FAQs

Yes you can. Nearly 90% of Americans, just like you, have some “blemish” on their credit reports. Due to the nature of the credit reporting industry, those blemishes can be mistakenly included on your record. Frequently, credit reports contain outdated information, unverifiable, negative items, or totally inaccurate entries. Under the law, the credit reporting companies must remove such information. We force the credit bureaus, creditors, and sources of public record information to comply with the law.

Today, the credit reporting system is literally millions of computer files about individual consumers, which are maintained by three credit agencies. The files contain personal information about you – how much you owe, how have you paid your debts, your employer, your social security number, public records, etc.

When you agree to accept credit from a bank, most retail stores, or fill out an employment application – if a credit report is used as a background check – you give the creditor the right to provide information to any credit reporting company. Additional information about you comes from public records, such as court records, debt collection companies, and even the utility companies.

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a credit reporting company may only disclose your credit report if someone is:
a. Granting credit, reviewing your account, or collecting on your account
b. Reviewing you for employment purposes
c. Reviewing your application for insurance
d. Reviewing your eligibility for a license or government-related benefits
e. Providing information for a business transaction, such as renting an apartment
f. A court order
g. An IRS subpoena
h. Someone to whom you have given written permission

Frequently! A large percentage of credit reports contain errors that are inaccurate, erroneous, or obsolete information that can cost you the credit you deserve.

Only the credit reporting agencies have the power to remove items from your credit report. But, as required by law, the credit reporting agencies must delete or correct inaccurate, erroneous, or obsolete information.

Absolutely, provided the items are unverifiable, inaccurate or out of date. Your right to dispute items on your credit report is explicitly granted by the United States Congress in the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970, Section 168e (and other laws). Unfortunately, because it requires extra work to investigate as the law mandates, the credit bureaus would have you falsely believe that there is something wrong with disputing items on your credit report.

It is possible that some results will appear within the first 30 to 60 days. However, your participation in this process is equally important. This is a detailed and skilled procedure that may take up to 180 days or longer to achieve the results you are seeking.

While rare, there are times when a credit bureau will eventually verify information that has already been deleted from your credit report. The federal law requires a credit bureau to inform you prior to re-listing a previously deleted item. This same federal law makes it more difficult than ever for a credit bureau to re-list a deleted item. Therefore, although it is technically possible for a deleted item to reappear on your credit report, it is highly unlikely. If an item reappears on your credit report we can again dispute it at a future date and work towards a permanent deletion.

We ask that you do not apply for new credit unless it is absolutely necessary during this process.

We ask that you do not apply for new credit unless it is absolutely necessary during this process.

Whether an item is deleted from your credit report or not, if the underlying debt is still owed you are still responsible for it. Removal of such an item from your credit report is only a temporary solution. If the debt is still accurate and owed, the creditor or collection agency can, and most likely will, re-report the item to the bureau.

Any unverifiable, inaccurate, outdated or misleading item can be removed. Bankruptcies, repossessions and foreclosures are considered negatives just like a late payment, though more severe in the amount of points deducted from your credit score.

No. However, we work with many attorneys and if a situation arose that required legal counsel we have experts we refer our clients to.

Given enough time and effort, you can learn how to do this credit repair work yourself. But be advised – it will take you a long time, and there’s a lot to know, including which accounts are better left untouched. Because not all “negative” items are necessarily hurting your score. Take this example: Say you have a credit card with a current balance of $1,200 and a credit limit of $10,000. Your credit history is showing a 30-day late payment 12 months ago. Recognizing this as a “negative” account, the rookie would charge ahead and write a letter to the credit reporting agencies claiming this is incorrect and asking for it to be corrected. The professional understands that, in response, the credit reporting agencies could just delete the whole account along with your outstanding 12% Debt Utilization score. The professional knows that this account is worth way too many points to risk losing them all in hopes of picking up a couple of points from the 30-day late pay correction. In fact, it is likely that that 30-day late pay is not even affecting your score any more.
Sometimes, it’s better to leave this work to the professionals.

You’d better care. Maintaining a clean credit report is vital to your financial well-being as it can affect every aspect of your “financial” life, including your ability to qualify for loans or even employment opportunities.

740. Sure, you can get as high as 850, but anything over 740 is probably going to get you the loan you want at a good interest rate.