Why You Should Be Doing Your Own Credit Repair

Raise your hand if you have bad credit or an issue on your credit report. Have you ever been turned down for a car loan or mortgage because of your credit? Have you filed for bankruptcy and need to figure out how to get your credit back on track? If you have, you already know how important good credit is. So, I’m going to dedicate this blog post to explaining a little bit about why you need to be doing your own credit repair and how to get started, including offering a free list of “Five Things You Can Do NOW To Fix Your Credit.”

 

If you’ve watched The Price Is Right, you’ve probably seen commercials that go something like this:
“There is a secret that creditors don’t want you to know… If you have more than $5,000 of credit card debt, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT to settle that debt for a fraction of what you owe.” Finally, they finish the ad by saying you can “all but eliminate your credit card debt with a low monthly payment.”

 

Listen carefully, this commercial is malarkey. This is what I think is at the very least, false advertising and at the very worst, a credit repair scam. Why? Because there is no such law that says if you have less than $5000 in credit card debt, you have the right to settle it for a fraction of what you owe. Do you know how I know that? Because I am a bankruptcy attorney. Believe me, if it were true, I would know about it.

 

You certainly have the right to ASK creditors to settle a debt for less than is owed on it but no creditor is REQUIRED to settle a debt for a fraction of the balance owed. This company is doing what all these “scammers” are doing, relying on the fact that regular folks don’t know a lot about how their credit works.

 

So, when it comes to commercials like this, here is the thing you really need to remember, IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT IS! Do not waste your money on these claims of debt settlement, phony credit repair or credit report manipulation. At the bare minimum, they are deceptive and will cost you lots of money, which you cannot afford to waste on false promises. At the very worst, they will promise something that they can’t deliver and you will end up getting sued by the very creditors whose debt they said they could “virtually eliminate.”

 

Once, I had a bankruptcy court official, tell me that no debt settlement agency had ever helped any consumer (meaning regular people like you and me), avoid filing for bankruptcy. Think about that. What that statement means is lots of people have used these debt settlement programs AND STILL WOUND UP HAVING TO FILE FOR BANKRUPTCY.

 

What really makes me sick about these companies and their claims is that they are preying on people who are already having money problems. If you didn’t have money problems, you wouldn’t need a debt settlement agency… DUH! I’ve seen lots of people spend thousands and thousands of dollars on these “debt settlement” services and wind up getting sued, having to file bankruptcy and out the hard earned money they spent trying to get the debt settled. Do yourself a favor, avoid these companies like the plague!

 

There are some credit counseling services out there that are legitimate. They are important and valuable resources that you can use to help you manage your debts. They also provide credit counseling services that you will need to use if you decide to file bankruptcy. You now have to show you completed a credit counseling class before filing, and a financial management class after you’ve filed. Legitimate credit counseling agencies can help you with this. You can find them at nfcc.org.

 

The most important thing you should know about these agencies or companies is that there are laws regulating them that they have to abide by. If you have bought into a service that isn’t following these rules, you should stop sending them money NOW and complain to the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau immediately!

 

To help you with this, I’m going to put my money where my mouth is and give you all the information you need about credit repair scams, for free. I created an online course called Credit Management 101 – Your Credit and You. All the courses are available at courses.newcashview.com. There are four modules in this course and they break down like this:

 

Credit Management 101 – Your Credit and You!
Module 1 – Credit Report (Introduction, Lesson 1 – Credit Basics, Lesson 2 – Credit Reporting Agencies, Lesson 3 – Managing Your Credit).
Module 2 – Credit Score – 3 videos (Introduction, Lesson 1 – Credit Score Basics, Lesson 2 – How it’s Calculated).
Module 3 – Debt Management – 4 videos (Introduction, Lesson 1 – Debt Basics, Lesson 2 – Fair Debt Collection Practices Act/Debt Collectors, Lesson 3 – Credit Counseling Agencies).
Module 4 – Money Management Miscellaneous – 5 videos (Introduction, Lesson 1 – Credit Repair Scams, Lesson 2 – Identity Theft, Lesson 3 – Bankruptcy as a Debt Management Tool, Lesson 4 – Important Resources).

 

I decided to offer Lesson 1 of Module 4 for free to anyone who wants to know more about credit repair scammers. I posted it on my Youtube channel, click ncvtv to watch it now. I’ve put the Powerpoint slides that go with it on newcashview.com under resources so you can download them. It’s informative and will help you figure out if you are getting scammed!

If you aren’t ready to dive into an in depth program on credit repair but you still need some free help to get your started, I’ve created a list of five things you can do now to help you get started repairing your credit.  If you are ready to learn more, click here to get started!

 

You may be asking how all this will help you repair your credit. Well, credit repair is definitely an issue that we need to know how to work on, right? Especially since the economic meltdown in 2008 was only eight years ago so the fallout is still visible in credit reports. You can tell it’s an issue because of all the credit repair and credit score commercials you see on television. The most important thing you need to know about credit repair is that you can do it yourself and you SHOULD be doing it yourself. All you need is a little know how and a starting point. Do not pay someone to do something for you that you should be doing for yourself.

 

You may be thinking, “that’s easy for her to say, she’s an attorney.” I get it, being an attorney seems to provide a bigger bat in the ballgame. However, the truth is, short of filing a bankruptcy or a lawsuit on your behalf, I really can’t do more to repair your credit than you can do yourself. I have people contact me all the time asking me to help them repair their credit and I tell them what I’m telling you. In fact, I really don’t know of any attorney, in North Carolina at least, that does “credit repair.”

 

So, to teach people the basics of how to repair their credit, I created Credit Management 101. The video based course I mentioned above, with lessons designed to help you with DIY credit repair and management. It has lots of information, resources and even sample dispute letters that will help you learn how to manage your credit for a very reasonable price. All you need to do to get started is head over to courses.newcashview.com and click on “Course Directory” in the menu bar at the top of the screen and scroll down. You’ll find all the information you need to know to whip your credit into shape!

 

The journey to great credit starts at courses.newcashveiw.com. Get started today!

 

Sincerely,
Joy Alford-Brand

Your Dollar Lama

 

P.S.  Don’t forget to check out Money Basics for a quick, fun read about money management and our online courses by clicking here to help you with credit management and budgeting.