FAQ - Credit Restoration & Credit Score Improvement Services


	How long does it take? How does it work? How much will it cost? What are your plans and how do they work? What happens after I enroll? Can you delete bankruptcies? Is cleaning my report legal? Do you charge in advance? Do you offer a warranty? Will I be tied into a contract? Can I cancel anytime? Where do I mail my reports? How long do negative items stay listed? What is a credit score? What kind of information will be on my credit report? Can I see my credit report? How much bad credit does it take to be denied credit? Who looks at my credit report? What is a public record? What is a charge off? Can a bad credit mark actually be deleted? Is this legal? Does it matter which state I live in? Will this raise my credit score? Is there anything that can not be removed from a credit report? How many items do you dispute at one time? Should I still be paying my bills? If I keep paying my bills will that raise my credit score? Can I restore my own credit? How long does it take? Most of our clients will begin seeing positive results within 45 days after we receive their credit reports. Frankly speaking, we don't get paid until negative/bad credit items have been removed from your credit report so we want you to see positive results as soon as possible. Obviously, everyone's credit situation is completely different, so how long it takes for you to achieve your expected results depends on the nature of your case, the number of bad credit items on your reports, your participation in getting credit reports to us, and the level of credit bureau cooperation. We will do our part, the auditing, creating investigation requests and challenging of your reports, usually within 72 hours from the date we receive them. Most of the wait-time after that is usually spent waiting for the credit bureaus or creditors to respond. On average, most of our clients have obtained the desired result by the eighth month. Keep in mind that we may not dispute all negative inaccurate, misleading, unverifiable, outdated and obsolete items simultaneously. We have found that in some cases, doing so would be less effective and may raise flags with the credit bureaus. Our expert knowledge in how to prepare proper investigations that can pass the credit bureaus' screening process and will receive the attention necessary for our desired results is just one of the many competitive advantages we maintain at Credit Repair Consultants. Back to Top How does it work? There exist many laws, both State and Federal that not only protect you - the consumer, but also regulate the credit bureaus and the creditors that report to those credit bureaus. We will use our vast experience and expert knowledge to be your advocate in exercising your rights and correcting your credit reports with Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. We are so sure that you will be happy with our efforts that, except for a small enrollment fee, you will not pay us anything until you have "seen" results (actual bad credit items being deleted). Once we receive your credit reports Credit Repair Consultants will immediately begin the process of auditing your reports and preparing the investigations that we will be sending on your behalf to the credit bureaus. Typically, you should begin seeing positive results approximately 30 - 45 days after we initiate the investigation process. Once the credit bureaus have processed the first round of these investigations, they will send you updated copies of your credit reports showing you the results of the investigations. Simply forward the updated reports to us and include all other correspondence you receive from them so that we may continue the process. Whenever we receive your updated reports, we will document the progress, re-audit your reports and initiate the next round of investigations, thus gradually working through the entire list of negative inaccurate, unverifiable, outdated, misleading or obsolete items on your credit reports. Our expert knowledge in how to prepare proper investigations that can pass the credit bureaus' screening process and will receive the attention necessary for our desired results is just one of the many competitive advantages we maintain at Credit Repair Consultants. Back to Top How much will it cost? You may choose to have our one-time $189.00 application/enrollment fee ($309.00 for a couple – a $69.00 savings) billed 5 to 15 days after you enroll. You may cancel this agreement at anytime within the first five days and you will not be billed anything. Your enrollment fee will cover the most expensive portion of your case - your case setup. This includes the "Credit Repair Consultants' Guide to Your Credit Score" booklet, all welcome/orientation communication being sent, ordering of all three of your credit reports from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, up to one hour of consultation with one of our credit consultants, processing and data input, verification and payment setup, and building of physical file. In accordance with federal regulation we will never charge you in advance. Your case set-up, including ordering of all three of your credit reports on your behalf, will be completed before you are ever billed the enrollment fee. Thereafter there is a monthly service fee of just $35.00 per month ($45.00 for our Premier service plan or $65.00 for the HomePlus service plan - Plans are explained in more detail below). We never charge you in advance of having work performed. We will process the monthly program fee each subsequent month for work performed the previous month. Many months the amount of work that we perform far exceeds the small monthly amount that we charge, nonetheless, rest assured that we will never bill you more than agreed. Fees are refundable. The enrollment fee