From the category archives:

Credit Score

In the last post, we covered how to quickly clear credit card debt while maximizing your credit score throughout the process. Before I continue, I want to cover how to quickly clear debt that isn’t revolving debt like credit cards, in other words, mortgages, installment loans, student loans, etc.

Speaking strictly from a credit restoration perspective AND NOT A FINANCIAL PLANNING OR BUDGETING PERSPECTIVE, you do not want to pay off mortgages, installment loans or student loans earlier. The reason for this is from a credit restoration perspective, you want the loans to season as long as possible, which means, to report on time payments for the longest period possible. Paying them off early, is NOT good for your credit score regardless of what you may think. Credit cards yes, mortgages, installment loans and student loans, no. Having said that, we will address numerous techniques to eliminate these types of debt early while still maximizing your credit score.

For now, most of you want to know how to clear debt that is either positively reporting credit card debt or negatively reporting debt of any kind. So, let’s discuss how to quickly erase and clear debts that are negatively reporting. There are different strategies for each type of debt and different systems that must be followed depending on the type of bad debt you are dealing with.

So, let’s start with the easiest and most common forms of bad debt first and I will give you some clear debt solutions.

Collections & Charge-offs

    If you have a collection or charge-off, the initial response most people take to erase debt of this kind is absolutely the worst and most expensive method, and that is, they mistakenly pay them off. To quote Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, “Big Mistake! HUGE!”.

    Why is that?

    Because paying them off only accomplishes paying them off.  The same goes for consumer debt settlement unless it is properly negotiated.  It doesn’t do anything positive for your credit report or score. And, paying them off refreshes the date of last activity so you get the added insult to injury of having a paid collection or charge-off on your credit report for an additional 7 years. Doesn’t sound like what you want, does it?

    What you want is to erase and clear debt of this kind and have it completely removed from your credit report, ideally, in the least expensive way possible. So, how do you do that?

    Simple.

    Collections and charge-offs can be completely eliminated using the following methods:

  • Debt Validation- for collection accounts with a collector
  • 6-2-3 Method- for charge-offs with the original lender
  • Pay For Delete- used as a last resort with either a collector or lender.
  • Perhaps my favorite method is the Debt Validation method because it truly puts the power of the law and legal system in YOUR hands to help you clear debt quickly and end the harassment from collectors. Using this method, we recently got a legitimate $16,000 collection account removed from a family member’s credit report. Doing this enabled her to immediately qualify for a mortgage and she closed June 1st. Know what we had to do to accomplish this? Send one simple letter. That’s it. Pretty powerful stuff, huh? If you want to watch the video and get the actual letter we used to do this, simply click on the following link: How To Clear Debt With The Debt Validation Method.The 6-2-3 Method is similar but must be used with the original lender. I like this method because with all of the recent takeovers, acquisitions and bad systems that most of these lenders have in place, most of the time they do not stay in compliance with the law. Understanding this and utilizing the 6-2-3 Method, you can force their hand and legally require them to remove the charge-off from your credit report AND cease all collection efforts for the balance owed (since they cannot legally prove that you owe the money). This is a very effective method and all it takes is knowing the law and one simple letter. In the Members Only side of Credit Repair College, you can access the law in the Law Library, access the letter in the Other Training Materials section and understand exactly what you need to do by watching the video in our Video Training section. To see what you get access to on the Members Only side, simply click here: Clear Debt FastThe Pay For Delete Method is the last resort if the aforementioned methods don’t work. Using this method, essentially you will negotiate with the collector or lender to pay off the collection or charge-off in exchange for complete deletion of the account from your credit report. This has to be done in a very systematic way and you MUST get the correct documentation BEFORE you pay off anything otherwise they will simply collect your money, not do anything, not remove the account from your credit report and you will have no recourse. This is a highly effective method to clear debt and remove derogatory credit but it requires a very specific method to accomplish successfully. We teach this method on how to clear debt fast on the Members Only side as well with actual recorded conversations with collection agencies so you can hear what you will deal with and know how to handle the situation properly.Next up in our series on how to quickly erase debt and clear debt fast: How To Make Quick Cash so you can avoid collection accounts and charge-offs and get out of revolving debt faster.  Stay tuned for more strategies on how to clear your debt!

No matter what your credit situation we can help you!  Remember, knowledge is power and on the inside of CreditRepairCollege, we will teach you everything you need to know about credit restoration!  Our curriculum includes: dealing with student loan default, insider secrets on getting poor credit auto loans, how to decide if Christian debt counseling is right for you, how to navigate consumer debt settlement and more!  Enroll now!

{ 0 comments }

Want to erase debt quickly? You aren’t alone. How to erase debt quickly is perhaps one of the questions we get asked more often than any other.  (Well, that and people want to know the strategies that I used to clean up my credit.)If you break credit restoration down to its most elemental components, it essentially is nothing more than this:

For those of you who have never seen or prepared a balance sheet it is a very simple but powerful document that quickly lets you know your current financial situation by placing assets in one column and liabilities in the other.

Your credit report is like a balance sheet with two columns. Column 1 is good credit. Column 2 is bad credit. A fundamental key to credit restoration is adding more good credit and subtracting all the bad credit.

When we talk about how to quickly legally clear debt, we have to classify debt into two categories:

  1. Current, positively reporting debt
  2. Non-current, charged off or collection debt

Each type of debt has its own methodologies for elimination which we will discuss further below.

