Negative Items and Your Report? Posted by startfresh

Delinquencies (30 – 180 days): Can remain seven years from the date of the initial missed payment.

Collection accounts: Remain seven years from the date of the initial missed payment that led to the collection (the original delinquency date). When a collection account is paid in full, it will be marked “paid collection” on the credit report.

Charged-off accounts: Remain seven years from the date of the initial missed payment that led to the charge off (the original delinquency date), even if payments are later made on the charged-off account.

Closed accounts: Closed accounts are accounts that are no longer available for further use. Closed accounts may or may not have a zero balance. Closed accounts with delinquencies remain seven years from the date they are reported closed, whether closed by the creditor or by the consumer. Positive closed accounts remain 10 years.

Lost credit card: If there are no delinquencies, credit cards that are reported lost will continue to be listed for two years from the date the card is reported lost. Delinquent payments that occurred before the card was lost are reported for seven years.

Bankruptcy: Chapters 7, 11, and 12 remain for 10 years from the filing date. Chapter 13 remains seven years from the filing date. Accounts included in bankruptcy will remain seven years from the date they were reported as included in the bankruptcy.

Child support judgments: Remain seven years from the date the judgment is filed.

Civil and small claim judgments: Remain seven years from the date the judgment is filed.

City, county, state, and federal tax liens: Unpaid tax liens remain 15 years from the filing date. Paid tax liens remain seven years from the paid date of the lien.

Inquiries: Most inquiries listed on your credit report will remain for two years.

Positive open credit information remains indefinitely and paid positive accounts remain 10 years.

The Good news , is StartFresh Credit Solutions is effective at utilizing your legal rights and removing negative, inaccurate information.

Respond to this post and receive your FREE credit analysis TODAY!!

Identity Theft: 25 Ways Thieves Become You Posted by startfresh

Identity theft is one of the most devastating and common crimes occurring today. Approximately 15 million Americans have their identities used fraudulently every year. Financial losses total upwards of $50 billion!  When a thief steals your car or breaks into your home, you feel violated and suffer from a one-time financial loss. But when a thief takes your identity from you, he may rent an apartment, obtain a credit card, go on an online shopping spree and establish a telephone account in your name. The financial damage will continue to escalate until you get a phone call from a debt collector, or receive an outrageous credit card bill, and realize the shocking truth that you have been being victimized.

Once the horrifying reality hits, you are facing an arduous, uphill battle that involves credit restoration and reclaiming your identity. Credit restoration is not easy once your identity has been maliciously dragged through the mud, but it is possible to make a fresh start.

Start Fresh Credit Solutions™ will guide you through the complex process of restoring your good name and removing the debts accrued by thieves. Start Fresh makes the frightening and complicated nightmare of credit restoration after identity theft, manageable.

Identity theft happens in a number of ways. Contrary to popular belief, not all identity theft occurs online, you can be robbed of your identity just as easily, offline. Low tech and high tech methods are used. Protect your personally identifiable information with the utmost caution. The best way to deal with identity theft and the need for credit restoration, is to prevent it from ever happening in the first place.

