CREDIT » CREDIT REPAIR & REPORTS

In a tough economy, it's not difficult to find yourself in trouble credit wise, which is why many individuals have found their way to credit counseling. The is a strong misconception that everyone in need of counseling has made a series of irresponsible choices to get them there. While this is true of many, it's not the case for everyone. But no matter why you may need help, it's good to understand more about credit counseling and in relation to a consumer.

When You Might Need Credit Counseling

So you know that you've made some financial errors, whether you felt forced to or are just in the habit of overspending. Now it's time to decide whether credit counseling is for you. Here are a few key signs that you may want to seek assistance:

• You can't make the minimum payment on your credit card(s).
• You are always late in paying at least one of your bills.
• You are being contacted by one or more collection agencies and their creditors.
• You have tried to work out a payment plan with your creditors, but they haven't accepted it.

How Credit Counseling Can Help

When you select a counseling service, their first job is to help you examine your finances by looking at your income in relation to your expenses. They will then determine if credit counseling is best for you depending on how much in debt you truly are. If you need their services, they will then:

• Come up with a restructuring and repayment planof your debt to your collectors.
• Offer credit education to help you learn about credit and finances so that you can better plan your money the remainder of your life.

What You Can Expect to Pay

If you work with a reputable credit counseling service then you should expect to pay no more than $50as acombined setup fee with monthly fees. Depending on who you work with, you may not have to pay anything at all. If you see that a service is trying to charge more than $50, you may want to look elsewhere.

When trying to get your debt under control, it's good to work with a reputable credit counseling service that will have your best interest in mind. If you're not sure who to work with, you can always check with the U.S. Department of Justice for a list of reputable agencies.

The first step, however, is to be aware of what is on your credit report. To get the full picture, sign up for an identity protection monitoring service. These services can help you keep an eye on your credit report as you continue to work on your debt.

Disputing a bad item on your credit report can be very gratifying since you know it will eventually be removed. However, the question is: how long will it take? You probably have already been briefed that if you want a legitimate debt to be removed, it can take 7-10 years depending on what that debt is. And removing a bad debt is a little bit different ...

What is Considered a Bad Debt On a Credit Report?

A bad debt is an item that you find on your credit report that offers incorrect information. For instance, if you find that you have an item on your report that you never were associated with, this is a bad debt. Though you never actually charged this bad debt, your credit score is being negatively affected by it. So your job is to make sure that it's removed so that your score can return to an accurate state.

How Can You Remove It?

Once you've found your bad debt, your job is to contact the relevant credit bureau(s) to make sure that the item is removed. This requires that you send a written request with your full name and address, as well as the item you would like to have removed, and proof that the item shouldn't be there, to the bureau. Once they receive the request, they will conduct an investigation to determine the validity of your dispute.

When Will It Be Removed?

If the credit bureau determines that the item should be removed, it normally will take between 30 and 60 days to have it all resolved. However, it could take longer.

Typically, credit bureaus will not act on removing items on their own. Very often, you have to do the legwork to get it done yourself. So be prepared to check your report from time to time to make sure it's accurate.

Being aware of the status of your credit report is important, especially if you are planning to finance big ticket items, such as a car or a house. So it is important to monitor your credit report, because having even one bad item on your credit report can really hurt your credit score; and may hurt your chances of getting a good low interest rate on your loans. To keep this from happening to you, you should use a identity protection monitoring service. With identity protection monitoring services you can always monitoring how your credit report is doing and keep your credit report from having any errors that will hurt you.

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