they are not with the company, you can request that the company send you a fax or letter stating that “that” specific person is not working there any more. Then provide that letter back to the credit agency and demand that they remove the item because it was not properly verified with a person who is currently employed by your original creditor. Are you

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getting the idea now?? It’s your job to find something, some way, somehow that will keep the credit bureau from accurately confirming the negative items in your report.

If the bureau has informed you that a negative item has been verified with the reporting creditor and remains valid and you are satisfied that you have done all you can to challenge the validity of the entry, your next step is to try to negotiate the debt down to an amount that you can afford to pay off. (More on this later.)

The person with whom the debt was verified is the person with whom you will want to speak once you get to the negotiation part.

If the credit bureau cannot verify the item, they will automatically (as they are required to by law) delete it from your file and send you an updated copy of your report. When this happens, wait a few days and pick two or three more items to dispute and continue to do so until you have challenged every negative item in your report.

The challenge process is sometimes tedious from the standpoint of record keeping and dealing with the red tape of the bureaus. However it is the single most powerful strategy available to you in improving your credit report and it works.

STICK WITH IT AND NEVER UNDERESTIMATE YOUR POWER AS A CONSUMER!!

By following the challenge strategies in this booklet you should be able to make significant progress in removing derogatory items and improving your overall credit standing. However, if you feel this task might be too daunting or time consuming to do yourself, there are ‘experts’ who can help. Before you decide to look for help from someone else there are a few things you should know: Most “Credit Counseling Companies” that claim to be non-profit organizations actually work under agreements with most major credit granting agencies and credit card companies and are paid a percentage by these creditors for whatever payments they can persuade you to make. So while they may be able to help you halt interest and penalty charges (which you can easily do yourself), and halt the persistent phone calls, because they are paid a percentage by the collector, it is not in their best interest to ensure you pay the lowest amount possible to settle the debt. The more they get you to pay, the more money they make themselves. It’s perfectly acceptable to ask whether a credit service gets paid from the creditor with whom they are negotiating on your behalf.

A “Credit Repair Company” on the other hand typically specializes in challenging negative items to have them removed from your credit report very much like the strategies we have outlined above. They usually charge a small monthly fee (to be paid by you) or are paid (by you) on a per removed item basis. In this manner their best interest is your best interest.

Since I am teaching you what to do yourself, the only way I would recommend a Credit Repair Company is if they only charge by the success their work and not with up-front

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fees or monthly retainers. That being said, if you don’t have the time or really just want someone else to do it for you, click on the link below and check these guys out.

CREDIT REPAIR COMPANY

To sum it up: 1. Get organized – Get a notebook to keep your credit reports and all subsequent correspondence and notes in one place 2. Start with current credit reports from the ‘Big 3’ credit bureaus Annual Credit Report and your most recent FICO score. CreditSeasame.com “Current’ and ‘recent’ are key words here. It makes no sense to work with outdated reports.)

3. Review your credit report, line by line, each and every item, highlight any questionable items and make notes in the margins if you have to 4. Verify Time limits 5. Verify all name, address, account numbers, contact and personal information 6. Verify inquiries – this is important because it could indicate possible identity theft 7. Make a list of all incorrect, questionable, and possibly unverifiable items that you want to contest and have removed from your credit report 8. Prepare and mail letters that challenge these entries to the corresponding credit agencies Use the attached sample letters as guides, shorter letters are better. Long letters with perfect grammar will look like professional agencies and may not get the sympathy that a shorter more unprofessional letter might.

In addition to removing negative items from your credit report, you should be continually working on adding GOOD accounts and increasing existing credit lines which will further help you build your overall credit rating.

BUILDING BETTER CREDIT First, if you have any accounts that you have EVER paid off in good standing and those accounts are not listed on your credit report, you will definitely want these items to © 2017 Oaks Credit (All Rights Reserved)

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appear on your credit report to help balance out any negative items that might remain on your report. No matter how small a positive item is, it helps your report. If you have made payments to a local tire shop of $100 every two weeks for a new set of tires, ask the shop to report your account to all three credit agencies. If they don’t report to the credit agencies, try to get a letter from the tire shop stating you made payments on time and your account is in good standing. Forward the letter to the credit bureaus and request that it be added to your report. Every little bit helps.

If you ever paid off a car loan or paid a credit card and closed the account with no bad payment history, contact the original creditor and request that they report your past (good) account status to the credit reporting agencies. We used to be cautioned against having too many credit cards, too much available credit. With the increasing importance of FICO and how the scores are calculated, some experts say it is more important to keep your credit card accounts OPEN. Even if you have paid down the balance to zero and don’t intend to use the account again, consider keeping the account active. FICO calculates your debt to available credit ratio into your score.

The next step to adding good credit to your report is to set up a few new accounts that can give you a positive payment reporting account. Before you start setting up new accounts, there are a few tips to know that will increase you chances of being approved.

Knowing which credit to apply for based on your current credit score and how to get those applications approved are very important.

** QUICK TIPS ON COMPLETING APPLICATIONS ** Some of the little boxes that you fill out when completing any financial application form mean a LOT to the credit issuer, so here are a few tips for you to remember.