First, let’s examine positively reporting debt. This would include mortgage payments, car loans, credit cards, installment loans, student loans, lines of credit, etc. From a credit restoration standpoint, we always want to eliminate revolving compound interest accounts first (credit cards). The reason here is because the percentage of debt limit to utilization on the card has a significant impact on your credit score and eliminating positively reporting debt on credit cards is one of the fastest ways to improve your credit score. So, the goal here is to pay off the credit cards as quickly as possible. There are a number of strategies on how to do this and everyone has their own opinion on the best methodology. For example, Suze Orman advocates paying off the highest interest credit cards first regardless of their balance. Dave Ramsey on the other hand advocates paying off the smallest balance credit cards first and working your way up from there with the next highest balance and so on so that you build quick momentum and see fast success. It is important to note that both of these strategies are sound IF your only concern is financial planning and debt elimination. If, however, you are working towards qualifying for a mortgage or car loan and need to the fastest improvement to your credit score, neither of these strategies is the best or most effective. So, what is?

Simple, you make a list of all of your positively reporting credit cards. Then, you divide the total amount owed by your credit limit to get your utilization ratio. For example, if you owe $8,000 on the card and you have a $10,000 credit limit, simply divide 8,000 by 10,000 and you get .80 or an 80% utilization ratio. In simple terms, this means your outstanding balance is 80% of the credit limit. This is called your utilization ratio and is a key factor in your credit score. Once you have calculated the utilization ratio for all of your cards, you want to systematically get them all down incrementally to certain percentage benchmarks. In other words, if you have 5 cards and the utilization ratios are as follows:

100%, 80%, 75%, 43%, 15%

then what you would do is begin by paying the cards with 100%, 80% and 75% utilization down to the 50% utilization percentage, not paying the cards with 43% or 15% at all at this point. Then, once those three cards hit 50%, you start paying those three and the 43% card down to 33%. Then, once you hit 33% on all cards, you begin systematically paying them off. The reason here is because your score is significantly impacted by the percentage of utilization as an overall total, but also as it relates to each card. So, ideally, you want to get your overall utilization down as well as the utilization percentage per card down. Again, this method is only utilized if credit scoring is important. If you are working towards debt elimination and want to quickly erase debt, personally, I think Dave Ramsey’s strategy is the best because although it can be argued that you pay higher interest using his system versus Suze Orman’s, in my opinion, the psychological impact of seeing a credit card or several credit cards with small balances paid off quickly gives you much better staying power than trying to chip away at a huge balance with a high percentage rate where you will likely feel like you aren’t making forward progress and give up.  (This is why getting a single consolidation credit card is not always the best idea.

Ok, this post is running infinitely longer than I anticipated so we are going to continue to talk about erasing credit card debt in another post. If you simply cannot wait to get the rest of the information, it is all covered on the members only side of Credit Repair College and you can gain immediate access here: Erase Debt Quickly.  You will also learn all the strategies that I use to repair my credit and how to earn cash online.

Otherwise, stay tuned and we will continue our journey on the top 5 ways to erase credit card debt quickly (and just so you know, several debt eraser methods do not require paying them off to get them erased from your credit report!) :mrgreen:

Join the forum discussion on this post

{ 0 comments }

Credit Debt Elimination Scam

March 12, 2010

Wow! it never ceases to amaze me the quantum level of misinformation regarding credit that exists in the marketplace. What’s worse is the quantum level of bad guidance provided by “experts” who should know better. Case in point, yesterday I was contacted by a prospective client wanting help with her credit situation. She had already [...]

Read the full article →

How Do I Clean Up My Credit?

An Actual Case Study For A Real Client- Part 3

February 25, 2010

In the prior post, I began responding to the questions asked by one of our readers at FinanceTheDream.com. The questions Candace asked were: 1. What happens to the credit score when debt validation letters and the pay for delete process is used? 2. When derogatory items are removed, does your credit score go up or [...]

Read the full article →

How Do I Clean Up My Credit?

An Actual Case Study For A Real Client- Part 2

February 25, 2010

In the prior post, I began responding to the questions asked by one of our readers at FinanceTheDream.com. The questions Candace asked were: 1.    What happens to the credit score when debt validation letters and the pay for delete process is used? 2.    When derogatory items are removed, does your credit score go up or [...]

Read the full article →

How Do I Clean Up My Credit?

An Actual Case Study For A Real Client

February 24, 2010

One of the things I love about our websites is the ability to interact with our clients, readers, subscribers and visitors and positively enrich their lives. The thing I hate is constantly seeing just how much misunderstanding there is of the very systems that so greatly impact people’s lives.  It is very rewarding to see [...]

Read the full article →

The Honest Truth About Credit Repair Companies (continued)

January 30, 2010

In the prior post, I asked my client exactly what DSI told her they would do for her to repair her credit for the fee of $487, to which she replied, “That they would dispute some charges and raise my credit score.”. And I replied to her: “Lovely………and, unfortunately, exactly what I told you. You [...]

Read the full article →

The Honest Truth About Credit Repair Companies

January 30, 2010

Earlier this week at our real estate investment firm, I had a client that enrolled into our rent to own program. The program is a home ownership program that is designed to help clients easily overcome past credit hurdles and get into their dream home. Because the objective is to help the clients get fast [...]

Read the full article →

Top 5 Things That Will Stop You From Qualifying For A Mortgage If You Are Restoring Your Credit

January 9, 2010

With so much bad information about credit restoration in the marketplace, I often get asked by people what will prevent them from qualifying for a mortgage within a 12-24 month time frame. Let’s be honest – If you are working on credit repair mortgage application can be nerve wracking. This is especially true if you [...]

Read the full article →

Credit Repair Scams: What to Watch Out For!

December 14, 2009

Image via CrunchBase Since the beginning of the current financial crisis and the credit crunch in 2007, many people have found themselves in need of significant credit repair. Those who were borrowing to service their debt – both companies and individuals – found their access to credit diminished, if not totally wiped removed, and consequently [...]

Read the full article →