Frequently Asked Questions

Q) How long will it take?
A) It would be improper for us to tell you that we can promise a particular result within a certain period of time.  We can no more do that than we could promise a client that he or she would prevail in a court of law.  Though we can give you an idea as to how we have preformed in the past, we warn you not to assume that you will get the same result as past clients.  Your results may be better or worse.  If credit reports are received promptly, many clients see exciting progress within the first 60 days.
Statistically, participating clients have received, on average, 10.77 deletions by their third month, 15.15 deletions by the sixth month, and 25.8 deletions by the end of nine months.  A deletion is a credit item that has permanently disappeared from the credit report of the client.  We tabulated these statistics on September 2002 from clients who had sent copies of all three credit reports once every three months (a “participating client.”)  Though we realize that these average results are exciting, we must warn you not to interpret past performance as a guarantee or promise that we will achieve precisely the same results for you as we have other clients in the past.  Your results may be better or worse.
The progress of you case will depend on your participation (sending in credit reports on a timely basis,) the nature of your case, and the level of credit bureau cooperation.

Q) What kind of information appears on a credit report?  
A) Merchant Trade Lines
These include all regular credit lines such as department store cards, auto loans, mortgages, and credit cards.  If there is any history of late payment, or if the trade line was included in bankruptcy, charged off, or put into repossession, the listing will be considered negative by all credit grantors.
Collection Accounts
When an account is referred to collections because of delinquency or because of a bad check, this appears on the credit report as a collection account.  Collection accounts can appear as paid or unpaid accounts.  Any type of collections account, whether paid or not, is considered very negative by all credit grantors.
Court Records/Public Records
Courts records include bankruptcies, judgments, liens, divorce, satisfied judgments, and satisfied liens.  All court records, including satisfactions, are considered negative by all credit grantors.
Inquiries
Every time a potential credit grantor looks at your credit file, a credit inquiry appears on at least on of your credit bureau reports.  If the numbers of inquiries are few over the last two years, then there may be no negative effect on your credit worthiness.  However, if there are many recent inquiries showing on your credit report, credit grantors may become nervous and deny you credit.

Q) What is a charge off?
A) When you become very delinquent on an account, the creditor will probably charge it off.  This means that they have written the debt off as a loss for tax purposes.  This does not mean that they have given up collecting on the debt.  The creditor is now likely to either sell the debt or send it to collections.
Charge offs are very negative listings, but they can often be settled through debt settlement for much less than you owe.  Example: If you owe 1,000, then you would pay 10 cent on the dollar.

Q) What is the difference between a R1 and R9?
A) “R” refers to a revolving account, “I” refers to an individual account, and “M” refers to a mortgage account.  The creditor supplies this rating.  It is their rating of you as a borrower.  There are only two ratings which are not negative.  A rating “1” is good and a rating of “0” means that they don’t have “R” enough history with you to rate you.
Every other rating, “2” through “9” is negative.  In our experience, creditors don’t look at these rating when you apply for financing.  The creditor usually looks at the late pays or other notations such as “charge off” or “collections.”  However, any rating but a “1” or “0” indicates that you have problems with the account.

Q) Does paying off my bills repair my credit?
A) You would think that would be true.  But, again, the credit reporting system just doesn’t work that way.
When you pay an old debt, the negative credit listing doesn’t disappear.  In fact, it re-ages and the seven-year clock begins again with that negative listing.  And, the most ironic thing is that a paid, current negative listing is not any better than an unpaid negative listing.  That’s not always true, but in most cases, you won’t get much further by paying the old debt.  You will in fact pay twice, the debt, then pay to have some one to repair the listing. Therefore, you must decide.
That is, you won’t get much further unless you also work to restore your credit at the same time.  The good news is that we can help you settle those debts and save you a lot of money in the process.                                       

Q) How long will negative information stay on my report?
A) The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires that most negative credit items be deleted from your credit bureau file in no more than seven years, except for bankruptcy, which can be reported for up to ten years.  These are the time limits for reporting negative credit.  The creditor or the credit bureau can choose to have the negative credit information deleted whenever they please.  Inquiries may remain on the credit report for up to two years.  Now this is what the bureaus want you to assume that any listings can not be deleted, that’s were we step in to help, to provide information as such to bring this to your attention that listings can be deleted.

Q) Can you help me with IRS issues?  
A) With tax liens, there are two problems which need to be solved.  First, you have the actual tax debt, which can be negotiated, reduced and paid.  Second, you have one or more negative credit listings, which appear, on your credit report.
We can help you to solve the first problem by referring you to a skilled IRS mediator.  The second problem is addressed by our credit restoration service.

Q) Who is CONSUMER CREDIT COUNSELING SERVICES?
A) CCCS is a non-profit service, which negotiates with your creditors to reduce your monthly payments.  You will end up paying more, because the lower payments will stretch your interest out over a longer period of time, but CCCS can usually get you some immediate breathing room in your monthly budget. But before you seek CCCS, let us take a good look at your credit report to see if by chance we can help you.
If you are currently having difficulty making your monthly payments, you will be best served by seeking help from CCCS first, before retaining our firm’s services.  You can reach a nationwide arm of CCCS by telephoning 800-783-5018.

