Free Credit Repair Advice and Tutorial

Who is Giving me the Free Credit Repair Advice?

Hi, my name is Aubrey Clark, I have been a contributor with Credit Card Banc since 1999. Before joining Credit Card Banc, I worked for 18 years in the retail, automotive, banking and mortgage industries as a credit analyst and loan officer. During this time I have approved thousands of credit applications and turned down even more.

I am not a credit repair professional, however I would consider myself some-what of an expert in the field. I have worked with collection agencies, credit agencies, consumer credit counseling companies, credit bureaus and and every other business relating to credit issues. If you are truly interested in repairing your credit, I haven't a doubt I can help you as well as most paid professionals.

Before we Begin ... A few Myths and Questions

There is no quick fix - If you listen to the advertising, from some of the less reputable credit repair companies, it's easy to believe that your credit can be cleaned up in 30 days, that's a lie. Your bad credit did not happen over-night, and it will not clear up over-night. Those who advertise "fast credit repair" are the same people who want to be paid up-front before "repairing" on your credit.

Nobody, and I mean no-one can repair your credit any faster than you can, if you know what steps to take. Credit repair time is directly related to each person's specific credit issue and everyone's issues are different. On occasion, credit can be repaired quickly, but that is the exception, not the norm.

Paying off debts - If your goal is to clean up your credit without paying back, or making restitution to any of the people that you owe money you can stop reading now. Credit repair involves "making amends", this doesn't mean you will have to pay back every debt, or even the full amount. However, you will have to pay some, part or even all of your debts during the process.

Credit repair software - Phooey! If you want to pay someone $300 for a program that tells you what to do and when to do it, please send it to me, I have four children in braces. No program can get you any closer to fixing your credit than this tutorial and pencil and paper. We will show you exactly what you need to do to repair your credit step by step.

Hiring a professional - I have no issues with credit repair experts, just remember, they perform a service, not miracles. If you don't have the time, or inclination, to deal with creditors and collection agencies I suggest you look into one. Just beware of the ones that make promises to "clean" your credit, get you a certain credit score or otherwise infer that they can do the impossible. These are the charlatans.

What Does this Cost? - Nothing. If you like this tutorial you can click on one or two of the websites in that book-mark thingy on the top left and give us a good review. Doing this will increase our traffic and we will sell more credit cards. That's the same as paying us as far as were concerned. :-)

Can I remove a bankruptcy? - No, unless it is over the statute of limitations or it really isn't yours.

Can I remove back child support? - No, in fact, if you have a substantial amount of child support that is owed, and you are unwilling or unable to pay it back you can stop reading now. Most credit underwriters and auditors are women and you stand a better chance of winning the lottery than getting approved for anything, and rightly so.

What about tax liens - I have to be careful here, I am semi-experienced in this matter. When dealing with tax issues NEVER accept ANY advice from ANYONE but the IRS or a tax attorney. That being said, I will touch on how I would go about handling tax liens, but again, do nothing that I say without first checking with a professional.

What will I Need?

Nothing is required, maybe some paper and a pencil to take notes. However, if you are really serious about cleaning up your credit, you it is strongly recommended that you get a brand new 3 in one credit report. There are two ways to get a credit report:

1. Get your annual free credit report that is allowed by law. You can find the website here. Keep in mind, these companies are FORCED by law to give you a credit report once a year. This means they are going to give you the bare minimum that they can get away with.The bureau will not have scores and it will take 2 - 3 weeks to arrive.



2. Buy a 3 in one credit report. Have you seen the commercials for a "free credit report" on TV and all over the net? Here's the catch, each of the credit reporting companies have a credit monitoring service that costs around $20 bucks per month. When you sign up for their service you get the free credit report.. Of coarse, it takes 30 minutes on the phone and an act of congress to cancel, but it is free.

If you are serious about cleaning your credit you should order a credit report before you begin. Sure, you will have to fork-out 40$ bucks to get a 3 in 1 credit report with scores, but you will use the report as a blue print when repairing your credit. This also gives you a measuring point to reference your progress through out the process.

Get your Credit Bureau Here.

Dealing with the Devil

Collection Agencies - Collection agencies are the devil. You cannot defeat the devil, however, by knowing the rules that he is forced to play by, you can keep him in check. Attempting to do battle with the devil, without knowing the rules will end in defeat.

1. Never, Never, Never give a collection agent a credit card, debit card or checking account number. They will make you pay the full amount, not the negotiated amount if he has your financial information. Collection agents are on commission and will charge as much as you have available. Remember, the Devil lies.



2. Asking to speak with the supervisor doesn't work. The 'supervisor" got his job by being the sneakiest snake, he is a better liar too.



3. Send ALL correspondence certified mail, with a return receipt. It's worth the two bucks.



4. Never send money for a debt, negotiated or not, unless you have a letter from them, on a letter head, stating what they will do for you when they receive payment.



5. Do not shout at the devil, he holds the cards. We must defeat him with cunning and kindness.



6. Never ever ever tell the collection agency that you are trying to clean up your credit to do this, or to do that. If they know that you are trying to clean up your credit to buy a house or car they will not negotiate, they know they have you.

The Steps:

8/01/2008 - Depending on when you read this tutorial, it may or may not be finished. I plan to take 3 - 5 days between posting each step. So if your tooling along and come to a blank page, I haven't abandoned you. Just bookmark the page and check back in a day or two, I will put the estimated time of completion for the next page so you know when to return. Below are the steps I will cover :

1. How to Read a credit report - Understanding what is on your credit report and knowing how to read it is our first task. (For those of you have a credit bureau) If not, it is STRONGLY advised that you have one if you are repairing your credit. Get one here.



2. Accessing the damage - Make a sequential list of all credit problems in the order they should be addressed. We will learn what each negative remark is and how it affects your credit.



3. Disputing Collections - First you have to be realistic about how much you are willing to pay to get your credit clean. Some people have a lump sum to spend and others have a monthly budget. We will make our game plan according to your budget.



4. Negotiating with collection agencies - Once we have all of the information we need, we need to begin implementing our game plan to pay off our debts.



5. Begin rebuilding your credit - After you have taken care of all of the credit report issues you need to begin rebuilding credit. We have listed some of the best ways to begin rebuilding your credit here.