is refundable as per our 120-day refund policy. And the monthly fees are refundable as per our service guarantee. For your convenience you may pay by credit card or check draft. Cash is only accepted in person in at our offices. Get unlimited disputes & deletions. There is no limit to what kind of items we dispute and delete, or how many items we dispute and delete. Enjoy first-class customer service. Our counselors are trained and qualified individuals whose knowledge, consistent performance and attention to detail are unparallel in the industry. Back to Top What are your plans and how do they work? With all of our plans we will analyze and perform a general audit of your credit reports on a monthly basis for the purpose of identifying potentially negative inaccurate, outdated, misleading unverifiable and obsolete information and we will determine the best way to challenge that information. We may prepare and submit investigation requests, authorized disputes, validation requests or other necessary documents and submit them to the proper parties electronically, orally or by written correspondence for any and all of these items that we identify. We will use our experience, expertise, knowledge of relevant Federal and State laws, and best judgment to re-audit and/or re-challenge the inaccurate negative factors. With our Standard Plan we will contact the credit bureaus on your behalf and will challenge the items using applicable laws, such as FCRA and FACTA. With our Premier Plan, we do everything described in our Standard Plan plus we also intervene on your behalf directly with debt collectors and creditors using additional remedies such as good will adjustment requests and applicable state and federal laws such as FDCPA, FCBA, TILA, HIPAA, etc. And with our HomePlus Plan we include everything described in Premier Plan plus we will dispute inquiries and, most importantly, we will have one of our approved mortgage professionals periodically assess your progress and recommend solutions with the goal of having you qualify for a home loan as soon as possible. Additionally, if you receive a home loan through one of our approved brokers, we will refund you all of the money you have paid us for credit repair, essentially making your credit repair FREE. This is a great plan if the purpose of your credit repair is to qualify for a home loan. What happens after I enroll? Within five days after enrolling Credit Repair Consultants will perform the most expensive portion of your case - your case setup. This includes sending you copies of the "Credit Repair Consultants' Guide to Your Credit Score" booklet, all welcome/orientation communication, ordering of all three credit reports for you from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, up to one hour of consultation with one of our qualified credit consultants, processing and data input, verification and payment setup. You should begin to receive your credit reports in the mail approximately 2 - 3 weeks after your enrollment. Once you do you will mail them to us and we will immediately commence with the audit and investigation process of your credit reports. If we need to contact you for any reason during this time, or at anytime thereafter, one of our consultants will contact you by telephone, mail or email. And of course, you can always contact us for any reason, toll free at 1-877-40-CREDIT. Back to Top Can you delete bankruptcies? Bankruptcies are routinely removed from our clients' credit reports, as well as a vast array of items included in bankruptcy. Although we are prohibited from guaranteeing the specific results of a specific account, we can tell you that we have removed thousands of bankruptcies in the past, just as the examples above show. Back to Top Is cleaning my report legal? Absolutely! It is because it is legal that we are able to do what we do, for we use the laws that protect you, the consumer, and that regulate the credit bureaus and the companies that furnish information to them to accomplish our work. You are given certain rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act and other laws, and we offer our experience, expertise and services to help you assert these rights. The Credit bureaus would like to have you think otherwise, but the truth is that the Congress, when enacting the Credit Repair Organization Act stated that consumers have a "right to seek help from Credit Repair Organizations". Back to Top Do you charge in advance? No. In accordance with federal regulation, Credit Repair Consultants charges only for services after we have already performed them for you. Back to Top Do you offer a Guarantee? Yes! Our commitment to you and to exceptional service is such that we do not believe that we should be paid unless negative/bad credit items have been removed from your credit reports. Simply put, if negative item(s) are not removed from your credit report in the first 120-days or less, you are entitled to a full refund of your application enrollment fee, minus the $45.00 cost of ordering your reports. Seventy percent of credit reports contain information that is inaccurate, incomplete, unverifiable, misleading or obsolete. Our vast knowledge and experience in the laws related to credit repair allows us to have these negative items deleted from your credit reports. However, it is important that you understand that since the credit bureaus and/or creditors are actually the ones doing the "deleting" - albeit, as a result of our investigations, we cannot, according to Federal law, legally guarantee what somebody else is supposed to do, or the specific result of a specific account. That is why we offer to you our money back guarantee. REFUND POLICY: We want to make sure that we continue to offer the best guarantee in the industry, so in addition to our 120 day guarantee we also offer a