25 Ways Thieves Become You

• Dumpster Diving. Thieves rummage through your trash for mail with your social security number, address, date of birth and name on it. It is best to shred all mail with personally identifiable information before throwing it out.
• Skimming. Thieves will run your credit or debit card through a special device that stores your information while running it. Skimming machines can be used at restaurants, gas stations, and other businesses you frequent and trust.
• Phishing by email or pop-up messages. Thieves often pretend to be financial institutions or trusted companies and send spam or pop-up messages to get you to reveal your personal information. Never reveal your social security number, password or other sensitive personal information to anyone by email that you can not verify is a trusted source.
• Phishing by phone. You may get a call from someone pretending to be from a company or government agency, a landlord or declaring you a winner of some prize for a contest you never entered.  Once again, never give your personal information over the phone unless you can verify the caller and what company or organization they represent.
• Changing Your Address. Crafty thieves will divert your billing statements to another location by completing a change of address form. When offered, it is a good idea to have your billing statements sent electronically. Snail mail is not only less reliable, but is an irresistible target for those with malicious intent.
• Old-Fashioned Stealing. Some things do not change. Plenty of thieves still rely on taking your personal property right from your car, house or purse.  Wallets, purses, mail, (including bank and credit card statements) pre-approved credit offers, and new checks or tax information.
•  They may steal personnel records, or bribe employees who have access. There is not much you can do to prevent this from happening. You may give your personal information to a company for a valid reason, buying a house or applying for a loan, and this information is taken through bribery or by an employee with criminal intentions.
• Pretexting.  They use false pretenses to obtain your personal information from financial institutions, telephone companies, and other sources.  Once they have this information, they are ready to use it in the service of their greed and deceit.
• Online shopping. When purchasing goods online, always be careful to note the security procedures the company uses with regards to protecting your financial information. They should offer encryption of your financial information over a secure network.
• Over hearing. Don’t let someone repeat your credit card number over the phone. You never know who may be standing behind the pizza girl taking your order. Instead, tell her you will read the number twice for verification. The same goes for your social security number.
• Overseeing. People can look over your shoulder while you are entering your ATM passcode or while filling out documents with sensitive personal information. Be on guard when you are entering personal information and others are around.
• Mailbox theft. Don’t send mail in your mailbox. It may be more convenient, but it’s worth the peace of mind to make the effort to drop it off at the post office. If you’re sending payment by mail and thieves get ahold of your mail, not only do they get your credit card number, but if you’re paying by check, they get your account number as well.
• Password theft. Cyber thieves infect your computer with spyware Trojan viruses to get your passwords. Be cautious of the sites you visit on the internet and always use anti-virus software to protect your computer.
• Fake Contests. Everyone has gotten one of those specious pop up messages declaring you as a winner of some valuable prize. They hook you with promises of gifts or vacations and then ask you for your personal information so they can send you your winnings. Be vary of anyone offering you something for nothing and asking you for private information in return.
• Social Networks. High resolution pictures of yourself on the internet can be used to put on fake ID’s and personal information can be lifted right from your profile. Be aware of the information you make public on sites like Facebook, Google +, and LinkedIn.
• Public records.  Public registers, electoral polls and the like are all potential targets for thieves.
• Company databases. Credit card companies and major online and big box retailers have all been sources of stolen identity information. Once again, aside from demanding better security from those brick and mortar and online retailers we use, there is no way to assure our information will be 100% secure once it is stored in a company’s financial database.
• Guessing weak passwords. When you register for any type of account you are asked to generate a password to protect your information. In this day and age, with so many passwords and usernames to remember, it is tempting to use something easy, like your telephone number or birthdate. Thieves know this, and take advantage of easy passwords to gain access to your personal information. Do not use easy to guess passwords, or one password for all your different accounts. Many times there will be a password evaluator that tells you when your password is “weak” to “strong”.  Always choose a strong password.
• Information retrieved from old computers or mobile phones. When upgrading to new technological devices, always erase your old data and destroy your old memory cards.
• Fake job offers. Just as with fake contests, thieves will use fake job offers to get people to send in resumes full of valuable personal information. Be careful of job sites that are not well known and trusted.
• The Black Market. Thieves help each other by selling credit card numbers through the black market. Other thieves can purchase this stolen information and wreak their financial havoc on unsuspected victims.
• Exploiting security breaches. Breaches can occur in any company, it is the result of living in a time when we are so dependent upon technology.  They may result in the publication or more limited disclosure of personal information such as names, addresses, Social Security number or credit card numbers. Always make sure you have the latest software upgrades, operating system updates, and patches so you are protected against the latest vulnerabilities.
• From your own home. It is possible for those breaking into your home, or those visiting your home (for a social event or meeting), to find your personal information from documents and mail left lying around your house. It is always better to be safe than sorry in terms of leaving sensitive information in view of visitors.
• Unsecured wireless networks. There are web sites that list unsecured wireless networks, called ‘hotspots’, with maps to the network location. There are hackers called war-drivers who drive around with laptops testing and looking for unsecured wireless networks. Always be careful when using public wi-fi and secure your home and business wi-fi with a password.
• Electronic fingerprint theft. Biometrics uses physical characteristics, such as fingerprints, to positively verify individuals. These biological identifiers are electronically converted to a string of ones and zeros and stored on file in the authenticator database. Just as a credit card number can be stolen, the numbers that make up your biometrics and are stored in a database can be stolen.

When thieves steal your identity they may purchase a car, apply for a loan or credit card, open a bank account and write bad checks, run up costly purchases, and more. The sky is the limit for those using your good reputation and assiduously built good credit to satisfy their lascivious greed. But with Start fresh Credit Solutions, you can make a fresh start! Credit restoration is your first step in overcoming the damage done to your financial reputation. Call today and make the first step toward reclaiming your life

Rebuild Your Credit Score Posted by startfresh

Several months before you begin to look for a home, you should take steps to get “Loan Ready” for your lender. Start by making a list of all your existing loans and credit cards, with the company names, account numbers and monthly payment amounts. This will help you to analyze the information shown on your credit report. Include all closed loans and credit cards if these records are available.

