1. How many credit bureaus are there?
Answer: There are many credit bureaus. Most are substations of the Giant Three or Main Credit Bureaus. These Main Bureaus supply the information to all the many substations throughout the U.S. The Main Bureaus are called Equifax located in Georgia, Trans Union located in Pennsylvania and Experian located in Texas.

2. Why do items remain on my report even after I have paid them off?
Answer: Just because you pay a debt off it does not mean the debt will be removed. Sometimes paying an account off can cause the account to appear more negative on a credit file. If you do not know whether to pay a debt ask someone with experience before making a deal to pay off the debt. Just because you are trying be honest and satisfy what you owe does not mean the creditor is going to do the same and in fact more times than not, paying a debt off does not get you any better rating.

3. Can information be removed from my file even if it belongs to me?
Answer: Any information on a credit report can be removed but it has to be removed due to a violation of some type written in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). To automatically think that all negative information can be magically removed from a credit file is wrong ... it takes a lot of research and knowledge to find the best way to get derogatory information removed from a credit file. There are many laws written to protect the consumer so anything that violates any of these rules will cause removal of any accounts including judgments, liens, collections, charged off/written off accounts and even late pays.

4. Why do all three bureaus list different information?
Answer: Your creditors do not have to report information to any of these credit bureaus this an option that ALL creditors have. So they also do not have to report to all three credit bureaus and may only report to only one or two bureaus and then there are those who report to all three. Most creditors you will be trying to get loans from, ESPECIALLY home and auto loans will pull all three reports this is why it is important that work be done to clean up all three bureaus. Even if you are not applying for a loan of this nature you can't guess which reports the other creditors will pull. They may use any of the three bureaus to check your credit.

5. What is an inquiry and can it hurt my credit score?
Answer: An inquiry is an action that a creditor follows when you fill out an application for credit. In other words any time you apply for a credit card or any other type of loan and you sign on the dotted line, or if you apply for credit over the phone and give permission for them to check you credit ... you will get at LEAST one inquiry on one or all of your credit reports. A lot of consumers, especially those with less than perfect credit will apply about eight times more than a consumer with good credit because they get denied the credit they have applied for. They assume the answer is to try another company. This usually is not the way to go .. you end up getting many inquiries and getting turned down many times and this does "even though credit bureaus state inquiries are most of the time not negative" bring your credit scores down as much as 5 points per inquiry in some cases. The problem is not that inquiries are negative as a stand a lone item but inquiries mixed with other derogatory information causes the credit scores to drop very low even when you have good credit. There have been creditors deny loans just because of inquiries.

6. Is bankruptcy an option to save my credit if I am struggling and getting farther into debt or would it cause a bigger problem?
Answer: Bankruptcy has saved thousands of consumers the heartbreak of being unable to buy anything on credit. Contrary to popular belief, bankruptcy is better, ONCE the reports are cleaned up of the mess, than having a lot of charged off accounts ... even if they are paid charge offs. Bankruptcy mutes out all the negative debt so that it is unrated all the collections, charge offs and even judgments are not counting against the credit scores ... only the bankruptcy becomes a negative and ONE negative is better than 20 negatives. Some creditors will still not give you credit but in 90% of those who have filed a bankruptcy are able to obtain homes and cars and have fair credit scores immediately after the discharge of the bankruptcy if the reports are cleaned up. You can find more on bankruptcy on our website at: Bankruptcy Options

7. All my debts are fairly old is it possible to clean up the problems so my credit scores are higher?
Answer: Yes, any report can be cleaned up there are different methods for different problems but anyone who has had it with bad credit can get help. If everything can't be cleaned off then mediation will be done to get any open accounts closed so that the creditors see less risk in lending you money.

8. How long does it take to clean up my credit reports?
Answer: Different companies tell you different things but from our experience (eight years with thousands of clients) we have found that most consumers fall into two categories: The three month to five month category and the six month to ten month category. Because the work involves tedious and frustrating issues that have to be dealt with by a third party it is much like an attorney getting up in front of a judge or jury ... stating his case and then waiting for the judge or jury to make a decision. If the first decision does not take care of all the problems you take it back to court ... or in this case back to the credit bureaus. Sometimes it could take several of these rounds of disputes to get the desired results so persistence and constant attention to the work is the key. This is why we excel at what consumers seem to not be able to accomplish. We do this day in and day out and we are geared up to take on the task every day.
Even if you choose to do the work yourself you are going to get better results if you are persistent. We offer a SelfHelp kit with live support and more information can be found at: Self Help CREDIT REPAIR KIT

9. Why do credit bureaus tell me that credit repair companies are illegal?
Answer: Credit bureaus do not really say this the way they word their text is "If you think you have been taken by a credit repair organization please send us the name, address etc. Giving the consumer the impression that credit repair organizations are acting illegally. There are many companies out there that are not following any of the guidelines set forth in the Credit Repair Organization Act, however, that does not mean we are all acting inappropriately. We are licensed and bonded and we do follow every state and federal guideline. We also charge monthly so it would take a lot of work to extract money from a consumer when they are paying as we do the work for them. This also is a more fair way of billing consumers since we are billing for what work is needed not a flat rate upfront which is a practice of many organizations. Also watch those companies who are charging you by the accounts they have removed ... there are three credit bureaus they are charging for all three bureau removals so if you have the items removed from all three reports it is three times what they are charging. Some companies have low rates but will charge you for each email or phone call you make. Check into hidden charges.

