repair credit get aaa credit remove negative item

Credit Repair Myths And Facts
By Jason A. Martin, Thu Dec 8th

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There are no secrets to repairing your credit. Many shady creditrepair agencies would love you to think the contrary. Negativeitems can be removed from your credit report and you can do ityourself. One does not need a credit repair “expert”or “law firm” to do it either. While the creditworld can seem complex to the average individual, the basics arereally simple once you know them.

Fact: You can remove negative items from yourcredit report.

According to the FCRA, you have the legal right to dispute anypiece of information with a credit bureau. Upon doing so, thecredit bureau then has 30 calendar days to investigate theitem(s). After that time, the credit bureau will either updatethe item as you request or leave it alone if they proved it wascorrect to begin with. If you submit additional information onthe dispute during the 30 days, the credit bureau is allowed totake an additional 15 days. Disputes can be submitted online atthe credit bureau’s site or simply sent via postal mail,which happens to be my recommendation. Disputes sent in based onthe free credit report now provided under FACTA are given 45days to resolve.

Myth: Collection agencies can call you anytimeand do as they please.

To stop collection agencies from calling you, simply send them acease and desist letter stating they are only allowed to contactyou via postal mail. This ability is afforded you via the FDCPA.Collection agencies have a series of actions they must do to bein compliance. You would be surprised at just how many FCRA andFDCPA violations are committed on a daily basis by manycollection agencies. Never speak with a collection agency overthe phone. Conducting discussions via written form is bestbecause you have proof.

Fact: Paying a collection account will notimprove your score.

As far as credit scores go, a paid collection account is thesame as an unpaid one. Your official credit score is called aFICO score. It takes into account many things such as:

• Age of overall credit file.
• Number of accounts ingood standing.
• Number of accounts delinquent.
• Negative items: liens, bankruptcies,

  repossessions,etc.

• Time since the negative item was created.
• Amount of your credit being used (utilization).
• Newaccount under six months old (which hurt your credit).
• Number of hard inquiries.

Typically, mortgage lenders will require delinquent accounts becured but this won’t improve your score.

Myth: You must pay any bill that comes to yourhome from a collection agency.

Under the law you have the right to challenge the legitimacy ofany bill sent to you—it is called validation. By sending avalidation letter to a collection agency they must, by law,cease all collection activities until they can validate thedebt. It is important to note the word is validation and notverification which mean two entirely different things.Validation means they must submit to you proof the bill isyours, which is not a simply an invoice sent to you. Until thatis properly done, they can not report the item to your creditreport, ask you for money or do anything which can be deemedfurther collection activity. Do they anyway? Yes they do. Thisis why it is important to know the law, which is on yourside.

It is vital that you check your credit report often as mostindividuals have erroneous data in them. Don’t assume thateverything will work as it should because it almost never does.No one will be looking out for your credit identity but you.Credit standing has never been more necessary than it is today.Just about everything we do in life from applying for a job tobooking a hotel room has something to do with our creditworthiness.

American Consumer Group, a non-profit organization, has set up afree credit repairsite with all the information mentioned in this article. Goeducate yourself and spread the word.

This article is copyright Jason Andrew Martin LLC.

About the author:

This article is copyright Jason Andrew Martin LLC.

Jason A. Martin has been conducting business on the Internet for11 years. He is a free-lance writer on many topics and iscurrently working on obtaining a degree in Journalism andLaw.

His blog is displayed at: Jason A. Martin

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