1) Get a Financial Check-Up

Make an appointment with a good mortgage lender, and request a full credit approval. As a part of the approval process, your credit report will be ordered. It will include data from the three main credit reporting agencies – Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union. The report will show three credit scores – one from each agency. The interest rate and type of loan available to you is related to your credit score.

The assistance of a mortgage professional to help you to understand your credit report and offer suggestions on how to improve your score is invaluable. For the average person, interpreting a credit report and dealing with errors is a daunting task. Credit reports are filled with frustrating jargon and codes. They are not written for the general public to read. Even more intimidating is the task of communicating with credit agencies to dispute or correct information.

2) Correct Mistakes

Credit reporting agencies often have mistakes in their data. The information in your credit file is input by computers. A computer weighs your data using complicated mathematical formulas to arrive at a credit score.

Nearly everyone has paid bills late for one reason or another. Perhaps a bill was sent to a wrong address, or you have had a dispute with a vendor. It is likely that you have some issues on your report that should be disputed or corrected.  This can easily be corrected by yourself or a licensed and bonded professional.

3) Deal With Real Credit Issues

You may have had serious credit problems at some point in the past. Reviewing this may be emotionally draining, and will bring up the underlying situation that caused the credit problems. Get advice on how long the issues will remain on your report, and how to re- build your credit worthiness.

4) Check Your Credit File

A law, passed in 2005, requires the three main credit agencies to provide a free credit file disclosure each year.  It has been suggested that you could order a file from the first agency in January, one from the second in May and one from the third in September.  The central site where your file can be ordered is annual credit report dot com. The purpose of this law seems to be to help people find out if they are a victim of identity theft. This enables you to monitor your file for any new credit that did not come from you.

If you take advantage of the free credit file reports, you should check them for mistakes. Use the credit report that you reviewed with your mortgage lender to compare with the data in your credit file. Keep in mind that the free credit file disclosure is not a credit report. It does not include a credit score.

5) Understand Credit Scores

Less than 620 – Poor

620-680 – Average – You may need to put more cash down on your loan.

680-720 – Good

720 – 800 – Excellent

800-850 – Seldom seen

6) Play by the Rules

The information in your credit file is scored by these factors:

35% – Payment history – Paying bills on time is very important. Today many people use auto draft or pre-written checks through online banking to pay bills. These help to prevent late payments. If you want a good credit score, do not pay late!

30% – The relationship between your available credit versus how much you have used is an important factor in your score. If you are over 50% drawn against your available credit, this will count against you. For this reason, it helps to keep old credit card accounts open, even though you do not use them. They build up the total amount of credit available to you, relative to what you have charged.

15% – The length of credit history on each loan has an effect on your score. A more seasoned loan is scored higher. For this reason it is not a good idea to open credit cards offering low initial rates, then close them after a few months and open new credit cards.

10% – The number of inquiries made on your credit report affects your score. Each time you open a credit card or new loan, your credit information is pulled. Keep these to a minimum. A recent law has made it possible for people shopping for homes or autos to have multiple inquiries, from the same industry (mortgage or auto), done over a 30 day period without penalty. However, to be on the safe side, do not allow your credit report to be pulled unless absolutely necessary.

10% – The types of credit used may hurt your score. Loans from finance companies, signature loans, furniture loans and some retail store loans are considered a poor judgment because of their high rates, and may count against you.

7) Improve Your Credit Score

It is easy and necessary to borrow money. We customarily make everyday purchases using credit cards, and set up loans for homes, cars and other purchases. Your credit score is especially important in the purchase of your home. It will affect the type of loan available, down payment required, and interest rate charged. A low score can cost you thousands of dollars in additional interest over the years. Even insurance companies factor your credit score into their decisions. More than ever, you need a good credit score, or you will pay the price.

Finance providers, rental agencies, car dealers, insurance companies and credit card companies are not going to help you improve your credit score. In fact, they have an economic interest in charging you a higher rate. It is up to you to be proactive about understanding and improving your own credit score. A good time to start is when you begin the mortgage approval process for a home purchase. It is a good habit to have.

IMPROVE CREDIT SCORE Posted by startfresh

There many factors that make up a credit score. FICO’s scoring system is based on “”Risk Analysis”. Today I will be speaking about 5 main categories FICO utilizes to score the risk of a consumer.

Payment History - Makes up 35% of your credit score

Payment history takes in account how recent a delinquency, collection or public record has been noted. It also considers how severe the delinquencies are and how many credit obligations have been delinquent.

