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Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Credit Bureau?
Credit bureaus track personal, financial and credit
information on individuals. This includes information taken from
public records, personal identification and debt information. With
the exception of back child support payments, creditors supply
information on a voluntary basis. Credit bureaus are strictly
private 'for profit' entities, and are not government institutions.
How many are there?
There are 3 major credit bureaus:
EQUIFAX , TRANSUNION and EXPERIAN (formerly known as TRW).(Click here for the
Credit Bureau addresses).
Are all 3 important?
The three (3) major credit
bureaus pass information to additional minor or less well known
credit bureaus. Each major credit bureau therefore will cover at
least one-third of your total credit history. And even though your
credit report may display the name of an otherwise unknown small
credit bureau, the fine print will show a major credit bureau is
ultimately supplying the information.
How long does
information remain on my report?
Credit bureaus report credit
information for a period of seven (7) years. Some states have
special provisions for collections and paid liens. Chapter 7 and
Chapter 11 bankruptcies are each reported for 10 years, and chapter
13 bankruptcy is reported for 10 years, both measured from the date
of the filing.
Why do Credit Bureaus not want me to use a
Credit Repair Company?
The credit bureaus will tell you
that it is easier and less expensive to do it yourself. While it may
be true that you have the right to repair your credit yourself, many
individuals do not have the time, experience and organizational
savvy necessary to deal with bureaucracies. You must also spend
hours of study to gain a working knowledge of the consumer laws
available to you. Many who start repairing their credit turn to a
credit repair company after months of work.
How long will it
take for me to repair my own credit?
There is no definite
answer because it depends on your initial credit status,
your dedication to review your credit report and prepare letters to
each of the credit bureaus, and how long it takes you to learn your
credit rights by familiarizing yourself with the Fair Credit
Reporting Act (FCRA). You must remain organized and effectively
draft your correspondence to the credit bureaus. This process can
easily take over a year of diligent work. Or, you can hire The
Credit Guru to work proactively on your behalf.
How long
would it take The Credit Guru to repair my credit?
Again there is no definite answer, only definite advantages
as the time varies depending on the initial credit status of each
customer. Using The Credit Guru eliminates the time invested
in learning credit laws and drafting correspondence for the paper
chase with the credit bureaus. It frees you from crafting carefully
worded correspondence and following each dispute. The credit bureaus
will be less inclined to view a credit challenge from a recognized
credit repair company as frivolous or unfounded. On average it takes
between 3 to 8 months Depending on your situation, it may take as
little as 3 and as much as 6 months or more for The Credit
Guru to repair your credit.
Can I get credit cards while
repairing my credit?
Yes, you are able to apply for credit
cards while repairing your credit, but you should take care to make
sure that you do indeed get approved for any credit you request.
Remember, even mere inquiries from prospective lenders are treated
as negative credit data. Find out what the lending institution's
criteria is for granting the credit card or loan you want before
submitting the application and make sure that you fit and can meet
their criteria. If not, you SHOULD NOT apply as it will only add
negative credit information to your credit history.
Does
Paying Off My Bills Repair My Credit?
You would think that
would be true. But, again, the credit reporting system just doesn't
work that way.
When you pay an old debt, the negative credit
listing doesn't disappear. In fact, it re-ages and the seven year
clock begins again with that negative listing. And, the most ironic
thing is that a paid, current negative listing is not any better
than an unpaid negative listing. That's not always true, but in most
cases, you won't get much further by paying the old debt. The good
news is that we can help you settle those debts and save you a lot
of money in the process.
What can I do if I have no credit
at all (good or bad)?
In that case a credit repair service
may not be the best thing for you. Lenders are typically more
amenable toward extending credit to persons with no credit history,
than to persons with a history of bad credit. A steady source of
income, money in a bank account, or a relative willing to cosign
your credit application may be all you need.
How does a
Credit Bureau make money?
A credit bureau is a commercial
business. It makes money by selling your credit report to others. A
person with bad credit means more business for them as such a person
applies for credit about ten (10) times more than a person with good
credit.