full or partial refund of your monthly fees if after 12 months of being a client you are dissatisfied for any reason with your results. After 12 months you may request an evaluation of your account. You must send us current credit reports. We will calculate the total value of all successfully deleted and/or improved items and compare that amount to the fees you have paid us. If what you have paid exceeds the value of deleted and/or improved items we will reimburse you the difference. To determine this we will assign a value of $60.00 to every successfully improved or deleted item from your credit report. ADDITIONAL WARRANTY: And, if within one year from the date removed/deleted, negative information mistakenly reappears on your credit file, we will, at no additional charge, re-investigate to have it removed again. Back to Top Will I be tied into a contract? No. Credit Repair Consultants allows you to cancel the service without penalty or obligation at any time. Back to Top Can I cancel anytime? Yes. Credit Repair Consultants allows you to cancel the service without penalty or obligation at any time. Back to Top Where do I mail my reports? During the course of the service you will mail your credit reports along with any correspondence you receive from the credit bureaus to: Credit Repair Consultants, Inc. 15291 N.W. 60 Avenue, Suite 101 Miami Lakes, FL 33014 Back to Top How long do negative items stay listed? Federal Law requires that most negative credit items must be removed from your credit bureau file after seven years of no activity. There are some exceptions to this, like Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which can be reported for up to ten years. However, there have been reports with negative items listed for well over 7 years. This happens often when the credit bureaus make a mistake, or when the creditor re-ages the account or is reporting a wrong "last activity" date. This can also happen with collection accounts that are sold from one debt collector to another. Sometimes, figuring out the date that the "seven year clock" starts counting from can be a bit complicated. For example, the law states that for charge-off accounts, the date begins 180 days after the commencement of the most recent delinquency. Inquiries may remain on the credit report for up to two years. Back to Top What is a credit score? A credit score is a number that reflects your risk level, as an individual consumer, as determined by a scoring model or formula. The higher the number, the lower the risk will be to the lender. As you apply for increased credit or attempt to make a purchase, the lender will check your ability to pay back that loan. The more negative marks you have on your credit report, the less likely you will be granted the loan or purchase you requested. The score generally ranges from 350 (lowest) to 850 (highest). We at Credit Repair Consultants believe this area to be so important that we have written the "Credit Repair Consultants' Guide to Your Credit Score". This comprehensive and easy to understand guide you will teach you everything you need to know about the subject. More on credit scores here >>> Back to Top What kind of information will be on my credit report? Credit reports contain a listing of some or all of your credit accounts that have been active at some time within the last 7 years. They also contain any public records (Chapter 7 bankruptcies are reported for 10 years), current and previous addresses, current and previous names, a listing of potential creditors who have received your credit file and other miscellaneous information the credit bureau has about you. Each account listing generally has your account number, the credit limit, your current balance and your previous payment history. This payment history can contain notes of late payments, any collection or transfer history, whether the account was included in bankruptcy and the current payment status of the account. Back to Top Can I see my credit report? Most credit grantors are not allowed by the credit bureaus to show you your own credit report. But included in our enrollment procedure, we will order all three of your credit reports for you. When we do this for you it will not count as a negative inquiry against you. In addition, under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act you may be entitled to receive a free credit report. You can go to www.annualcreditreport.com to check availability. However, if you want to see your credit score you will have to purchase it. We recommend you purchase your FICO credit score, as this is the score that most lenders will see. More on credit scores here >>>. Back to Top How much bad credit does it take to be denied credit? Even one small late pay listing may result in credit denials. Any negative credit whatsoever can become a substantial credit obstacle. There are also other factors that will play into the decision of the lender. What is your debt to income ratio? How long have you been with your current employer? The exact criteria used for granting or denying credit varies from lender to lender, but any negative/bad credit remark on your credit report may be enough to deny you credit. Back to Top Who looks at my credit report? Lenders, property managers, insurance companies, prospective employers, companies which you presently have a credit relationship with and anybody with a permissible purpose who wants to know who you are can get access to your credit file. In many situations your credit report will actually become your identity. People will know you not by who you are, but by what is reported about you from the credit bureaus. Obviously, those reports can be extremely damaging especially if they contain incorrect, misleading or obsolete information. Back to Top What is a public record? A public record is a file such