FIRST STEP to better credit

The first step to better credit is obtaining your credit report.

There are many websites that will provide you with a credit report. It is important to find a credit report that contains information from all three credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

Next, it's good to have a detailed and easy to read report. Many website such as myfico.com or annualcreditreport.com has eithier incomplete account data (myfico) or a confusing format (anualcreditreport).

One easy to read and detailed credit report that I like is from a website called: www.mycreditkeeper.com

Please note, I am not in any way affiliated with that website.

Congrats on your new home

Congratulations go out to Tony in New York. Tony signed up to our Standard Credit Repair program for $399 less than 3 weeks ago. He has already used the rapid rescore prodect to increase his score 38 points which allowed him to get qualified for a home loan. We are now working on getting his scores into the 700s. Rapid Rescore Credit FAST

12 Ways to Increase your FICO Score

1. Get current on any past due account

2. Pay down balance on any revolving account which is over the limit

3. Pay down revolving balances below 50% of the limit

4. Pay down revolving balances below 30% of the limit

5. Pay down revolving balances to zero

6. Use (reactivate) any revolving accounts that haven't been used in last 6 months

7. Get added to someone's revolving account as an authorized user and inherit their credit

8. Don't have a credit card? Get one. VISA Secured Credit Card - Reports to All 3 Major Bureaus

9. Don't have an installment account? Get one.

10. Bad Credit? Fight it over and over again until it's gone.

11. Pull your credit report and review for inaccuracies. Get one here: TrueCredit 3-Bureau Credit Report & Credit Score

12. Have a credit expert review your credit report for expert advice. Call me (877) 254-6900

Daniels Testimonial.wmv

Do you have children that are approaching the driving age? Are you kids looking into buying their first car? One of the worst things you can do is co-sign for a an auto loan for your kids because, let's face it, they're probably going to make a couple of late payments. If you don't want those late payments showing up on your credit report then you might decide to pay the auto payment yourself. That's not fun. Paying someone else's bills has never been my idea of a good time. I have a better idea.

There is a better way. Your kids cannot get financing because they have no credit at all. Instead of having them go out and establish credit just so they can buy a car, you can have them piggy back on your credit.

Piggy back on your credit? What the heck does that mean?

If you were to add someone to your credit card or department store charge card as an authorized user, that account and its entire payment history will probably show up on that persons credit report. This will give them instant credit. The best part is that these accounts are not new. New accounts really don't help your credit scores because they lack seasoning. Your credit cards are already seasoned. You can add year and years of history to your children's credit be adding them to you accounts as an authorized user. This process is commonly referred to as "piggy backing".

Once the accounts show up on their credit report, their credit scores will now take into consideration the activity on those accounts and the credit scores will sky rocket. Now your kids can go out and get a decent car without getting ripped off by the auto financing companies. The best part is that if and when you kids make a late payment on their car, it won't affect your credit at all.

The only risk is that once they have been added as authorized users, they are legally allowed to use the account if they are given the card. Just don't give them the plastic and you will be fine. Also, each creditor has a certain element on control that they will give you so that you can determine how much an authorized user can spend on that account. Call you credit card companies to find out more about what the potential risks are but don't tell the customer service agent that you are trying to increase your children's credit scores. They are trained to tell you that it doesn't work. If it really didn't work, I'd tell you because all of y accounts are authorized user accounts and my credit score is still in the 800s.

PS: Thanks Grandma for adding me to you 20 year old credit cards as an authorized user. Now have excellent credit scores and I can finance anything I need to and get great terms and payments.

Warm Regards,

Jack B. Olson

TrueCredit 3-Bureau Credit Report & Credit Score

You're thinking about a BK huh? Well, it will stigmatize your credit for at least a couple of years. Chapter 7 BKs will stay on your credit report for 10 years from the discharge date. Chapter 11 and 13 will stay on your report for 7 years from the satisfaction date. Some creditors will not want to do business with you at all until the BK falls off the report. Many lenders will do business with you after 2 years. Some lenders will do business with you right away. It is possible to have the BK deleted though the credit repair process.

