Friday, March 31, 2017

When Debt Settlement is the Smart Thing to Do

Before you make any big decisions like hiring a debt settlement company to attempt to settle your debts, it’s important that you understand how it works, what you’re getting into, and the other options you may have. Debt settlement can have a big impact on your personal finances let’s talk about when debt settlement is a smart decision and when perhaps it’s not.

How Debt Settlement Works

The first thing to understand is that debt settlement will generally only work on unsecured debt such as credit cards and other bills that have gone into collections. If you’re behind on your mortgage or car loan, you’re not going to be able to settle because a car can be repossessed and a house can be foreclosed on. Debt settlement also will not work with student loans.
You have two options with debt settlement. You can sign up with a debt settlement company and have them negotiate with your creditors, or you can do it yourself and negotiate directly with your creditors. Let’s go over the pros and cons for each option.

How Debt Settlement Companies Work

When you sign up with a debt settlement company they’ll direct you to stop making payments on your debts. Instead, you’ll put the money in a dedicated savings account that they set up for you. When there is enough money in the account for them to make a lump sum settlement on the debts, they’ll start negotiating with your creditors.
Pros
  • They know how to negotiate with creditors.
  • By law they can’t charge upfront fees.
  • They will probably be more successful at negotiating than you.
  • The fees are reasonable.
Cons
  • You credit score will tank because you stop making payments.
  • Collectors won’t stop from attempting to collect payment from you.
  • You’ll have to pay the debt settlement company a 10%-15% fee.

Do it Yourself Debt Settlement

The other option you have if you’re behind on your bills is to simply reach out to your creditors yourself and offer them a lump sum that’s less than the current balance. This works best with collections and debts that have been charged off. The older the debt, the more luck you’ll have settling for a significantly lower amount.
You shouldn’t be nervous about settling with creditors. The most important thing is to save up enough money to offer them a reasonable lump sum payment. A major advantage with negotiating yourself is that in addition to paying off the debt, you can also ask that in exchange for a lump sum payment, they also remove the negative entry from your credit report.
Pros
  • Less negative impact on your credit score.
  • No additional fees.
  • You can negotiate the removal of negative entries on your credit report.
Cons
  • You have to negotiate the settlement yourself.
  • You probably have less experience negotiating with creditors than debt settlement companies.

Debt Settlement Company or Do it Yourself?

Which route you choose is really up to you. I think it boils down to how comfortable you feel negotiating with creditors. If that’s something that you’d really rather have an experienced negotiator deal with, than a debt settlement company is probably for you. Just keep in mind that you’ll have to pay for it. Negotiating with creditors yourself can be a really great learning experience. I did it myself back when I had some old debts that I needed to settle.

How Many Credit Reports Do You Have and Which One Matters Most?

By now you know that it’s a smart move to regularly review your credit report. You might wonder, though, which credit report is the best one to review or which one a creditor (or employer, or landlord) will see.
You have many different credit reports
In the U.S. there are three major consumer credit reporting agencies. They are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. They each maintain a file on U.S. consumers who qualify for one. To have a credit report, someone must report data about you to the agency. Most adults in the U.S. have a credit report, but it’s possible to not have one. If you don’t have credit accounts, or if you have accounts with creditors who don’t report data, you may not have a file. For those reasons, it’s also possible to have a credit history on file with one or two but not all three bureaus.
On top of all that, reporting is voluntary. Not all creditors report, and many creditors don’t report to all three agencies. If you had a credit report in the past but all of your accounts age off, you may no longer have a credit report.
Whether or not you have credit data in your history, reportable data can and does take other forms. Dozens of specialty reporting agencies collect information tailored to certain industries. That information might include:
Employment history
Volunteer activity and nonprofit associations
Address history
Professional licenses
Education
Driving record
Evictions, lease violations, and other landlord-tenant actions
Rent payments
Court judgments, liens, and other public records
Checking account history and check-writing
Personal property insurance coverage and losses
Auto insurance coverage and losses
Commercial property claims and losses
Medical conditions and hazardous avocations (with your authorization, to give to life and health insurance companies during underwriting)
Prescription drug purchases (with your authorization, to give to an insurance company)
Drug and alcohol screening
Payday loan and check-cashing history
Rent-to-own transactions
Utility accounts, including cell phones
Property ownership
Property legal filings and tax payments
Criminal background and prison sentences
Presence on government databases for sex offenders and terrorists
Fingerprint information
You may have several of these types of reports. Again, it depends on whether the reporting company has received data about you. Here are a few examples:
If you rent a home from a private landlord, you may not have a file that shows your rental history. If you were evicted, however, that is a civil action brought against you by a property owner. It is public record and may appear on your consumer credit report as well as a specialty report for landlords.
If you wrote a check that bounced or overdrew your bank account, you may have a file with a reporting agency that maintains data about consumers’ history with banks and checking accounts.
If you have made a claim against an insurance policy, you probably have a file with one of the agencies that collects and reports data on coverage and losses.
Specialty reporting agencies may not have a file on you. If you’ve never applied for individually underwritten life insurance, you probably don’t have a medical specialty report.
Who can access your reports?
Access to any of your reports is limited by law. Generally, an entity with a legitimate need can request a copy of your report. “Legitimate” means, in a broad sense, that you have provided authorization. Creditors, banks, employers, landlords, and insurers who intend to check your credit report will require your authorization or will not process your application. The same is true for utility and cell phone providers, but in those cases you can often bypass the credit check by paying a cash deposit instead.
You also provide tacit authorization to a retailer to check a certain kind of retail report when you ask to pay with a personal check. Walmart, for example, still accepts paper checks, but immediately upon receipt of the check passes it through a scanner that communicates with the TeleCheck reporting agency. If you have a history of bouncing checks, the transaction will be declined.
Debt collectors are authorized to check your credit reports without your permission.
How can you see what’s in these reports?
All consumer reporting agencies are required to provide you with a copy of your report if you request it, but they don’t all do that for free. You can check this list by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to find contact information for many specialty reporting agencies. The list also notes which agencies offer free annual copies. If there is a fee, it cannot be more than $12.
Nationwide consumer credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion) must provide you with a free copy of your report every 12 months. Visit AnnualCreditReport.com to request your free copies.
You can get additional free reports under certain circumstances:
You receive public assistance
You believe your file has errors due to fraud
You place a fraud alert on your file
You are unemployed and intend to apply for employment within 60 days
You live in a state that offers additional free credit reports (Colorado, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and Vermont)
Visit Equifax, Experian and TransUnion to request the additional free copies.
If there is an adverse action against you (you apply for something and your application is denied, for example), the agency that prepared the report used to make the decision must provide you with a free copy upon your request. There is often a time limit on that request, so request your free copy as soon as you receive notification of the adverse action. The notification should tell you how to make the request, and the report should tell you how to dispute information you believe is in error.
If the specialty agency also provides a score, be sure to view it in the proper context. In other words, find out the range. FICO® scores and VantageScores® range from 300 to 850, ChexSystems scores range from 100 to 899 and PRBC scores range from 100 to 850.
Why do all of these credit reports matter?
Smart consumers make sure that the information reported is accurate. Errors can bring your credit score down, or result in application denial or very bad terms on the product you want. Outdated information can make you the victim of incessant debt collection attempts. Damage from identity theft can have all of these results and more.
You probably don’t need to submit requests to every reporting agency all at once. Before you apply for life insurance, request a copy of your medical specialty report. Before you apply to rent an apartment, check your tenant specialty report.
You always have the right to dispute inaccurate information with the company reporting it. None of the agencies is obligated to remove current, accurate information, whether positive or negative. If you have a complaint about any report or the agency that prepared it, submit it to the CFPB.
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Tuesday, March 28, 2017

