Credit Report Repair After Bankruptcy |
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You must be wondering how credit report
repair companies survive in view of the large amount of money that they spend on advertising on the radio, the Internet and on late night TV. Certainly, they must be operating profitably in order to lay aside such large amounts for publicity. These ads of credit report repair companies are misleading at best and downright misrepresentations of truth at the worst. The claims that they make are indeed lofty such as removing all negative information from your credit history; increasing your credit scores instantly; and erasing late pays, repossessions and foreclosures from your credit report. Of course, they can erase them only if they are erroneously mentioned on your credit report. Their advertisements very cleverly mention in big print that they can quickly repair your credit and erase all the bad stuff, whereas in little print they qualify that only the stuff that should not have been there in the first place. In some cases, they do not even bother about the fine print especially in their radio and Internet ads. You must know that you can also do what they claim to do and that too free of cost! You should, therefore, ignore them. The credit report repair companies operate in the following manner: After you send them your money, they ask you to contact the three major credit bureaus and check your most up-to-date credit history for any inaccuracies. You are then advised to challenge any inaccuracies that you may find. Some companies provide your credit report directly to you (for your fee) and will mail the request for correction forms on your behalf to the credit bureaus. This service, however, is very costly. The credit report repair companies will also advise you to pay your bills on time in the future. They will stress and guarantee that payment should not be later than 7 years as all bad information will disappear from the credit report at that time. There lies the catch, as after 7 years, bad credit info (other than bankruptcy, which stays on for 10) cannot be reported legally. It is, therefore, obvious that the credit report repair companies are not doing anything special that you cannot do yourself. You may receive offers from credit report repair companies after you have filed for bankruptcy promising to restore your credit scores, to cancel out the effect of bankruptcy and even promising to erase the bankruptcy filing from your credit record. It is possible that the fine print might say, "We can only remove erroneous reports of bankruptcy filings. If you actually filed for bankruptcy, then such cannot be removed from your credit history. When you pay their fee, the credit report repair companies will give the following advice. (The following are some real, tried and true, "credit report repair" tips. They are free to you. There is nothing magical about it. It just takes slow, methodical, dedicated, hard work to repair your credit.) You should ensure that your credit history is correct. You can order the report for an average cost of $8-$10 each and follow the advice of the credit reporting agencies to correct the inaccurate information. If you have a poor credit history, the best way to improve your credit is to pay off any current and new loans successfully and on time. To obtain new credit, a steady job and a good payment history between your past credit problems and your current loan application are essential. You must make it a habit to save and invest at least a small amount of your income to prove that you have the discipline to do so. This will also prove that your credit problems are part of your past history and your creditors will appreciate that. You should not leave the lending officer with a frown if you are turned down for credit. On the other hand, you should give the impression that you are serious about repairing your credit. You can do yourself what any credit report repair company can do, as it cannot do any magic. |