1) 5 years seems to be a magic number. If you have lived at your current address for at least 5 years, that is a big deal to credit issuers as it shows you have some stability. If you haven’t lived at your current address for at least 5 years, maybe you’ve been getting mail at your parents house or an ex-spouses home for at least that long, in which case it might be wiser to use their address for the application and then once you get your application approved (or have had another residence for at least 5 years), go ahead and issue a change of address with the credit issuer.

2) That magical 5 years also applies to your work history, have you had your job for at least 5 years?

3) 5 Years also counts for phone numbers. A big issue with this is that lately many people don’t even have home phones and use cell phones instead. The credit issuers have not yet caught onto this and still would prefer that your home phone has been in your name for at least 5 years. I personally know people who have a

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home office with a fax machine, but no home phone so they use their fax number as their home phone number on applications. It is a hard line phone number and has been there for at least 5 years.

4) Income / expense ratio – Obviously the ratio of your income to expenses is important to lenders as it helps them to determine your ability to repay loans or lines of credit. A couple of things to remember here is to make sure you give your ACTUAL income. You may take home paychecks that equal $1,500 a month, but if before taxes, that pay is $2,100 a month, then that’s your pay. Also, if you receive any child support, alimony or work bonuses, add them in too. A year end work bonus of $1200 is equal to an extra $100 of monthly income. Do you have a garage sale every summer where you make $600? If so, that’s income and it adds $50 a month to your pay. Get the idea here?? It ALL counts.

As far as expenses go; if you are required to list expenses, remember that unless it is an expense that is shown on your credit report, there is a strong likelihood that the credit issuer cannot validate any expenses that you don’t list.

It is never recommended to lie or fabricate anything on an application as that is always reason enough to be denied and in some cases may be punishable under the law.

Much of the information that you put on a credit application is never thoroughly verified.

Now let’s take a look at some of the other things you can do to add GOOD CREDIT to your credit report. Let’s break this down into three groups so that you can take the steps that will best help your credit based on your current credit situation.

Poor Credit (FICO of 575 and below) Fair Credit (FICO of 576 – 640) Good Credit (FICO above 640)

POOR CREDIT (FICO below 575) A credit score in this range is like a D or an F in school. Just like in school, however you can easily raise your grade quickly with just a little tutoring.

One of the worst things about being in a situation of having very bad credit is that it’s very difficult to get things back on track when very few credit issuers will give you a second chance at credit. There are a few companies out there who will help you get back on your feet, but you’ll have to prove to them that you are worthy of their trust and rebuild your good credit profile with them over time.

First things first. If you don’t have a checking account, you need to get one. (Even if you’ve been reported to chexsystems or Telechecks; a great banking company like

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SECOND CHANCE BANK ACCOUNT can help you get started again. In order to build credit, you need a checking account. There is no excuse to not have one.

Many of the offers to help rebuild bad credit revolve around direct deposit payments and the only way to accomplish this is through the use of your checking account. If you have had problems getting or keeping a checking account in the past you can use the second chance checking account provider below to help you get started again.

SECOND CHANCE BANK ACCOUNT Once you have established a new checking account, you should get a couple of secured Visa or MasterCard accounts that report your payments to the credit bureau.

As was mentioned in the beginning of this manual, there is a big difference between a “pre-paid” or “pre-loaded” debit card and a true “secured credit card”.

When you have a pre-paid card, you do exactly that and pre-pay for the items that you will charge to your card and as you make those charges, the money is deducted from your account. It’s just like a checking account with a plastic card. There is no credit check required to get a pre-paid card and THEY DO NOT REPORT TO CREDIT BUREAUS. If a card does not report to the credit bureaus, YOU DON’T WANT IT. Secured credit cards however are also exactly what they say. It is a real credit card, but instead of offering you an unconditional line of credit, these card issuers require you to put up a deposit equal to or close to the credit line that they will issue to you. If you were going to deposit $300 into a “pre-paid” card account, as you use your card for charges, the amount of those transactions is simultaneously deducted from the $300 that you put onto the card and when it’s gone, it’s time for you to put more money on the card.

If you take that same $300 and put it into a “Secured Credit Card” account, you will be issued a real credit line of $300. As you make charges, no money is deducted from your deposit account. What happens is that the credit issuer will keep track of your charges and send you a bill at the end of the month just like a normal credit card bill and you will then need to pay off the balance or the minimum amount due as per the billing statement. Once you make a payment, then that will free up the equivalent amount of credit on your card. As you make these payments the card issuer WILL REPORT YOUR GOOD PAYMENT HISTORY TO THE CREDIT BUREAUS. This is how you gain good credit standing and improve your FICO score.

Many of these secured cards will actually increase your credit limit after 6 months of good payment history and some will raise it up to twice the amount of your initial deposit and at the end of a year of good payment history, many of them will offer you an unsecured card as a reward for your good payment history with them. You can raise your own credit limit anytime you like simply by increasing the amount of money you have on deposit with them. © 2017 Oaks Credit (All Rights Reserved)

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One good strategy is that once you have a secured account set up, have an automatic deposit set up to send $25 - $50 a month to the initial deposit account which in turn raises your credit limit every month. Credit limit increases look very good to the computers that calculate your FICO score. It is O.K. to have multiple secured cards at any one time as this shows that several creditors are willing to give you credit. The fact that these cards are secured does not show up on credit reports or count against you for you FICO. These are seen as good credit accounts and as long as you keep the amount of credit that you are using at any one time at a reasonably low percentage of your total credit available, you’ll be just fine.