FICO® Scores

90% of top U.S. lenders use FICO® Scores when making lending decisions

When you apply for credit—whether it's for a credit card, car loan, mortgage or other type of credit—lenders will want to know your credit risk. That is, they'll want to know how likely you are to pay back your credit obligations as agreed. To help them understand your credit risk, lenders use FICO Scores.
FICO Scores help lenders quickly, consistently and objectively evaluate potential borrowers' credit risk. So when you apply for credit or a loan, there’s a very good chance your lender will use your FICO Scores to help them decide whether to approve you, and what terms and rates you qualify for.

Different lenders use different versions of FICO®Scores

You have more than one FICO Score—depending on what type of credit you're seeking, your lenders may evaluate your credit risk using different FICO Score versions. Auto lenders, for instance, often use FICO® Auto Scores, an industry-specific FICO Score version that's been tailored to their needs. Most credit card issuers, on the other hand, use FICO® Bankcard Scores or FICO® Score 8.
It's also important to note that for most credit evaluations—such as a credit card application—lenders will use a FICO Score from just one of the three credit bureaus. For a mortgage or home equity loan application, however, lenders usually take into account a FICO Score from each of the three credit bureaus.

Statute of Limitations

http://www.besttexascreditpros.com/blogs/post/Statute-of-Limitations-for-Debts-Judgments-Taxes-All-States/

Bill collectors hounding you? Considering repaying or negotiating an old debt? The statute of limitations on bills, often referred to as tolling of time is a powerful tool for consumers. The SOL can thwart off lawsuits and collectors when attempting to collect or sue on dusty old debts. 
If a debt is legally expired, you can escape being sued or having to pay it back. Likewise, it can be detrimental because many debtors unwillingly renew the SOL by making a partial payment or a written promise to pay which extends the statute.
The statute of limitations is a civil code. Each state has its own statute, For instance, the code section in Cal. Code of Civil Procedure § 337. 
The legal meaning for statute of limitations is: THE TIME OF COMMENCING ACTIONS -Time allowed that litigation - lawsuit can be brought. After that time, it has expired. Statute is a law. Passed by legislation and varies by state. The original statute of limitations begins at the onset of the contract signing (see more below for time barred debts). 
Statute of limitations vary from state to state but it is usually 4-6 years depending on the state. The term statute of limitations means the time allotted to legally enforce the debt. If a statute expires and someone sues you, it is up to you to bring the expired SOL defense. 
Don't assume an expired statute of limitations means the other party is barred from attempting to collect. It simply means that your defense is the expired SOL - not to enforce the lawsuit. The statute of limitations for your credit reports is separate. Items on your credit reports are seven years.

Best Texas Credit Pros

Friday, March 10, 2017

Best Texas Credit Pros

Best Credit Repair Pros in  Texas - Credit   Repair - Made Simple; upfront pricing (no sales), full transparency and fast results.  Professional and powerful solutions to fix your scores. Start building your  credit today by enrolling in our intelligent repair program. A trusted professional solution that provides a simple to understand program, fast driven results. With an award winning team who genuinely cares.

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phone : 512-745-1760

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