Amounts Owed – Makes up 30% of your credit score

This section covers how much a person owes on their accounts, what the percentage of available credit being used is and what percentage of a consumer’s debt is outstanding on open installment loans. If possible, try and keep the amount of debt owed verses the amount of income earned down to 25% to 30%. This is called your Debt-To-Income ratio or DTI. Since FICO’s scorecards are based on risk analysis, your DTI will assist FICO in determining what type of risk you would be and score you accordingly.

Length of Credit History – Makes up 15% of your credit score

The length of credit history is pretty self explanatory . Basically, it determines how long your accounts have been opened, the number of months since you have open your accounts and how recent has it been since you open up a new account.

New Credit – Makes up 10% of your score

This category looks at the establishment of new accounts. A couple of characteristics that are checked against this category are the number of inquiries in the past 12 months and the number of trade lines opened in the last year.

Types of Credit Used – Makes up 10% of your score

Ten percent of your credit score is based on the types of credit used. We call this the credit mix. The types of credit within the credit mix are; Revolving and Installment accounts.

1. Revolving Accounts are accounts that have an open credit line and a minimum monthly payment. An example of a revolving account is a credit card.

2. Installment Accounts are granted for a certain term and the monthly payments stay the same through the term of the loan. Some examples of an installment account are Homes, Car loans and others.

Repairing your credit does not have to be complicated. If you understand how FICO works and what they are looking for then you have half the battle won. I look forward to sharing much more information with you . If have any questions please leave a comment and we will respond immediately.

Down with Authorized Users? Posted by startfresh

In an effort to maintain the integrity of their credit-reporting formula, Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) has announced a major change to their formula to be implemented later this year.

Unbeknownst to most consumers, many unscrupulous credit repair agencies have employed a practice called credit renting. This process benefits a poor credit score client by having their name added to a good credit score account as an authorized user. The agency and account holder collect a fee and the client receives the benefit of increased credit score by association. Obviously unethical, another term can be applied to this practice. Fraud.

Since FICO is looked to by the lending institutions to provide accurate assessments of individuals credit position, they were the ones to strike the first, and probably final blow in this credit manipulation battle. In late 2007, FICO will test their new formula with one of the three major credit-reporting agencies. This undisclosed agency, Equifax, TransUnion or Experian, will install the new update to FICO’s formula and will thus stop applying any positive benefit to authorized user accounts. When the other two agencies install their new updates, probably in early 2008, the credit renting game will be over.

So chalk one up for the banks. They will have successfully banished one fraudulent activity. With a little ripple effect.
30% of the population of the United States has at least one account on their credit report listed as an authorized user. The credit accrued on those accounts will disappear. These are spouses, children and grandchildren who are about to see their credit score take a major drop. Those people about to be impacted must take quick steps to shore-up their credit before this update takes effect. Spouses will probably be the hardest hit group. It is, and has been, a very common practice to have a household’s financial activities grouped into one of the partner’s account. This update will significantly lower the credit rating of a large portion of these spouses.

To limit the ensuing damage, current authorized users should quickly establish their own credit. Since credit history is a major portion of the FICO formula, it would be well advised to open a new account with the same lending institution as the current authorized account. If required, have the main account holder commit to the new account as a co-signer. A sub-prime credit card or affinity card may also be a good solution for those unable to qualify for a main-stream account.
Spouses may have a unique opportunity to re-establish their own credit. When applying for their own credit card, most applications will ask for household income, the combined income of both partners. They also will probably have an occupation of home maker that can be selected. By using these items and adding the bread-winning spouse as a second cardholder, your chance of getting approved are very good.

Once again, by using an institutional hand-grenade to eradicate the pesky ant, masses of innocent people will suffer the fallout. Banks will see an almost insignificant reduction in defaulted loans while nearly one-third of the population will see their credit scores and wallets impacted.

How To Bounce Back From Bad Credit Ratings – Starting Today Posted by startfresh

Credit has a very important place in most people’s lives today. A good credit rating is essential for many of the things we do every day, such as, use a credit card, rent an apartment, qualify for financing for large purchase department store items, or buy a car, just to name a few.

If, for whatever reason, you don’t make timely payments to a creditor or miss a payment, your creditor reports this to the credit bureau, and it is added to your credit report. If you do this too often, or default on a loan, you will have a bad credit rating and a low credit score. Once you have a bad credit rating, many doors will be closed to you: you will be unable to obtain most kinds of loans, and without a credit card you won’t be able to shop online, or rent a car or do many of the other things you have grown accustomed to doing.

For these reasons it is important that you protect your good credit rating. However, if misfortune causes a change in your circumstances and your credit worthiness becomes an issue, you should begin your credit restoration as soon as possible.

