Credit Optimization

The Truth

No one can legally remove accurate and timely negative information from a credit report. The law allows you to ask for an investigation of information in your file that you dispute as inaccurate or incomplete. There is no charge for this.

However, if you simply do not have the time to truly follow-through on the tedious parts of having your credit accurately updated, we have had clients use these organizations with success:

There are 2 ways essentially to improve your credit score.

The first step is by disputing any innaccuracies that are reported when you reviewed your credit report.

The next step, in correlation with the first step, is to start working on your personal finance plan yourself.  This would include organizing a budget, paying off the right items, and setting personal finance goals.  There is a right way and a wrong way in determining what to pay off.

We will discuss the 5 primary reasons why your score is lower and what you can do on your own to help optomize that score in the most efficient way possible .

Most borrowers are overwhelmed when they look at their overall debt picture and wonder how they are going to pay off all or any of their debt.  The first step is figuring out which debts are influencing your credit score the most and focus on those first.

Here are the debts you want to focus on first. 

1.) Pay down the balance of a revolving account to a small amount (such as $10 or $15), specifically those that have a past due balance or those with a balance greater than half of the available credit limit.

2.) Transfer a maxed credit line balance to another card that isn't over half the credit line.  The idea here is to get as many of your revolving accounts to have a balance less than half of the credit limit.

3.) If a credit bureau is reporting a significant difference (over $100) in the total balance owed on an account, then make sure you mark this as an item to include in one of your dispute letters, so that the bureau can update this.  Keep in mind however that if you recently made a payment on an account, sometimes it takes a while to update and the creditor might report at different dates to each bureau. 

4.) Charge a small balance to an open revolving account with a zero balance.  For example, go out and charge a small amount (such as 10$) to a credit card with good payment history.  Remember however to make a payment on this new charge because you don't want them to report it late should you forget about it.

Why your payment status needs to be reviewed for innacuracies and included in your dispute letter.

You should have written a dispute letter if you feel a former or current account is being reported innacurately by the credit bureau.

Items that may be corrected (dispute letter) and can help optomize your score:

1.)  Correcting the payment status of accounts that should have been included in a chapter 7 bankruptcy but were never marked that way.

2.) Removing the most recent (all accounts) delinquency if it is incorrect or can be removed via a goodwill adjustment.  Sometimes a creditor will remove this delinquency if your other payment history with them has been good.

3.) Removing a 90 day or worse delinquency, if it is incorrect and the only one in the whole credit file. 

Collections and Public Records

This includes bankruptcies, judgments, and tax liens.

You would be amazed at how many times our borrowers apply for financing only to find out a tax lien that had been discharged or released many years ago still is being reported as owed.  These are one of the biggest credit score killers out there and also one of the most innacurate reported items on a person's credit report. 

Here's some common occurances that could happen:

• An account was included in a chapter 7 bankruptcy, but the creditor is still reporting it as late every month as well as a balance still reporting as owed
• A tax lien was released and paid, but still being reported as owed..
• A collection agency is reporting a balance as owed, but your insurance company is still handling the claim.

Steps to take on Public Records:

1.) Verify that the dates are accurate. For example, if a Bankruptcy was discharged make sure it is being reported that way, and that the date is accurately reported.

2.) If a lien was released and reported as owed, be sure to include that in your dispute letter and provide any proof that you have with your letter.  You can usually find this information at your county recorder's office.

3.) Medical collections are tricky due to privacy laws, but they still have to verify these accounts as accurate the same way as any other item.  If a collection seems innacurate, make sure to include these with your dispute letter.