First things first, go and sign up for at least two secured credit cards to get your new good credit history jump started.

Here are some great secured card companies that work with high risk customers:

SUCURED CREDIT CARDS

You can also apply for an unsecured merchandise account card that will allow you to purchase specific goods and household items from an online store and then make payments on those purchases over time. These cards will approve over 99% of applicants and some report your good payment history to credit bureaus which will add another account in good standing to your credit profile. Secured cards are better for your credit report, but if you just need to make some purchases on credit to get through the Holidays or moving to a new place, etc… these cards offer you an option for those situations.

Here are some companies that provide merchandise shopping cards offering nearly 100% approval rates.

SHOPPING AND MERCHANDISE CREDIT CARDS

By starting a new checking account (or using the one you already have) and applying to some or all of the cards above you will have established new accounts that report to all 3 major credit bureaus. The best strategy with these cards is to use the credit card to pay your bills and expenses wherever Visa or MasterCard are accepted. It may take a few months to get the hang of using the accounts, but it will be worth it.

With the merchandise cards, the best use is to look for one or two small items each month that you may need for around the house and purchase them using the online shopping site and your merchandise credit card. Make your payments regularly and these companies may also report your good credit accounts to the credit bureaus. © 2017 Oaks Credit (All Rights Reserved)

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IF YOU HAVE VERY BAD CREDIT, THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR CREDIT FAST! If you can manage to get some of the negative items removed from your credit report using the strategies discussed earlier and now get yourself a checking account in good standing and some new card accounts paid in good standing for a few months, you FICO score could increase significantly and raise your credit rating to:

Fair (FICO between 576 – 640) A credit score in this range is something like a C or C- in school. You can make it to the next grade level, but you’re not going to win any academic awards. You’re also just a short distance away from a B grade or better, which keeps just about everyone happy.

If you are in this category of FICO range, we’ll assume that you currently have a checking account in good standing. If not, click on the link below: SECOND CHANCE BANK ACCOUNT It is also recommended that you apply for a couple of secured credit card accounts as well to help build your account history. Here are a couple of banks that provide secured cards: SECURED CREDIT CARDS

The first level of unsecured credit cards are the merchandise cards mentioned above so if these cards sound like something you may be able to use, they will also help your credit score: SHOPPING AND MERCHANDISE CREDIT CARDS Here are some banks offering unsecured cards to customers with less than good credit.

They might not initially offer a high credit limit or the best interest rate, but the goal here is to establish an unsecured credit account to help you build a good payment history and work toward higher FICO score:

UNSECURED CREDIT CARDS

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Additionally, this is the time that you should begin applying for department store and gas station credit cards. If you have at least one unsecured Visa or MasterCard, most department stores and gas stations will approve you automatically. Having a couple of these cards is a good idea as long as you keep your spending to a reasonable level and make your payments on time. If you are paying for a new pair of shoes or shirt already, you may as well build your credit while doing it. Paying for gasoline is the same way.

You have to pay for the gas, you might as well build your credit as well.

Here are a few you can start with: DEPARTMENT STORE CREDIT CARDS

OIL AND GAS COMPANY CREDIT CARDS

The goal here is for you to apply for cards where you have a good chance of getting approved. Each time you apply for credit, there is an inquiry made on your report. Too many inquiries can cause your FICO to go down. So you want to be pretty sure that you have a good chance of getting credit (which will raise your FICO) from the company that you are applying to. Most of the secured cards and merchandise cards don’t check your credit so you typically don’t have to worry about them generating inquiries on your account however when you get into store and gas cards, they will check your credit report so use these applications wisely.

GOOD CREDIT (FICO between 641 – 700) With a credit score in this range, you won’t qualify for the top tier credit cards, however you should be able to establish an extra credit card account or two in order to help boost your overall credit rating. The important thing to remember is when you are in this credit score range, your available balance on your revolving credit accounts contributes a huge amount to your credit score. A general rule of thumb is – keep your credit card spending to no more than 1/3 of your available credit.

For example; if you have two credit cards each with a credit limit of $3,000, that means you have a total credit limit of $6,000. Your credit score should remain in good shape as long as you keep your usage of this available credit below $2,000. If you charge up a high balance and owe more than 1/3 of your available credit, your credit score could drop 40 points or more.

Once you are in this range, you can then slowly apply for new cards, keeping an eye out for offers of cards with low interest rates, no-annual fees and of course, a generous credit limit.

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We also recommend that you periodically contact your current card issuers with whom you have accounts in good standing and request a credit line increase, a reduction in the card rate, or if you have an annual fee, ask the card company to waive the fee. It doesn’t hurt to ask and a credit line increase immediately gives you not only a higher amount of available credit, but conversely lowers your ratio of used credit which can raise your credit score.

