FAQ's

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Why is my credit score so important – your credit score is a snapshot of your credit history. It is a historical record that tells companies how you’ve paid your bills and managed your credit over the years. Credit scores range from 330 – 850. The higher your score, the easier it is to obtain credit. Companies looking at your credit report, use your credit score to determine the likelihood that you will repay a loan. There is a scoring system called “FICO” that is used to determine your credit score. “FICO” stands for Fair Issac Company and was developed by a man named Issac Fairman in the 1950’s. Your FICO score is generally based on your payment history, the amount of debt you owe, the length of your credit history, inquiries of the companies checking on your credit, the amount of your available credit that you are using, and the type of credit that you have already qualified for. Your FICO score does not count your income, assets, occupation, employment history, your age, or homeownership status. As a reference point, if your credit score is below 620, it would be virtually impossible for you to obtain a new home loan. Your credit score is important because it can affect nearly every financial decision you make. It also has an impact on the interest rate you are able to secure on a loan. There has never been a time in American history, when your credit score has been as important to your financial well-being as it is today.
Which companies check on my credit – virtually all lenders, from retailers and credit card companies to auto dealers and mortgage brokers, check your credit score whenever you apply for credit.
Does my credit score go down when companies check on my credit – when too many companies are checking on your credit, your score will go down. These are called inquiries. When a company checks on your credit, it is referred to as a “hard hit”. When you check on your own credit, it is referred to as a “soft hit”. Soft hits have no effect on your credit. However, too many hard hits in your credit report are viewed as extremely negative. Too many inquiries cause you to appear to be desperate for credit. When we conduct a credit analysis, one of the first things we examine are your inquiries. It used to be that if you were buying a new car and went to five dealerships in one day simply comparing prices, five hard hits would show up in your credit report. The law has been changed and now all similar-type inquires occurring within a 45 day period are supposed to be reported as a single event. Sometimes this doesn't happen and so we pay attention to your inquires.
How long will it take to restore my credit report – there is no average length of time for a credit restoration. Our goal is to have your restoration completed as quickly as possible. We can normally complete our processes in 4 - 6 months. Remember our term of service is for 180 days but we can extend that an additional 180 days at no charge. We are committed to our clients for 360 days.
How do you restore a credit report – we begin with an in-depth credit analysis which we perform without any obligation on your part. We will examine your report with you and discuss all the derogatory items that we find. We’ll identify all negative items in your report that are incorrect, incomplete, obsolete, misleading, or deemed to be unverifiable. We look for violations of state and Federal law on the part of creditors, debt collectors, and the credit bureaus themselves. We then begin the process of debt validation (with debt collectors) and account validation (with original creditors). We use several Federal laws and one state law to request information from debt collectors and original creditors. We do this with correspondence which is prepared in your name and filed with the various companies reporting derogatory trade lines in your credit report. If these companies do not wish to provide this information, or if they are unable to do so, then the item is disputed directly with the credit bureaus. The bureaus are required to investigate and answer each dispute within 30 - 45 days. Debt collectors and original creditors are required to respond within 30 days. The bureau and creditor responses are directed back to you. This allows you to be able to judge both our speed and effectiveness. Upon receiving these responses, it becomes your responsibility to forward those responses to us as soon as possible.
What if the Bureaus don’t respond – Credit Bureaus are required by law to investigate all disputes in a reasonable amount of time which has been interpreted to mean 30 - 45 days. If they fail to respond, then we file a "Demand To Delete" letter with the bureaus demanding that all derogatory items that were disputed in our correspondence be deleted immediately under the authority of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
What if an item reappears in my credit report after being removed – when an item is legally removed from a credit report, it cannot be legally reinserted. In fact, the credit bureaus are required by the Fair Credit Reporting Act to notify a consumer when reinserting a deleted item back into a credit report. However, a negative item will sometimes reappear. If that should happen, we will immediately initiate a new round of dispute correspondence to have that item re-removed at no additional cost.
Can I do this myself for free – yes you can. One of the documents that you’ll receive before you are allowed to sign our Client Services Agreement is called the “Credit File Rights Under State and Federal Law”. You can find this document here, on our website, under the link “Your Rights”. The document tells you that you can take on the Credit Bureaus yourself. However, experience tells us that very few people have the training, time, or persistence to see the job through. For the vast majority of people, it’s less time consuming, much easier, hassle free, and in most cases, less expensive to hire a professional to do the job. We have the experience, the correspondence, the staff and the system in place and we’re ready to go to work for you right now. Another thing to consider is that many times, due to lack of experience in dealing with the Credit Bureaus, a person trying to restore his/her own credit can actually make the situation worse.
What about a guarantee – it is a violation of Federal law for a credit repair company to make any guaruantee regarding work being performed. If a credit repair company has guaranteed you that any negative item appearing in your credit report will be deleted or that your credit score will improve, then that company is in direct violation of the Credit Repair Organization Act. (Google - CROA). We have processes that have been effective in removing derogatory items from credit reports. However these processes will not work every time. There is no way to predict whether or not these processes will work with any specific derogatory until the processes are performed. It sometimes seems that creditors, debt collectors, and the credit bureaus act in a random manner. They can appear to be consistently inconsistent. There is no way to predict how they will respond to a question or a dispute. For this reason, we sometimes have to use several different approaches in an effort to have derogatories removed from credit reports and even then, success is not guaranteed. The only guarantee we can give you is our promise to remain committed to your goals and with our best efforts, to do everything we can to imporve your credit standing.