In this current day and age, poor credit history is unfortunately very normal throughout the United States. Nowadays, credit history is a large factor when it comes to doing business with certain companies. Someone’s credit history could be the key towards succeeding in high goals, or the chains holding someone back from them; the better the credit rating, the higher the odds of it being the key to success, rather than the chains of despair.
Factors Affecting Credit History and Credit Scores
Most of the factors that will affect someone’s credit rating are very similar and fall within the financial category. Some examples of these factors are:
• Paying household bills (Electric, gas, etc.) after the deadline date given by the company.
• Completely missing a bill payment.
• Agreeing to a “rent-to-own” contract and failing to keep up with your end of the deal.
• Failing to pay child support
• Paying only partially for a bill by the due date.
These are only a few examples of many ways for someone to bring their credit rating down. The same factors apply for bringing someone’s credit rating up; only instead of missing a payment they would be regularly paying the bill on time.
Credit Repair Companies
Because so many people in the U.S. have such poor credit ratings, there are many credit history repair/removal services offered by businesses through the media. Some of these companies’ offers are genuine, but some of them are scams. When deciding how to improve your credit history, the key skill is to know how to separate the real offers from the scams. However, if you know the right signs to look out for, it won’t always be difficult to do.
• If the company is guaranteeing poor credit removal from your credit history, the offer is a scam. Once something is on your credit history it’s there for good, no matter how many positive things you add to the list.
• By law, credit repair companies are required to inform you of your rights and to tell you how you could fix your credit rating on your own. If the company does not do this, it is a scam.
• If a credit repair company tries to charge you a startup fee, it is a scam. By law, credit repair companies are not allowed to charge you for their services until they’ve helped you improve your credit rating at least a little bit.
• If a credit repair company is offering to help you create a new credit history, it is a scam. Everyone has their own credit history, and they only have one. All you would accomplish by taking their services is illegally creating a fake identity.
Repairing Your Credit History by Yourself
If you are truly committed to repairing your credit rating and maintaining a good credit history, the best place to start is by paying all of your current bills on time and in full. All you need to do to repair your credit history is add a lot more positive credit information to the list. In time, these positive additions will outweigh the negative information on the list.
Investigating False Credit History Reports
If you ever believe any negative information on your credit history is inaccurate, you have the right to write the credit information companies and explain why you believe it is incorrect. Be sure to provide the companies with any extra information and proof that you have that can support your statement. The companies are required to investigate your claim within thirty days of receiving it.
If You’ve Been Scammed:
• Report the crime to the authorities immediately!
• Ask for help from the authorities as well; the company you put your trust in now has lots of your personal information, putting you at huge risk. There is nothing wrong with asking for help.
• If you gave the fake credit repair company your credit card information, put the credit card on hold or cancel it altogether.
• Be sure to let the authorities know as much information as possible. Depending on the services the credit repair companies offered, you could have unknowingly broken the law. Let the authorities know so that you don’t end up taking the consequence when you were the one who was scammed!
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