Once you have decent credit, you can contact your card company and tell them that you received an offer from another credit card company that is offering 0% interest on balance transfers and you will move your balances over to the new card unless the existing card company will lower your current interest rate. This works over 50% of the time.

Be diligent about making your payments ON TIME. More than any other piece of advice we can offer, we can’t stress this enough.

NEGOTIATION – What creditors and collectors don’t want you to know The key to any negotiation is INFORMATION! If you know how much a vendor pays for an item (wholesale price) that you want to purchase, you increase your chances of getting a much better price than the original asking price.

The debt negotiation game is very much the same. If you know how creditors value delinquent accounts, you can get yourself the best possible negotiated payoff.

If a bill has not gone to collections yet, the creditor wants to get paid and many times will negotiate a settlement for less than the full amount so they don’t have to send the account to collections. It costs them money to keep the debt on the books and to continue to pay staff to try to collect. It also costs the company up to 40% to outsource the debt to a collections company. They know once the debt has been reported to the credit bureaus, they have less chance of collecting from you. They also know they want to avoid charging off the debt at all costs. This means they write the debt off, take the loss and sell the account to another entity for cents on the dollar. For them, some money is better than none so it is in their best interest to negotiate the debt and keep more of the money you do pay for themselves.

You also want to avoid the debt being reported to the credit bureaus. It is much easier to take care of your debt while it is with the original creditor and at this stage it is far less damaging to your credit rating.

Once a bill goes to collections the amount owed is entirely negotiable – the collection agency will tack on all sorts of late fees, penalties and surcharges to make you think you owe far more than you do. They then try to use this inflated figure to ‘negotiate’

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with you and make you think they are giving you a deal by waiving those fees while still insisting on recouping the full amount of the principal.

The collection agency has far less leverage than they would like you to believe. Think about it, once the account has been reported to the credit bureau, what else can they do to you? They can call you a million times and send you a bunch of letters, but, really, what else can they do? Many collection agencies threaten to send the local Sheriff out to your home or place of work to collect from you but that very rarely actually happens.

They may also threaten to file a law suit against you, but again, unless your debt is somewhere north of $15,000 and they can see that you have a long-term reliable source of income that they can target in a judgment, lawsuits are rarely filed.

No matter the size of your original debt, it is ALWAYS worth less to the original creditor now than it was when you stopped paying. Each month that goes by the debt decreases in value to the creditor.

In fact, by the 6th month past due it’s figured that the debt is worth 25% less, and after a year it’s worth about 2/3 of its original value. At two to three years the debt is worth about ½ of its original value and at the end of the 5 th year it is worth about ¼ of the original debt amount.

There are debt collection agencies out there who buy portfolios of debtor accounts for less than 10 cents on the dollar of the original amount owed. These collection agencies then use hardball tactics to try and get you to pay your full debt amount plus whatever fees, penalties and surcharges they can tack on.

So, keep in mind, if the agency purchased your debt for 10% of its original value, they might take 25% - 40% of the original debt as a payoff - and laugh all the way to the bank. This is an advantage for you, as a “paid collection” is better than an “unpaid collection account” on your credit report, and the collection agency is happy they got paid. (Statistics have shown that a creditor has very little chance of recovery on debt aged over 5 years. The collection agency has a much greater incentive to settle the debt with you for pennies on the dollar, the older it is.)

If you can, WHENEVER POSSIBLE, DEAL DIRECTLY WITH THE ORIGINAL CREDITOR. Even if you get notified by an ‘agency’, contact the original creditor first to find out if you can negotiate a settlement with them.

If the debt is unsecured, meaning nothing but your good word backs the credit and you want to keep at least some of your good credit, you are in the position to make a reduced offer to pay off the debt. After some time has passed, the creditor is usually willing to listen to anything as opposed to losing his entire line of extended credit. Also, never tell any creditor or collector WHY you want to pay off your debt. If they sense that you NEED to improve your credit score because you want to buy a house or a car, they will feel that they have the advantage and play hardball all the way.

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If you have a little bit of money saved up and are ready to make some progress in paying off your past debts, I would suggest starting with the debts that have the lowest original balance. Remember, you don’t pay late fees and interest. Those extras are always taken off the top of any negotiation.

Your goal should be to pay 50% or less of the original outstanding debt amount. Look at the outstanding accounts and balances for those accounts and if you can afford to pay up to 50% of the lowest balance account on your credit report, you are ready to make your first call.

The less you tell debt collectors, the better. As they will tell you at the beginning of each call, all information you give them will be used in their attempt to collect a debt.

To get started, contact the accounts payable department of your creditor and explain that you would like to discuss your outstanding debt obligation.

(Back to your notebook, make sure to keep notes of all calls and conversations you have. Make a note of the date and time of the call, what was discussed and, most importantly, who you spoke with.)

Before making contact with a creditor, be very clear with yourself how much you can pay and the maximum amount you are willing to offer (50%). The creditor will try to pressure you to pay much more, so know your limits.

