Credit Repair? Good or Waste of Time?

First, when you say really old, how old? I'm pretty sure after 7 years, negative reporting should fall off your report (except bankruptcies which I think it's 10 years). If they have not, just let the credit reporting agencies know that they are older than 7 years and they should take them off.

If they are not at least 7 years old, you might want to just dispute them with the credit reporting bureaus and if they don't get verification from the source that reported the negative information, they have to take it off your credit report. When you dispute items on your credit report with the credit reporting bureaus, the creditors have something like 30 days to respond and if they don't, the credit reporting agencies are required to take those items off. Being that those items are "really old", it's possible the creditors won't respond within the required time frame. Of course, if the information is accurate and the creditors are diligent about responding to the credit bureaus disputes, your dispute will be rejected and the items will stay on your report until 7 years have passed or until the creditor does not respond within the required time frame to a dispute you've initiated.

Either way, I personally would NOT pay anyone that much money to "clean up" my credit. I've heard that all they do is dispute your negative credit items over and over again until the creditor doesn't reply within the required time limit and it gets thrown off the report. I don't know if that's completely accurate, but that's what I've heard.

In regards to preparing for buying a home, I would recommend contacting a good, trustworthy mortgage broker. Believe me, I'm not one to spend one penny more than I have to on anything, but when it comes to home financing, a good mortgage broker is worth their weight in gold in my opinion. I personally would recommend Joanne Tucker who we've financed two homes with and have also refinanced one of our homes with as well. Going through her for our mortgage saved us so much time and the interest rate she was able to get for us was lower than any other source we investigated. We have referred her to many friends and relatives who have used her and were all so impressed with her, they've referred others to her as well. She only works through referrals. She does no advertising. I'm not sure where you're located so she may not handle people in your area, but if not, I'll bet she can refer you to someone good who does. Here's her contact information:
Joanne M Tucker
Certified Mortgage Planning Specialist
Email: ____@____.com
Metro Tel: ###-###-#### Metro Fax: ###-###-####
www.tnthomeloans.com

I'm guessing she can give you pointers on what to do about your negative credit reporting issues as well.

Good luck!

A really good friend of mine lives in McKinney and has a credit repair business. His name is Mike Ayres and his website is www.streamlinemycredit.com. He is a super nice guy and I'm sure will be happy to talk to you about what your best options would be - even if it is not using his services.

We have never had a credit issue. All bills we have are paid on time if not before time. That said....I cannot possibly see how spending money with a credit service can help you. We are very numbers oriented in my family. You can negotiate so much. If you do it without the 3rd party, then you and your creditor should be ok.

I can't fathom what an agency will do for $2000 that you can't do for yourself with delayed gratification and self discipline. Negotiate with your creditors, talk to the top 3 credit reporting agencies and do it yourself. You'll have $2000 less spent on someone else claiming to do this for you.

You can do it. Don't help these credit companies make more money off of you.

Susan

I don't know if you have read about the new ways they will be adding up your credit score but what I read is that they are going to start looking at it as a whole and say if you have more good than bad then you will rate higher than say someone who only had one bad thing period and nothing good. Google it and read about it because it will really help people like you that only have some old things haunting you.

I would contact a mortgage broker too. I had one tell me one time it was better to leave the old stuff alone because it already has scarred your credit and even paying it off isn't going to help that much because the fact that you were late is already there. You should really contact them and let them tell you what needs to be fixed and go from there. A good mortgage broker has worked with finance companies enough to know exactly what you can and can not overcome...

Good luck!

Don't do it. Anything the credit repair company can do you can do on your own. Get a copy of your credit report and if stuff is over 7 years old, it should no longer be on there. Dispute it (normally you can do it online directly from your credit report)and they should remove it. Somebody I know went to one fo those "repair companies" and all the company did was dipute everything. You can do that on your own. Some credit companies/debt collectors won't fight it and it will be removed from your file. Whatever you do, DON'T pay the money.

This is a waste of time and money. They should probably be reported to the better business bureau.

If you want to clean up your credit, you can call (or write) the credit agencies and dispute the charges. Or, you can call the creditors themselves and see if there is a way that they will agree to have it removed.

If you cannot do this yourself, the credit repair agencies will not be able to do it for you either.

And, if it is really old stuff, it would all drop off at seven years, anyway.

Good luck.

Just get a list of the credit companies... Equifax, Transunion, Experian..., and then write them with details. They will take stuff off if it's wrong.

http://www.creditsourceonline.com/credit-report-companies...

I don't know where you live, but, do not give anyone $2,000 to repair your credit. I do know of a credit repair agency that charges about $40 each per month. It does take a few months to make a difference. Initially, I would contact a good mortgage lender who is willing to work with you, for free, on your credit. They can pull your credit and see what your options are and when you might be able to get a loan. With a copy of your credit report, you can write letters to the credit bureaus to get the wrong information off of your credit. I am a Realtor and I use Melanie Cowan with Specialized Mortgage Lending at ###-###-####. She is very patient and good about explaining the process. Let me know if I can help.

My husband had credit issues that he brought into the marriage. We have heard that credit repair companies were a rip-off, so we fixed it ourselves. He went to the bank and got a personal line of credit and paid off his debts. We did get a copy of his credit report and protested a few things that we were able to have removed. Sometimes when you pay off an outstanding debt, the place that you owed will not take it off of your report. Also, you can get with a company and make a deal... We owed our old apartment complex $900 when we moved out. By talking to them and disputing some things that they claimed we owed, we only had to pay $300. Remember, they are people too and will work with you. When stuff goes to collections, they buy it for a fraction of what you really owe, so you can talk them down. We owed one $500 and said that they could take $250 now or nothing at all and we made a deal with them.

If you dispute a claim, send it to the collector and the credit reporting agency in writing. If the collector does not respond in 30 days it will be removed.

Good luck!

DON'T DO IT! You can repair your credit yourself by paying your debts off and paying your monthly bills on time. Other than this, there is nothing legal that these companies can do. You can call the companies yourself and ask them to lower your interset rates.

Go to www.daveramsey.com and look up all the advise on this subject. YOu can listen to him on 570 am M-F from 1-4 pm or listen to his show archives on his website. Good luck.