as a bankruptcy, tax lien or judgment that is filed at the courthouse. Unlike your creditors, the courthouse does not report public record information to the credit bureaus. The credit bureaus must therefore rely on third parties or smaller local affiliated bureaus to go out and research this information. For purpose of fixing your credit, the laws that regulate the reporting of these public records are the same as any other item and are treated no differently in that regard. Back to Top What is a charge off? When you become very delinquent on an account the creditor will probably "charge it off" against their profit and loss. A "Charge-Off" is basically an accounting term used in accrual accounting that says the amount is now a loss. In a short period of time the creditor determines that the account will not be paid and they will write it off for tax purposes. Once they minimize their loss from that account they will sell that file to a collection agency to decrease the loss even further. The collection agency will then use a wide variety of means to collect on the debt. Charge offs are very negative listings. Back to Top Can a bad credit mark actually be deleted? Yes, they most definitely can be when they are found to be inaccurate, outdated, unverifiable, misleading, obsolete or legally lacking in some other way. Although the credit bureaus would have you think otherwise, we have seen literally thousands of deletions ranging from bankruptcies to late payments. Just take a look at our testimonials and see actual credit reports and bad credit marks that have been deleted. We are the good at what we do and we are consistently researching new case law, amendments and methods that help us continue to be the best in the credit repair industry. That is why we back our service with our money back guarantee. Back to Top Does it matter which state I live in? No. The laws that regulate the credit bureaus and your creditors are mostly federal law. We have clients nationwide. Your rights are the same whether you are in Alaska or Alabama. Back to Top Will this raise my credit score? Yes, that is why we are helping you. Removing the negative inaccurate, outdated, misleading, unverifiable or obsolete items from your credit reports may have a very positive impact on your credit score and your ability to get credit. Clients who stay with our program and adhere to it may see their ability to receive credit enhanced tremendously. We recommend reading the "Credit Repair Consultants' Guide to Your Credit Score" for more on this. Back to Top Is there anything that can not be removed from a credit report? No, all information reported by the credit bureaus are subject to the same laws and criteria. We may challenge on your behalf any items we challenged and the credit bureaus must investigate these items. Back to Top How many items do you dispute at one time? Experience has shown us that investigating too many items at one time can actually slow down the process because the credit bureau may deem our request frivolous. Therefore, we only submit investigations for the number of items that we deem appropriate for your case. We want you to see results and will challenge as many items as possible without jeopardizing a slowdown of the process. Back to Top Should I still be paying my bills? We would never advise not paying your bills, but that issue is between you and your creditors. We work on what appears on your credit reports and leave the issue of your current payments up to you. Although related in some ways, your bills and your credit are not the same thing. If you are having trouble paying your bills you should probably talk with a professional debt counselor. There are many debt-counseling companies out there and many of them leave a lot to be desired. If you would like a reputable and honest company we recommend you call 1-866-FIX-A-DEBT or visit www.debtconsolidationofamerica.com. Back to Top If I keep paying my bills will that raise my credit score? Paying your bills on time should do nothing but help your credit score. Many of our clients are trying to buy a home, refinance a home or qualify for new credit. Good payment histories will help you do all of those things. We often tell people that while we work on the past you should be working on the future. If you are having trouble paying your bills you may want to talk to a professional debt counselor. There are many debt-counseling companies out there and many of them leave a lot to be desired. If you would like a reputable and honest company we recommend you call 1-866-FIX-A-DEBT or visit www.debtconsolidationofamerica.com. Back to Top Can I restore my own credit? Yes, you can. You can also represent yourself in a court of law but that doesn't mean it is necessarily a very good idea. We offer experience, knowledge, time and professional help at very affordable rates for your convenience and benefit. It isn't a coincidence that the Federal Trade Commission receives more complaints against credit bureaus than any other type of business. Remember, the credit bureaus are primarily interested in protecting their profits. Investigating your challenge consumes these profits. The credit bureaus will do everything in their power to discourage consumers from making progress with their credit restoration. Restoring your own credit is like repairing your own transmission or representing yourself in court: it is possible, but you must decide if you are willing to take the time and assume the risks of doing it yourself. According to a recent report by ConsumerReports.org, a Nonprofit, Independent firm, "It isn't nearly as easy for consumers to correct errors as it is for the [credit] agencies to make them." Just as you are probably better at what you do than we would be, we are probably better at credit repair than you would be. Back to Top