How to Restore Your Credit Rating
Credit restoration is usually a slow process requiring you to build your credit rating little by little over a long period of time. Although you might consider going to a reputable company offering credit restoration services, you can effectively restore your own credit.

A good place to start restoring your credit is to get your credit report from the credit bureau, and examine it carefully for errors. If there are apparent errors, you can then begin your credit restoration.

First, obtain a secured credit card and use it regularly but sensibly. Pay your monthly installment amounts in full and on time. Secured credit cards are issued by companies that usually cater to people who have bad credit. These types of credit cards usually require that you give an initial deposit equal to the card’s credit limit. For example, you give the company $500 for a card with a $500 credit limit. They have the

Credit Reports – What’s On Them, and How to Check Yours Posted by startfresh

Businesses in the United States buy more than two billion credit reports every year. Since there are currently fewer than 300 million people in the country, this means that the average adult has his or her credit reports examined by someone about once every other month. And yet, only a small percentage of Americans have ever laid eyes on their own credit reports. Viewing your credit reports at least twice a year is a necessity in today’s electronic age, and while it may not always be free, getting access to your credit reports is much easier and less expensive than it has been at almost any time in history.

What is a Credit Report?
There are three major credit bureaus in the United States. They are Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. These three companies are competitors, and therefore they don’t share information with one another. As a result, your Equifax credit report may be significantly different from your Experian credit report, and your TransUnion report may be different still. Sometimes this is a good thing – if only one of the credit agencies reports a bad history, for example. But more often than not, it’s a headache, since at least one of your credit reports is bound to have some incorrect, negative information on it.

What’s On Your Credit Report?
Although each of the three credit agencies record slightly different information, the following is a basic list of what you’ll find on each of your credit reports: Your name and your spouse’s name, where you live, where you work, and where you used to live (and used to work). Your social security number, phone number, and birth date. A list of your credit accounts and when you’ve paid your bills – on time, late, late by more than 30 days, late by more than 60 days, etc. How much total credit you have available. Whether and to whom you’ve made an application for credit in the past six months. Which companies have requested and obtained your credit report and finally, dreaded “public records” – bankruptcies, foreclosures, repossessions, court judgments, convictions, and tax liens.

How Long Does Information Stay On Your Credit Report?
Positive information stays on your credit report indefinitely, which is a good thing. Most negative information should be deleted after seven years, with the exception of certain types of bankruptcy, which can stay on your report for ten years. If one of your credit reports is missing positive information or contains negative information that’s older than seven years, contact the appropriate credit bureau. Their website addresses are listed at the end of this article.

How To Obtain Copies of Your Credit Reports
Usually, you may have to pay for your credit reports. The fees that the credit bureaus can charge can vary. You can find out more information by visiting the individual sites of the three bureaus: equifax.com, experian.com, and transunion.com.
So go ahead and do it now! Find out what your score is, it could make or break your financial future.

A Good Credit Report – The Key To Lower Interest Rates Posted by startfresh

Is your credit report important? There are a lot of people who would not consider their credit rating as something too important to them in their life. There are others who, while recognizing its importance, would not be overly concerned about the issue or understand the reasons for its importance. Well, to those people, they should at least be aware of some of the uses that are made of credit reports in the world in which we live.

What are lenders obsessed with

While it may seem obvious to state it, credit reports are predominantly concerned with assessing the risk involved in lending money to you. Lenders are obsessed with one thing, getting repaid, and their entire industry revolves around making this occur. Therefore, they have developed the credit score that will assess your likely hood of repaying them and this is then used to either approve or reject your application for credit. While this is the basic purpose, some more sophisticated lenders desire to get in on an even larger share of the market and in order to lend to higher risk borrowers; they create different categories of loans which people with lower scores can qualify for. These loans will invariably have higher interest rates and other less favorable conditions and this will be the price you pay for having a lower credit rating.

Since loans are used to finance homes, education, cars, and most other large purchases in life, the inability to get access to credit, or only to be able to get it at less attractive terms and rates, is a substantially reason to care about your credit report and try to keep it in as good a condition as possible.

Credit reports are also used when you apply for renting or leasing accommodation. This is usually because the landlord wants to be fairly certain that you’ll be able to pay your rent as it falls due. So keeping your credit score healthy at this stage will pay off if you need to be approved for renting or leasing residential property.

There is also a trend among employers to start using credit ratings when assessing job applicants. The reasons they are making use of credit reports are of course different for every employer but there is a consensus that a healthy credit report and a good past record of meeting financial commitments is a good sign that the job applicant is someone reliable and worth employing. While it does seem slightly perverse that the very people that will need a job the most are precisely the ones that can be denied it but that’s the direction things are moving in.