Who can see my credit report?
Anyone who
wants information for a business transaction between you and them
may obtain your credit report. This may include an insurance
company, a prospective landlord, a prospective employer, a
collector, or a government official.
Why should I use a
Credit Repair Company?
The most common reasons are that
individuals either have already tried themselves and obtained
limited results, or they just don't have the time to undertake this
task. If you decide to use us, you can be assured that you will be
receiving the best assistance and service possible.
How Do
You Restore Bad Credit?
As part of your service with The
Credit Guru for credit restoration services, we will
evaluate your credit report that tells us which items on your credit
report you desire for The Credit Guru to challenge. All
credit listings showing up on the credit report which you advise us
are assumed to be inaccurate or unverifiable will be subjected to a
dispute. Once we've received your credit reports
, we will construct letters of dispute in your
name. These letters are specifically designed to communicate your
dispute in such a way that the credit bureaus will be more likely to
accept the dispute and conduct an investigation of the disputed
item.
While this may sound easy, any person who has
attempted to dispute their own credit will tell you otherwise.
According to federal law, the credit bureaus can ignore your dispute
under a variety of conditions. In our experience, a large percentage
of dispute letters sent directly from consumers are rejected under
one credit bureau pretext or another.
At the conclusion of
the credit bureau's investigation, a new copy of the credit report
will be sent to your address showing any deletions or improvements
as a result of The Credit Guru services. You then copy and send us
the new credit report and the cycle repeats itself at timed
intervals.
A disputed credit listing must be accurate and
verifiable for it to remain on the credit report. If the credit
listing is only somewhat inaccurate, the credit bureau may simply
change the item to correct the inaccuracies. Very often, though,
disputed credit items cannot be verified: the creditor either no
longer possesses the information or does not wish to go to the
trouble of verifying it. Also, the reinvestigation must be completed
within 30 days or the listing must be removed. For these reasons,
properly disputed credit listings are removed with remarkable
frequency. Each time an investigation is commenced, the odds of
receiving a particular deletion increases.
How Does The
Credit Guru Do this Legally?
Disputing your credit
report is your right. Credit restoration is as legal as pleading
"not guilty" in a court of law.
What if Deleted Items
Reappear on My Credit Report?
On occasion, a negative
listing that was recently deleted will eventually be verified by the
creditor. The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires that the credit
bureau inform you of reinstatement of a previously deleted listing.
The FCRA also makes it more difficult for credit bureaus to
re-report listings. Because of these factors, it is fairly rare for
listings to come back on your credit history once they've been
deleted. If an item is re-reported, it is a simple matter to
challenge the listing again at a future time in order to press for
permanent deletion.
Do I Need to See My Credit Reports
First?
Most people visit this website after they have been
denied credit. Most even know the specific nature of the negative
listings appearing on their credit report. With this in mind, it is
not necessary to know exactly what is appearing on the credit report
before we begin work. It is only necessary to know that there is a
credit history problem which needs to be addressed. One amazing
thing about bad credit is that almost any small amount of bad credit
will trigger universal credit denial. A little bad credit isn't much
better than a ton. So, if you believe that there might only be a
couple of negative listings on your credit report, it still makes
sense to hire The Credit Guru for the time it takes to remove
those listings.
Disclaimer:
None of the information
contained on any of The Credit Guru web pages is meant to be
legal service advice or a substitute therefor. We provide the
information contained on these web pages comprising the The Credit
Guru web site solely to assist you with our proven methods of
restoring credit and getting negative, erroneous, incorrect,
obsolete, and misleading information removed from your credit
reports for the purpose of re-establishing your good credit. The
Credit Guru can even help you restore your credit after filing
bankruptcy... you can usually establish new credit within six months
of the bankruptcy discharge. A bankruptcy will usually generate
several entries on your credit report, and you (or your authorized
agent) must be diligent to make sure that the post-bankruptcy credit
history is addressed.
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