Page copy protected against web site content infringement by Copyscape logo for Running A Home Based Business Phil Schein's LinkedIn Bio


There are all kinds of survival kits offered today. If you live in Florida, you probably have a hurricane survival kit in your home. If you live in the northern states, you should have a winter storm survival kit in your car in case you get stuck. Due to the rising number of people in over their heads in debt, we decided it was time to assemble the supplies you'll need to survive an "attack" on your credit. Here's what we will put in our Credit Repair Survival Kit:
  • A rubber band-to wrap around your wrist to help you remember to pay your bills on time.
  • A piece of string-to help you tie up the loose ends of your finances.
  • A pen-to sign all the correspondence and dispute letters you'll be sending to your creditors.
  • Patience-because it will take time for your efforts to be reflected in an improved credit score.
  • A sense of humor-because you'll need it.
  • A rope-in case you get to the end of yours. (Just kidding!) No, there's no reason to learn the knot for making a noose. Everyone's credit can be repaired, and in many cases, you can do it yourself, for free.
  • The articles listed on this webpage are what you really need in your Credit Repair Survival Kit. For more details, read our Credit Repair Survival Kit listed on the right side of this page. Don't give up!

    Have you ever wondered about those ads you see from companies and law firms which offer to fix your credit for a low monthly fee? People with credit problems often ask me when it comes to improving their credit score whether they should hire a credit repair company or do it themselves? Unfortunately, there is no simple or universal answer to this question. However, I will shed some light on the subject if you're in need of a little enlightenment. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) "Everything a credit repair clinic can do for you legally you can do for yourself at little or no cost". While I agree with the FTC I also understand some consumers do not have the time, patience (or knowledge) to do the work themselves and the thought of "drive-thru-we-do-it-all-for- you-credit-repair" becomes very appealing. After all, everything a mobile oil change service can do for me I can also do myself at little or no cost (but you won't find me changing the oil in my car this weekend!). Although some things are better done yourself, only you can determine if doing your own credit restoration work will be one of them. This is why understanding both the advantages and limitations of a credit repair company and the structure from which it operates are VERY important.

    MONTHLY FEE: One of the most critical elements which affects "how" a credit restoration company operates is determined by its' payment structure. One of the most common payment structures of large companies or law firms doing credit restoration is that of the monthly "auto-debit" fee. In this structure the consumer usually pays $49 to $99 up front and then a monthly fee of $39 to $49 per month. While there is an advantage to this method (affordability) with it comes many disadvantages.
    1. The first disadvantage this structure creates is that it gives the company absolutely no incentive to work quickly or aggressively on behalf of the consumer. In fact, the opposite is true. The longer they take the longer they will continue to collect their monthly fee! In most cases this structure leads to slow results over a very long period of time. Looking at it logically, this shouldn't come as a surprise.
    2. The other challenge within this structure is the actual amount of time, effort and resources which a company or law firm can reasonably allocate on a consumer's behalf. Remember, any large business has a tremendous amount of overhead which quickly chews up most of that monthly fee. Out of that $39 to $49 there are monthly expenses including but not limited to: Advertising, Office Rent and Utilities, Employee Payroll and Taxes, Health Insurance, Phone Service, Office Supplies, Refunds, Computer Maintenance and Programming, Website Administration, Office Supplies and let's not forget postage for mailing letters to creditors, collection agencies and credit bureaus. A much simpler way to think of this is by imagining if you had a client paying you $39 a month; how much work would you be willing to do?
    3. One of the biggest challenges credit repair companies charging low monthly fees run into is being forced to rely on the use of Automated "Boiler Plate" Dispute and Correspondence Letters. Boiler Plate Letters are simple form letters which are used for ALL consumers (one format fits all). Once set up in a computer program with the consumers' information they are "shot out" automatically based on the consumers needs (i.e. late pay, charge-off, judgment etc). The problem here is that when a credit repair company has thousands of clients they are shooting these form letters out for, the creditors, collection agencies and credit bureaus can take notice of these letters being used over and over and discover your correspondence is coming from a third party (i.e. credit repair company or law firm) and in some cases ignore it or (worse yet) mark the dispute frivolous and flag your credit report. I spoke with a man recently who was on the inside of a large credit repair company who informed me they had an archive of over 10,000 boiler plate letters on file to avoid this problem. Of course, they charged customers by the month.

    This is the second and concluding part of the two-part article, Facts You Should Know...
    Note: This article was reprinted with either private license rights or permission from the author.
    Phillip Schein has been an author, consultant, and certified instructor in the IT industry for over 15 years. Previous to that, he spent many years working in areas of finance and accounting. He now specializes in website development and search engine optimized web content for small office/home office (SOHO) enterprises. He has taught corporate, retail, and college-level courses in creative writing, accounting, web design, and Internet business development. Please read our About Us page for more detailed information.

    RHBB Reprint Policy
    Website in English; se habla español.
    Top of this page
    Jump to the top of this page.




    Member/Affiliate/Partner Signup   Member Login button

    StumbleUpon link Stumble It!

    We RECOMMEND:
    Credit Niches4Review Report
    Competitive intelligence about
    this online niche business.

    Niches4Review.com/aboutCredit/
    Credit Secrets Bible Our Special Combo Bonus:
    Credit Secretsand Debt Management

    Finance/Credit Must-Read Articles:

    Accounting Software for a Homebased Business
    A necessary evil that can turn into your primary management tool...

    Facts About Credit Repair Companies Part I
    Have you ever wondered about those ads to promise to repair your credit?

    Business Journal as Free Tool
    All your most critical information at your fingertips 24x7...

    Free Homebased Business Accounting Software
    Ever wonder how chocolate is made? The short story is that these are made from...

    Accounting Terms you need to know
    Yet another necessary evil, the Devil is in the details...



    Get a FREE RunningAHomeBasedBusiness toolbar here or, for more details, click These gifts ARE REALLY free; they DO NOT require you to "signup" with your email address.


    SEO BlackHat: Black Hat SEO Blog

    It?s Like Google Reads My Mind!
    by QuadsZilla
    22 Jul 2010 at 6:01pm
    Dark Patterns: dirty tricks designers use to make people do stuff
    by QuadsZilla
    13 Jul 2010 at 11:03am
    SEOktoberfest 2010
    by QuadsZilla
    23 Jun 2010 at 6:55am
    Facebook: Please update your email address.
    by QuadsZilla
    17 Jun 2010 at 10:48pm
    The Hypocrisy is Truly Amazing
    by QuadsZilla
    11 Jun 2010 at 2:59am
    Tab Phishing
    by QuadsZilla
    27 May 2010 at 9:16am
    Starcraft 2 and Productivity
    by QuadsZilla
    12 Apr 2010 at 10:39am
    Why the New Bill Means I Won?t be Buying Health Insurance
    by QuadsZilla
    23 Mar 2010 at 10:42am
    What is the Rational Decison?
    by QuadsZilla
    20 Mar 2010 at 11:13pm
    Gmail Feature Follow-Up: This Ain?t Mashable Here!
    by QuadsZilla
    17 Mar 2010 at 6:53pm

    Content by CaRP PHP RSS parser



     

    Get a FREE RunningAHomeBasedBusiness (RHBB) toolbar below
    or, for more details, click here. This gift is REALLY free;
    no email address or "signup" is required.

    toolbar powered by Conduit



      Data about you:
    The external link used to land on RHBB: Page was directly requested
    Your IP address and host: 38.107.191.115
    Your browser info: CCBot/1.0 (+http://www.commoncrawl.org/bot.html)