10. Why is credit so important?
Answer: In today's society, unless you are a millionaire and can pay cash for everything, there will be times when you need a loan, even those who have a lot of money will finance their homes because the interest is a write off. Credit gives us what we want and need now ... if your credit is bad you will feel embarrassed, less than adequate and most of all useless even if you make good money. Bad credit has no boundaries we have people who should not even have bad credit reporting on their credit files and need help simply because of mistakes that have been made on their credit reports. Merging another person into their credit files or a father and son getting each other credit even people who are in no way related to each other being merged together. There a statistic that state ONE OUT OF TWO credit files have mistakes. We have numbers that show one out of one credit files has mistakes and have not been updated properly. If you don't check your credit scores at least twice a year you could be surprised when you try to get a loan. Checking your credit reports keeps you informed of any problems when they happen and will save you thousands of dollars in interest rates. Even one point of interest can cost you a lot of money so you should keep your reports clean and error free at all times.

11. What is the difference in me doing my own credit repair or hiring a company to do it for me?
Answer: The differences are obvious. If you don't have the time or inclination to do the work yourself it is a convenience to have a company do it for you. This is not an easy job, it takes time, dedication and you must have a low frustration level along with determination and persistence. Most consumers do not have these qualities. If you do have the qualities then self help is the least expensive way to go. You would spend a little more time getting the work done since you need to know what you can and cannot do, plus learn how to format disputes to each credit bureau after you learn how the read the credit reports. We have a great self help program and we are the only company offering one that actually gives you live support if you need it. Most do it yourself books being offered are bought and the consumer has no more idea of what he is doing after buy the book then before he spent his hard earned money.

12. If I get married can my credit hurt my new spouses credit?
Answer: No, you are always an individual in the eyes of the credit bureaus. Getting married does not change this. The only credit that would end up shared are the items you purchase after you are married as joint accounts. In other words only credit you get together are added to each credit profile and if those accounts were to go bad then those would show bad on all the credit reports these accounts are reporting on. The perfect credit scenario is to get only accounts together that have to gotten together such as auto and home loans. Only add the other person as an authorized user to any accounts that you want to share as authorized user accounts remain only the responsibility of the sole cardholder. If any problems arise in the future only one of you need suffer bad credit while the other maintains good credit.

13. Is it good to have no credit at all?
Answer: No, without any credit you will not get a credit score so in some instances no credit is as bad as bad credit. You give your creditors nothing to judge you by. The only way to get credit scores is by how you pay off your credit accounts off each month, each month you pay on time you get some score. If you have open credit and never use it this also is not helping you to gain credit score. Some people only use credit for one month and pay it off at the end ... this is called establishing good credit. If you have too much credit with balances maxed out or close to the credit limits this can also cause you problems with debt to income issues and it can lower your credit scores. When making major purchases you should try and pay off as much of your debt as possible so your income level is sufficient and your scores are higher. You should do this three month in advance of your purchase as it could take this long for the creditors to update the accounts to show the new balances. Some creditors report every month, some every two months, some every three months and then there are the six month reporters so you must be sure the accounts will show your paid down amounts prior to apply for the loan.

14. Is there any magic when cleaning up credit reports?
Answer: No, only intelligence, knowledge and experience is the magic to cleaning up credit reports. Being a good researcher and taking the time to do the work is all that is needed. No one has any magic fairy dust to throw on your reports no matter what they tell you. No one pays off employees of credit bureaus and no one has some sort of inner connection. This is all a bunch of hog wash. There is some luck to the process but that is not to be counted on.

15. How long does it take to see results on my credit reports?
Answer: The first set of updated reports show results of what has been deleted or improved even though the first results may not always be the only dispute needed it still improves the reports considerably and this is usually within the first 45 to 60 days. One item removed can improve your scores by several points and could mean the difference in 6% interest rate as opposed to 81/2%. When you are purchasing a home this is thousands of dollars worth of savings.
1. Did you know that July 2001 was the first time a consumer could ask for a copy of his/her credit scores? Prior to this date we were NOT allowed to know what our own credit scores were.
2. Did you know that one out of two credit reports contain errors? It is a fact and if you got really down to the nitty gritty there are no accurate reports since misspelled names, wrong addresses and other information is almost always found to be in error including your current employment.
3. Did you know that if you have no credit at all it is almost as bad as having bad credit? So if you are out of a bad situation now it is best to try and establish some sort of credit which is probably going to have to be secured at best ... but don't use it for credit use it to help establish credit while you clean up your reports.

If you would like details on how our service works go to our FORMS the pages you will find there are also the forms we need if you decide to use our service. Just print them down and fill them out.

If you have a question that has not been listed here just ask us: Blunt is our middle name so only expect the most direct answers you can email us...we usually respond within 15 minutes.
Remember everything you do now has a big impact on your future. People in general do not wake up one day and think "Hey, how about ruining our credit today". Most consumers have had a bad times which usually means an illness, divorce, lost job or something traumatic that has caused their credit problems. We believe that everyone deserves a second chance ... even death row inmates get that option... smile.