Your goal here is to clear up your debt obligation. You could say something like: “I would like to offer something to get this account resolved for good. I have done some calculations and today I can afford to pay $----- (10% of original debt) if that will get the account status to paid in full? I realize that it isn’t the full amount of what I owe, but it is all I have right now and I can’t get back into a payment situation that I may not be able to honor later on.

Begin by offering 10% of what you owe to settle the debt. Most likely, the creditor will insist on much more, but 10% is a good starting point. It is often a good idea to tell them that you owe money to several accounts and you have exactly enough money to pay about (10%) to each of them if you spread the money out evenly across all the creditors. *You want to create the idea that if they don’t accept your offer, you may spend that money by paying another creditor who is more agreeable.

DON’T ACTUALLY SAY 10%, YOU SHOULD FIGURE OUT THAT NUMBER BEFORE THE CALL AND USE THE DOLLAR AMOUNT. You want to avoid a new payment plan unless you are 100% certain that you can keep up the payments and I would NEVER commit to more than 4 small payments. One

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larger lump sum is more advantageous for both parties than a series of smaller payments. The creditor gets more money up front (and doesn’t have to worry about you defaulting again) and you don’t have to worry about making payments. Remember, if you make a payment on a delinquent account and don’t settle it once and for all, it restarts the clock on the 7 or 10 year reporting time period. The only time you should make payments is if you have negotiated a “payment in full” on the account but still need to break that negotiated amount into small payments to get it paid.

NEVER pay any money to the creditor or collection agency without first getting them to send to you, in writing, the terms of your negotiated payment agreement. In our experience, collection agents will promise you anything to get you to give them money.

Promises don’t mean anything unless they are in writing. They will tell you that it’s a done deal if they can get a “check by phone today”. DON’T FALL FOR IT! ***Always pay with a money order because you never want a creditor to have your checking account information if they don’t already have it.***** Be calm, be courteous, do not make excuses, and try not to divulge any information other than what the collector already has. Do not attempt to argue with the collector.

If you feel like you are being pressured or are losing control of the conversation – if you are getting upset - HANG UP. You really need to stay in control of the conversation.

People in the credit department of companies deal with these types of calls every day and many of them feel that their best strategy is to get you flustered so that you’ll say something you shouldn’t or commit to something that you are not prepared to follow through on. If you don’t feel like the conversation is productive for you, simply hang up.

Next time, you can call back and restart the conversation with a different agent when you are better prepared. If they try to connect you to the same agent, ask to speak with a supervisor and let them know that you want to settle your debt, but that you are uncomfortable dealing with that particular agent.

I am reminded of a particularly aggressive agency that promised they would work out a settlement with me, but only if I answered a series of questions, each one more invasive than the previous one. Questions such as how much I spent on groceries and gas and clothes and the incomes of family members. I didn’t like the approach of the collector and kept telling him that was none of his business, however he persisted with that aggressive line of questions so I hung up. The next time I called back I asked to speak to anyone BUT Mr. X. I was connected with a much nicer collector and worked out a good negotiated payoff on my terms.

Try not to give them any information about your home, your work or how you are making your other payments. If they ask (and most of the time they will) tell them that you are not willing to discuss that but you are ready to make a payment provided they report the account status as paid in full, but you might not be able to make the same offer in a couple of weeks.

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Remember your goal – to resolve your outstanding debt in the most expedient way and to minimize the negative impact of the delinquency on your credit report.

Stick to your guns and tell them that you are working with a specific amount of money right now and you don’t want to make a commitment to get back into a payment situation that you would not be able to honor.

Tell them the maximum amount you are willing to pay and If they refuse to accept your offer, they will most likely get nothing at all. Try not give absolute statements such as; “If you don’t take my offer today, you will never get anything from me”. If you can’t get them to take the offer, then you are stuck and if you have to go back to them, you have lost a lot of credibility and future negotiating power.

Let’s say you have an original balance owed of $950, You could say something like; “I realize the original debt amount was $950. I would really like to get this taken care of, but all I have right now is $100 to pay off the account. If you don’t accept this amount as payment in full so we can both close this account, I’m going to have to contact the next creditor on my list and offer that money to them. I’m trying to take care of some of my old debts little by little so I’ll be paying this money that I have earmarked for that old debt to whoever is willing to close an account as paid. Can you close my account as paid in full for $100 today?”

They will probably say something like; “We can’t take any less than $650 to pay off this account today.”

You should respond with something like: “Well I might be able to come up with $200, but I’m pretty sure that’s all I can do to settle this account.”

This negotiation can continue through a few offers from each side until you get to your final number. Once you are there, hold fast and tell them, that’s it. If they can’t accept that offer right now, you can’t help them.

If in fact they still refuse your offer. Move on to the next creditor and the next until you find one who is willing to accept your offer.

NEVER, EVER, EVER pay any interest, surcharge or penalty fees. Begin your negotiations based on the original principal debt amount. Other fees and charges are just fluff. It’s O.K. to tell the collector that you will not negotiate on those fees. They will usually act like they are doing you a favor to eliminate these charges, just let them go ahead and do you the favor – but don’t even consider factoring those charges into your calculations.

It is O.K. for you to tell the creditor that if they can’t take less than what they are asking for, they will probably not get anything today or this month or possibly ever. It is O.K. to stop the negotiations if you are not making any headway. Just tell them you don’t think

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you can work together today, hang up, and wait for another day. Sometimes a day or two makes all the difference.

