Credit help service

Being in financial crisis is a serious mental strain, one that can easily cause you to lash out at anyone involved in your woes. Before you pick up the phone and yell at some lender’s customer support representative though, consider more professional options that can be looked into concerning your debt.

One of these options is to write a credit repair letter to your lenders. These have a number of functions that can help lessen your debt load and the stress that comes along with it.

The first facet of the credit repair letter is to lay out in writing a repayment plan with your lender. This process can lead to reduced debt, erase bad credit, and at a fraction of the cost of what you currently owe. These simple letters can be powerful tools in getting credit companies to see your situation for what it is.

Ultimately they want to recoup as much of their losses as possible and save themselves from having to write it all off as bad debt. This can save you a good deal of money and potentially avoid a devastating process like bankruptcy.

Letters can also be used to halt collection agencies and debt collectors in their tracks. There’s nothing worse than having the spectre of some collector calling you at any moment looming over you, to the point where many people will refuse to take calls from unknown sources. These companies usually buy your debt from the original source, and as such have no real connection or commitment to service on your behalf.

They simply want their money, and they want it now. It’s your right not to be harassed by these collectors though, and a well crafted letter should get them off your back for a good while.

Fraud alert letters are also vital when you suspect or know you’ve been the victim of identity theft. By placing a fraud alert on your credit reports (TransUnion, EquiFax and Experian), you put your account in a position where lending institutions must call you after each transaction to confirm the sale.

Lenders don’t like this, as it gives them additional work to do, but this is your right as a borrower when you feel your identity has been compromised. These alerts must be renewed every 90 days, with multiple personal security companies springing up that will take care of this process for you, among other things, though you can easily do it yourself.

Your credit score is a major component of how you can borrow money and what rates you’ll be charged for doing so, so it’s important to squash any falsely negative information that may be appearing on your report. It is possible to easily improve your credit score by yourself. Write to the credit bureau in question (the three of which are listed above), and explain to them in detail with documents to back up your statements, of any false information on your reports.

Keep a copy of any and all credit letters you send out, as they are all good evidence that you’re working to establish a good line of communication with lenders in an effort to repair or maintain your credit. The results of these letters may not be seen immediately, but should take effect within no more than a month’s time.

Before you deal with any credit repair agency you need to be aware of what they can and can’t do.

For starters, reputable credit repair agencies can save you the time and hassle of scouring your credit report for errors that may be lowering your credit score. The best agencies will sit down with you and verify any accurate negative information before taking action.

Credit repair agencies can’t remove any negative information on your credit report that’s correct, regardless of any claims that may be made to the contrary. Agencies that knowingly dispute accurate negative information are just wasting your time. Through legislation enacted in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), your creditors have 30 days to investigate any claim to determine whether the negative information being disputed is incorrect. Negative information may be temporarily removed from your credit report but will return if it is verified as true at any time, even after 30 days. In the meantime, the credit repair agency may print you a copy of your “updated” credit report sans your negative info. You may not find out until months later that your credit score has not actually changed.

If your credit score is quite low, some shady credit repair agencies will suggest creating a completely new credit record. In place of your social security number, the agency may try to secure a fraudulent Employer Identification Number (EIN) for you. This is essentially creating a new identity for you that you can use to start over with a fresh credit record. This is also a federal crime. If you fraudulently create a new credit record you’ll be held fully responsible for your actions and could face prosecution.

Credit repair agencies can charge a hefty fee for their services, regardless of whether their services actually do any good. You need to be aware of all the fees and potential costs before agreeing to let any credit repair agency go to work for you. Legally, agencies need to state in writing what the costs are for their services.

Credit repair agencies also cannot legally make any promises or guarantees they can’t back up in writing. If in doubt about anything the agency claims it can do, check with the Better Business Bureau and see if there are any complaints lodged against the agency. If there are no complaints on file, meet with a representative of the agency you want to do business with and make sure they aren’t making promises that they can’t possibly deliver.

Armed with the knowledge of what credit repair agencies can and cannot do, you should be able to find an agency that will meet your needs and help you clean up your credit report with a minimum of time and hassle.