What are your alternatives? You can continue to pay your bills and try to get back on top of your finances. Of course you will have to continue to pay interest on all of your outstanding debt. The interest payments alone might be too much for you to keep up with and let's face it, nobody likes to pay interest. So continuing to pay down your debt only makes sense if know that you can make headway on your debts and actually get the balances paid down.

Consumer credit counseling, debt management and/or debt counseling; these alternatives are not recommended. These types of companies might negotiate with your lender for easier terms in which to pay off your debt. The problem is, your creditors might still report you as being late if you are only making partial payments. They might also report you as being past due which can ruin your credit score just as much as the late payments. Even worse, sometimes the debt management companies will collect your money while your accounts go from late to charged off. When the account has been charged off by the creditor, the debt settlement company will make an offer to pay off the creditor at a fraction of the original debt.

The BK will damage your credit but it is a much better alternative to debt consolidation, debt management or debt counseling. BK might also be a better option than continuing to try to pay down high interest rate credit cards. That is something that you will have to analyze yourself.

***One very important note about BK.

If you decide to file BK, there will be two things that will happen that will hurt your credit score. The first one is obvious; the BK will actually show up on your credit report and reduce your credit score. The second is a bit less obvious; all of your open and active accounts might be closed through the BK. Every account that has a balance will probably be included in the BK. Through the BK process, all of those accounts will be closed. Since only open and active accounts can contribute positive points towards your credit score, you will have to re-build your credit from scratch...with a BK.

If you can, hold on to a few of your open accounts through the BK. Pick your oldest accounts and pay them off completely. This might allow you to salvage some of your credit so you don't have to start all over again. I've seen people with 720 credit scores 12 months after the BK because they had a few open and active accounts that they held on to through the BK.

Warm Regards,

Jack B. Olson

TrueCredit 3-Bureau Credit Report & Credit Score

I'm going to share a secret with you. This is a rich guy technique. This technique can increase your credit score by hundreds of points. Let me fill you in on some background first.

Credit scores basically work by giving you points based on the activity on your "open and active" accounts. Each one of your open and active accounts contributes a certain amount of points towards your credit score. The amount of points generated by each open and active account is determined by the payment history, the balance and the length of history on the account.

Accounts with a better payment history, a lower balance and a longer history will score the more points.

Let me give you a quick analogy before I give away this technique of mine, so you know where I'm coming from. Since each one of your open and active accounts contributes a certain amount of points towards your credit score, I like to think of each open and active account as a player on my basketball team. Some players are going to score a lot of points because they are well tested veterans while other players might not score as many points.

The goal is to establish the strongest possible team for your credit. You don't want just one player on your team, you have to have at least 5 players on your team to maximize your credit score. Furthermore, you don't want a bunch of rookies on your team, you need a team full of all star players who can put the ball in the basket and score lots of points for you. You need a couple of all star players on your team. You need a Kobe Bryant and a Pau Gasol on your team.

So if you evaluate your team of open and active accounts and see that you are lacking depth or history, there is a great strategy that you can utilize. You can basically add very well seasoned, all star players onto your team.

If you know someone who has a credit card or department store charge card, they can add you onto that account as an "authorized user" and that account, along with its entire payment history, will show up on your credit report.

That is the strongest strategy for most people. This can increase your credit score by over 100 points in some situations. I did this for myself on two different occasions. The first time, the only open and active account that I had was my car loan and it was only about a year old. I had a co-worker add me to her Nordstrom account. My mom added me to a HSBC/Orchard Bank account. My uncle added me to a credit card also. Out of the first three accounts I was added to, only two of them showed up on my credit report but those tow accounts increased my credit score from a 620 to a 670.

The next time I tried this, I had a family member add me onto three of her credit cards. These three accounts were between 15-25 years old. Once again, out of the three accounts I was added onto, only two of them showed up on my credit report but those two accounts brought my scores up from a 680 to a 740.

Because of those two accounts, I now have 20 years of credit history on my credit report even though I'm only 29 years old.

If you have any questions about this strategy, please call me at 866-979-1099 (205)

Warm Regards,

Jack B. Olson