Q) Should I declare Bankruptcy?
A) If you are considering bankruptcy, you should consult a local attorney who specializes in bankruptcy law.  There are, however, a couple of bankruptcy alternatives that you should be aware of before you decide on whether to declare bankruptcy.  We offer a Bankruptcy Alternative program that is perfect for clients on the edge of bankruptcy. For more information, please contact our office before filing.

Q) What if deleted items reappear on my credit report?
A)  On occasion, the creditor will eventually verify a negative listing that was recently deleted.  The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires that the credit bureau inform you before the re-report a previously deleted listing. The FCRA also makes it more difficult for the credit bureaus to re-report listings.  Because for these factors, it is fairly rare for listings to come back on once they’ve been deleted.
If an item is re-reported, it is a simple matter to challenge the listing again at a future time to press for permanent deletion.

Q) How do you restore bad credit?
A) As part of your retainer agreement, you will complete a questionnaire that tells us, which credit items you, want challenged.  All other credit listings showing up on the credit report are assumed to be inaccurate or unverifiable and will be subjected to a dispute.
Once we’ve received your credit reports, we will construct letters of dispute in your name.  These letters are designed to communicate your dispute in such a way that the credit bureaus will accept the dispute and conduct an investigation.
While this may sound easy, any person who has attempted to dispute his or her own credit will tell you otherwise.  According to federal law, the credit bureaus can ignore your dispute under a variety of conditions.  In our experience, a large part of dispute letters sent directly from consumers are rejected under one pretext or another.
At the conclusion of the credit bureau’s investigation, a new copy of the credit report is sent to your home along with any deletions or improvements.  You then copy and send us the new credit report and the cycle repeats itself at timed intervals.
A disputed credit listing must be accurate and verifiable for it to remain on the credit report.  If the credit listings are only somewhat inaccurate, the credit bureau may simply change the item to reflect the accurate status.  Very often, though, disputed credit items cannot be verified: the creditor either no longer possesses the information or does not wish to go the trouble of verifying it.  Also, the reinvestigation must be completed within 30 days or the listing must be removed.  For these reasons, properly disputed credit listings are removed with remarkable frequency.  Each time an investigation is commenced, the odds of receiving particular deletion increases.

Q) What do credit bureaus do?
A)  Credit bureaus have huge databases on the credit histories of consumers. This information is gathered and given to the credit bureaus from creditors that have extended you credit in the past (for example, landlords, credit card companies, the HM Inland Revenue, department stores and banks). Your credit history contains information that creditors use to evaluate and determine your ability and willingness to repay credit. Typically, credit bureaus give the following information: Your open accounts, credit limits, current balances, number of late payments, collection actions, tax liens, and whether you own your one home or not.

Q) What's the worst thing that can appear on my credit report?
A) There are basically eight things that look the worst on your credit report. This is difficult to state because lenders assess information differently.
 Some common examples are: multiple searches, late payments, defaults (paid/unpaid), CCJ's  bankruptcies and repossession orders.

Q) How does a lender qualify me for credit?
A) Most lenders look at the number of years you have worked at your present job, the kind of work you do (the worst to best being: manual work, clerical, self-employed, managerial, professional), the number and nature of negative entries in your credit report, the amount of credit you currently have savings and or current accounts with the lender, length of time at your present address, is the telephone in you own name, do you own your home.

Q) What can lenders do if I don't pay them?
A) Not paying your bills is not a crime (except for your taxes, of course). In the case of a secured loan, the lender can repossess on the property that secures the loan. Unsecured lenders can get a county-court judgments. If you have no property of any real value, there is very little a lender can do. If you work or not and have no real assets, there is virtually nothing that a lender can do. And If your debt is small, it may be more expensive for a lender to attempt to collect. In most cases, a lender will stop short of legal action, and write off your debt.

Q) How do I get collectors off my back?
A) There is a limit to what collectors can do. If collectors are being deceptive or harassing you, you can sue them in civil court. A collector cannot contact you at your place of employment. A collector must not make false or misleading statements, or make abusive remarks, or harass you. 
Nor can a collector call your family or friends to collect you debt. If collectors are harassing you, you should immediately write and official complaints letter asking them to stop any further communication with you. 
Or seek a creditable credit restoration company and or attorney. Once a sufficient registered letter has been mail. They must stop contacting you with the exception of a letter stating that their collection efforts have ended, or the collection agency intends to take specific action against you (that is, sue you). Generally, collection agencies do not sue.

Q) What if I want to quit? What if I'm not satisfied with your work?
A) You can cancel your agreement with us at any time. To qualify for warranty claim, however, you must work with us for an entire year. The satisfaction of our clients is extremely important to us and we will generally go to almost any length to keep you satisfied with our progress. 
However, it is important to give the process of restoring your credit time. This means sending your credit reports to us promptly upon receiving them. Also realize that the credit bureaus have 30 days by law to complete their investigation, and 15 additional days by law to send you an updated, corrected copy of your credit report. You will then immediately send them to our office, at which time we repeat the process, tackling your remaining credit issues. Remember, credit restoration is not an overnight process. Most clients see impressive results within 30-60 days, and steady results from then on until we complete our work.