ALWAYS BE NICE AND BE SINCERE BECAUSE IT MAKES PEOPLE WANT TO HELP YOU. NEVER MAKE AN OFFER FOR A PAYOFF THAT YOU CANNOT PAY RIGHT AWAY. YOU MAY ONLY GET ONE SHOT AT THIS AND IF YOU DON’T FOLLOW THROUGH YOU WILL PROBABLY NOT GET THE SAME CHANCE LATER ON. When the creditor agrees to take your settlement, it is imperative that you get it in writing (before you make the payment). REMEMBER: NEVER make a payment over the phone. You will send in a money order. You must have it stated that your payment settles the entire account and that they will report this account to the credit bureaus as “PAID IN FULL, ACCOUNT CLOSED”. If the report has already been made to the credit bureaus, the removal or change in status of the (derogatory) remark must be part of the negotiation. (See example letter H) In some situations they may tell you that they cannot change your status, but that is not true, they can at least change the status to “UNVERIFIABLE” and when they do this, you can follow through with a challenge letter to the credit reporting bureau asking them to verify the account. If it comes back to them as “UNVERIFIABLE”, they then have to remove the entry from your credit report.

These are absolute conditions of your settlement and must be signed by a representative of the creditor before you give up one red cent. Remember the paper trail is your friend when repairing your credit. Make sure that the letter you send in to be signed has all of your conditions of settlement and comes back on company letterhead.

Be sure that the person with whom you negotiate has the authority to do so, and make sure that person or a supervisor signs the agreement. Once you have received the signed agreement by fax or mail, then you can send in the payment that you agreed to with another letter restating what you have agreed to. (See example letter I) When you send in your MONEY ORDER, send a copy of the signed agreement along with your payment and request a receipt marked “ACCOUNT PAID IN FULL” It is always a good idea to keep a copy of the money order that you send in and in the memo section, write “Payment in full for account # 12345” If the company cashes the money order, it can be assumed that they accepted the payment as payment in full. Remember, never pay with a personal check.

I know this sounds like a lot of extra work, but many collectors will say just about anything to persuade to you pay, but once it’s paid, they seem to forget what they agreed to. GET IT IN WRITING. The words “Payment in Full” are important because most creditors or collection agencies will notify the credit bureau that the account is a “Paid Collection”. When that

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happens you can always go back to the credit bureau with a copy of your agreement and show them that the agreed upon status was “Paid in Full”, which will look better on your credit report than “paid collection”.

The longer the debt has been inactive the more likely you are to be successful when negotiating. Don’t let a person from the company with a bad attitude get you down; it’s just an act to try and get more money from you.

If you don’t feel that negotiation is your thing, you may want to contact one of the debt settlement companies below and ask how they can help you. Most offer a free consultation. They deal with negotiating debt all the time and can typically save you up to 50% of the original amount owed. There’s no obligation to talk to them so you may want to at least get the consultation.

DEBT ASSISTANCE

OVERVIEW Begin by checking your credit report for inaccuracies and mistakes. Challenge them and have them deleted immediately.

At this time you should also be opening up a few new credit accounts in order to begin building good credit reporting on your behalf.

Your second step should be to find a reason to challenge items that you feel might not be accurately confirmed. Be creative during this phase. Remember, you are putting the burden of proof on the creditor and the reporting agency. If they tell you that the item has been verified, write to them requesting proof of verification and the name of person with whom the bureau verified the information.

If the credit bureau provides this information, you can begin your negotiation process. If they do no provide this information within 30 days and you feel they are being negligent, report them to the Consumer Protection Agency and the Federal Trade Commission. A report can also be filed with the State Attorney General.

When negotiating debt, begin with the oldest accounts. These should be the easiest and the cheapest to discharge. Be prepared to make the payment right away. It won’t help you to negotiate a settlement if you can’t afford to pay it.

ALWAYS BE COURTEOUS ALWAYS BE FIRM KEEP ALL OF YOUR PAPERWORK AND TAKE NOTES (date, time, person you spoke with) DURING PHONE CONVERSATIONS

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Be patient. I’m quite sure you didn’t do all of your credit damage overnight so don’t expect to repair it overnight. This system has worked for thousands of people so far and it will work for you if you truly want to do the work necessary to repair your credit.

Remember, once you do repair your credit, it is much easier to keep it in good standing than it is to fix it. Don’t charge more than you can afford, make your payments on time…

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS You can find a copy of the “Fair Credit Reporting Act” on the Federal Trade Commission web site at http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fcra.htm The FCRA outlines the rules by which creditors and credit reporting agencies must operate.

And the “Fair Debt Collection Practices Act” at

http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpajump.htm This outlines the rules for collection agencies and anyone else attempting to collect a debt.

Best of luck to you in your credit repair efforts.

