Poet, Prophet or Priest: Who's Your Best Ally in Repairing Your Credit?
Contributed by Alix Mcmurray
Poet, Prophet or Priest: Who's Your Best Ally in Repairing Your Credit?
Some say that to actually "repair" credit is a misleading proposition. If you have not paid your bills on time in the past, if you have defaulted on a loan, or if you have had a collection agency pursuing you, your credit has definitely taken a hit. Correctly defined, credit repair entails a careful review of your credit report, and then undertaking a formal process of disputing errors on it. You can choose to go this road alone, or you can pay for someone to help you with it.
Credit Repair for Dummies -- Well Maybe Not!
You can buy books, CD-Roms or downloadable documents which will guide you step-by-step through the credit repair process. As with any, "Learn How To" product on the market, these kits are promoted and in some cases written by a private citizen who has "survived" the experience and now claims to be an expert as a result. In some cases you can view online excerpts of the product for sale, sometimes not.
At the very least, some of them show you chapter headings, essentially the table of contents of the document. Some also contain letter templates for use in approaching creditors more diplomatically as well as assertively. With unavoidable irony, these products can be ordered online WITH A CREDIT CARD.
Words of Comfort from Credit Repair Professionals
It should be noted that engaging an attorney can be part of a credit repair effort. You may be promised that you will be able to settle your debt by "75 cents on the dollar" and that your negotiating attorney will merely collect "60 cents on the dollar" of the owed amount under dispute. You may also hear it said that unsecured debt does not pose as great a threat of wage garnishment or foreclosure as does secured debt.
The rationale for this is that what the creditor stands to gain through collection may not be sufficient to offset their collection costs. As with any advice, you will want to seek out that proverbial "second opinion."
