Ascendant Equity

1.  Is Credit Repair Legal?

The Fair Credit Reporting Act gives you the right to contact credit bureaus directly and dispute items on your credit reports. Just as in a court of law, you have the right to plead “not guilty” to negative information on your credit reports, and leave the burden of proof to the credit bureaus. You can dispute any and all items on your credit reports that you feel classify as inaccurate, unverifiable, or misleading. If the bureaus can not verify that the information on your reports is indeed correct, then those items must be deleted.

2. How long does negative credit stay on my report?

In general, negative items can remain on a credit report for up to 7 years with a few exceptions.  A Bankruptcy can remain on the report for up to 10 years.  Information concerning a lawsuit or Judgment can stay on your report for 7 years or until the statute of Limitations runs its course, which ever is the longest. Default information concerning US government insured or guranteed student loans can be reported for seven years after certain guarantor actions.  Tax Liens remain until paid and then 7 years after!

3. Which items on my credit report can be challenged?

There is some controversy over this issue.  However, the law clearly states that a consumer can challenge the validity of any negative item(s) which he or she believes is innacurate, erroneous, or outdated.  Some are of the opinion that challenging items a consumer knows belong to them is wrong or unethical.  Others say a consumer can and should challenge every negative item on their credit report regardless of whether the debt is legitimate.  I believe consumers should hold the credit bureaus, collection agencies, and the original credit issuers feet to the fire just like they do to the consumer.  Accurate reporting of consumer credit information is the responsibility of those business who make billions of dollars in the credit industry and is crucial to keeping the trust of all consumers who depend upon them to keep and report accurate information about them.  It is a statistical fact that 1 out of 3 credit reports contain an error serious enough to cause the denial of a credit application for purchases such as a mortgage, a vehicle, insurance, or even denial of employment!  We as consumers have the legal right to expect and demand that our valuable personal credit information is secure, accurate and accessable.  The rise in identity theft over the past several years is a clear indication that these companies are not as trustworthy with our credit information as they would like us to believe.  Morever, they are for-profit companies who really do not have an interest in maintaining dispute resolution departments that focus soley upon keeping perfectly accurate records.  They make mistakes – lots of them!  They report erroneous information to the credit bureaus all the time and no one is held responsible unless the consumer notices it and makes a complaint.

4. What is a FICO score?

A FICO score is a way of determining a person’s credit worthiness.  The FICO score was created by the Fair-Isaac Company in 1958 and is widely used by all major credit reporting agencies and all issuers of credit.  Banks use a person’s FICO score to determine credit limits and interest rates they will offer the consumer.  A FICO score can range from approximately 300 to 850.  Scores above 720 are considered “good” while scores below 600 are considered subprime or “bad.”  See article – How the FICO score is calculated.

5. Can I fix my own credit?

Yes, you can repair your own credit.  You can also represent yourself in court, but there is an old saying among lawyers that states, “a person who represents himself has a fool for a lawyer”  I know that sounds a bit harsh, but it is true.  The law is set up especially for lawyers and very few people have the ability to represent themselves in a court of law without a trained attorney.  Any credit repair expert will tell you that credit repair is based upon a solid understanding of credit repair laws.  These laws are complicated and can be difficult to understand.  The credit bureaus make it as intimidating as possible to repair credit because they make so much of their profits from people with credit challenges.  Credit repair is the same as many other professions – taxes for instance, you could probably do your own taxes if you had to, but it is much easier to let a tax professional do it for you, plus you get the advantage of knowing they probably won’t make the mistakes you might because of your lack of training.  Credit repair is no different.

6. What is a credit bureau?

A credit bureau is a private, for-profit firm or company that compiles, maintains and distributes credit report information to lenders, issuers of credit, financial institutions such as banks, credit unions, investment brokerages, mortgage brokerages, etc…