If you would like to recommend this booklet to a friend, simply have them visit us at

www.MyCreditandRepair.com

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THE BIG THREE CREDIT BUREAUS contact information:

Experian PO Box 9701 Allen, TX 75013 888-397-3742 Experian.com

TransUnion Consumer Relations PO Box 2000 Chester, PA 19022-2000 (800) 888-4213 Transunion.com

Equifax P.O. Box 740241 Atlanta, GA 30374 (800)-685-1111 equifax.com

AnnualCreditReport.com (all 3 credit bureaus) PO Box 105283 Atlanta, GA 30348-5283

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EXAMPLE LETTER A - TransUnion Today’s Date TransUnion Consumer Relations PO Box 2000 Chester, PA 19022-2000 File#: (this will be listed in the upper right hand corner of the page) RE:

Your Name Address City, State, Zip Social Security # Date of Birth

Consumer Relations: After reviewing my most current credit report dated ________, I noticed that the following items are being reported beyond the legal time limit. Please remove these items immediately as they are negatively affecting my credit.

Creditor Name “

Account # “

Brief Description “

Please forward an updated (corrected) copy of my credit report immediately.

Thank you.

Signature Typewritten name

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EXAMPLE LETTER A - Experian Today’s Date Experian Disputes PO Box 9701 Allen, TX 75013 Report #: RE:

(this will be listed in the top center of the page)

Your Name Address City, State, Zip Social Security # Date of Birth

Consumer Relations: After reviewing my most current credit report dated ________, I noticed that the following items are being reported beyond the legal time limit. Please remove these items immediately as they are negatively affecting my credit.

Creditor Name “

Account # “

Brief Description “

Please forward an updated (corrected) copy of my credit report immediately.

Thank you.

Signature Typewritten name

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EXAMPLE LETTER A - Equifax Today’s Date Equifax P.O. Box 740241 Atlanta, GA 30374 Report #: RE:

Your Name Address City, State, Zip Social Security # Date of Birth

Consumer Relations: After reviewing my most current credit report dated ________, I noticed that the following items are being reported beyond the legal time limit. Please remove these items immediately as they are negatively affecting my credit.

Creditor Name “

Account # “

Brief Description “

Please forward an updated (corrected) copy of my credit report immediately.

Thank you.

Signature Typewritten name

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EXAMPLE LETTER B-1 Today’s Date Name of Credit Bureau Address Report # or File #: (this will be found on your credit report) RE:

Your Name Address City, State, Zip Social Security # Date of Birth

Consumer Relations: After reviewing my most current credit report dated ________, I noticed that the following items are being reported incorrectly. Please remove these items immediately as they are not my accounts and are negatively affecting my credit.

Creditor Name Account # John Doe is not me. My name is Jon Doe and this is not my account.

Creditor Name Account # This account is listed for a resident of 1234 Green St. My address is 1234 Greek St. and this is not my account. “

“

“

Please forward an updated (corrected) copy of my credit report immediately.

Thank you.

Your name, signature

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EXAMPLE LETTER B-2 Today’s Date Name of Credit Bureau Address

Report # or File #: (this will be found on your credit report) RE:

Your Name Address City, State, Zip Social Security # Date of Birth

Consumer Relations: I am requesting that you investigate the item(s) listed below. These items should not be part of my credit report. They do not belong to me and I would like them removed immediately. The name on the account that you have listed in my credit report is not my name. My legal name is ________________ which is the name under which I establish ALL of my legal accounts.

Creditor Name “

Account # “

Brief Description “

Please forward an updated (corrected) copy of my credit report immediately.

Thank you.

Your name, signature

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EXAMPLE LETTER B-3 Today’s Date Name of Credit Bureau Address City, State, Zip

Report # or File #: (this will be found on your credit report) RE:

Your Name Address City, State, Zip Social Security # Date of Birth

Consumer Relations: I am requesting that you investigate the item(s) listed below. These items have not been reported correctly. The information in the _________ is incorrect and does not belong to me. Please correct these items and adjust my credit report accordingly.

Creditor Name “

Account # “

Brief Description “

Additionally, I did not authorize these inquiries. Please remove them from my report and please forward an updated (corrected) copy of my credit report immediately.

Company Name “

Date of Inquiry “

Thank you.

Your name, signature

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EXAMPLE LETTER C Today’s Date Name of Credit Bureau Address

Report # or File #: (this will be found on your credit report) RE:

Your Name Address City, State, Zip Social Security # Date of Birth

Consumer Relations: After reviewing my most current credit report dated ________, I noticed that the following items are being reported incorrectly. I recently applied for an auto loan with Chrysler Financial Corp. and they have added 3 unauthorized inquiries on my credit report. Your credit bureau has legal accountability in this matter and I would like the unauthorized inquiries removed immediately.

Also, I see several inquiries that I did not authorize and I would like them removed as well. They are: ABC Mortgage company AAA Home improvement XYZ Real Estate Please forward an updated (corrected) copy of my credit report immediately.

Thank you.

Your name, signature

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EXAMPLE LETTER D-1 Today’s Date Name of Credit Bureau Address

Report # or File #: (this will be found on your credit report) RE:

Your Name Address City, State, Zip Social Security # Date of Birth

Consumer Relations: After reviewing my most current credit report dated ________, I noticed that the following items are being reported incorrectly. Please remove these items immediately as they are negatively affecting my credit score and my good name.

Creditor

Account #

This account number is an account number for someone else. I have never seen this account number before.

Creditor

Account #

I have never had an account with this company and actually never even shop there.

Please remove this from my credit report.

Collection Agent

Account #

This account was paid in full several years ago and this collection agency is falsely reporting an unpaid status.

Please forward an updated (corrected) copy of my credit report immediately.

Thank you.

Your name, signature

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EXAMPLE LETTER D-2 Today’s Date Name of Credit Bureau Address

Report # or File #: (this will be found on your credit report) RE:

Your Name Address City, State, Zip Social Security # Date of Birth

Consumer Relations: After reviewing my most current credit report dated ________, I noticed that the following items are being reported incorrectly. Please remove these items immediately as they are negatively affecting my credit score and my good name.

Creditor

Account #

I have no recollection of ever having an account with this company or owing them any money for any reason.

Creditor

Account #

I cancelled my account with company years ago and never owed them any money.

They continue to send me erroneous billings and you continue to report this on my credit report.

Please forward an updated (corrected) copy of my credit report immediately.

Thank you.

Your name, signature

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EXAMPLE LETTER E Today’s Date Name of Credit Bureau Address

Report # or File #: (this will be found on your credit report) RE:

Your Name Address City, State, Zip Social Security # Date of Birth

Consumer Relations: On September _____ and October _____ I sent you letters requesting that false items on my credit report be investigated and removed immediately. (see enclosed letters) As of yet I have not received a reply from you. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you are required to respond within a reasonable amount of time or remove the contested items from my report as to avoid further negligence on your part and further damage to my good name.

I am sending this letter return receipt requested and will provide this information to the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Protection Agency and the _______ State Attorney General’s Office unless I hear from you regarding these contested items within 30 days or by November _____, 2003 Please forward an updated (corrected) copy of my credit report immediately.

Thank you.

Your name, signature

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EXAMPLE LETTER F Today’s Date Name of Credit Bureau Address

Report # or File #: (this will be found on your credit report) RE:

Your Name Address City, State, Zip Social Security # Date of Birth

Consumer Relations: On September _____ and October _____ I sent you letters requesting that false items on my credit report be investigated and removed immediately. (see enclosed letters) I received your reply form letter that you consider my request for investigation of these items is frivolous.

According to my consumer rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you are required to investigate items at my request. Your continued negative and inaccurate reporting is damaging to my good name and you could be liable for your continued negligence in this matter.

I am sending this letter return receipt requested and will provide this information to the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Protection Agency and the _______ State Attorney General’s Office unless I hear from you regarding these contested items within 30 days or by November _____, 2003 Please forward an updated (corrected) copy of my credit report immediately.

Thank you.

Your name, signature

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EXAMPLE LETTER G Today’s Date Name of Credit Bureau Address

Report # or File #: (this will be found on your credit report) RE:

Your Name Address City, State, Zip Social Security # Date of Birth

Consumer Relations: On September _____ I sent you a letter requesting that false items on my credit report be investigated and removed immediately. (see enclosed letter) Your reply dated October ______ (see enclosed letter) states that your investigation resulted in verification of the debts as reported.

I still contest the validity of the debts as they are reported and am submitting this letter as an official request for the name and contact information of the person or persons with whom you allegedly verified this erroneous information.

According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you are obliged to provide me with this information. Please do so within 30 days of receipt of this letter.

Please forward an updated (corrected) copy of my credit report immediately.

Thank you.

Your name, signature

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EXAPMLE LETTER H Accounts payable Attn: ABC Co. Address RE: Settlement for the balance of $1,000 on account #112233 Dear ____________, Per our phone conversation earlier this week, I will be settling the account mentioned above. Please sign and return this letter as the party authorized to do so on behalf of ABC Co. I, _____________ accept your payment of $100 as agreed upon to settle the full amount of $1,000 including any outstanding interest, fees or other charges in conjunction with account #112233. I agree further that we will stop any attempt to collect additional funds on this account and will notify our collection department/agency of same within 48 hrs. of our receipt of your payment.

I agree not to sell this debt to a third party as this account is considered paid in full.

I agree to have all negative remarks that we may have reported to the credit bureaus deleted and replaced with a statement of account paid in full and closed at request of consumer. I will contact any collection agencies that have placed remarks regarding this account and demand that they do the same.

I appreciate your cooperation on this matter. Please sign and return a copy to me.

Sincerely,

Accepted and agreed to:

Joe Indebt BY:___________________________ Authorized representative ABC Co. _________________________________ Print Name _________________________________

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EXAPMLE LETTER I Accounts payable Attn: ABC Co. Address RE: Settlement for the balance of $1,000 on account #112233 Dear ____________, According to our mutual agreement dated __________, (Copy enclosed) I am enclosing the amount of $ __________ as settlement on the above mentioned account in exchange for the account being listed from this day forward as; “Paid in full – Account closed by consumer” Please notify any and all credit bureaus with whom you regularly report of the status of this account. Please make this notification within 48 hrs as per our mutual agreement.

Please also remove this account from any and all collections agencies with which you may do business.

Sincerely,

Joe Indebt

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