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101 Powerful Tips for
Legally
Improving Your Credit Score
Parting Credit Tips
Before you head off to enjoy
your new and improved credit score or to work on boosting your
credit score, consider two more tips that may well come in handy
as your try to repair your credit score:
Tip #100: Learn to deal
with collection agencies
If you have bad credit, you
will have to deal with collection agencies sooner or later, and
these companies often present the most persistent and unpleasant
problem for those with bad credit. Collection agencies are
basically companies that work on behalf of companies to try to
recoup money that is owed.
If you owe your credit card
company a payment that has not been made in some time, your
credit card company will eventually ask a collection agency to
speak with you. In many cases, collection agencies try to get
money for their clients through phone calls. Some collection
agencies are quite reasonable and will try to work with you.
However, some will use threatening or harassing techniques -
including verbal threats and daily phone calls - to try to get
you to pay. To prevent the stress that collection agencies can
cause, learn to deal with collection agencies.
You should always get the
full name of whomever you speak with at a collection agency.
You should try to be honest about your ability to repay and try
to work out a payment schedule or payment options. If at any
point you feel threatened or harassed, say so. Hang up the
phone if the collection agent persists and contact the company
who is trying to recoup money from you directly.
Note that the collection
agency the company uses has been using is using abusive or
upsetting language and ask to resolve the issue with someone at
the company directly. Get the name of the collection agency and
report them - and the agent you spoke with - to the Better
Business Bureau. Refuse further calls from the collection
agency and continue your communication with the creditor
directly, noting each time the collection company contacts you
with harassing or abusive calls.
Unfortunately, some
collection agencies feel that intimidation yields the best
results and since most collection agencies work through
telephoning, they feel that they can say whatever they like
(including making personal and false accusations) in order to
try to recoup money for their clients. There is no paper trail
and few people harassed by the agencies take these companies to
court.
Some debtors feel so ashamed
of their bad credit rating that they almost feel that they
deserve the abuse. Both views are completely wrong. A bad
credit rating does not make you deserving of abuse. Report
collection agencies that offer harassment as a technique and
make it clear to lenders that you will not work with a company
that uses abuse as a technique of recouping money.
Some collection agencies
will try to use your credit score against you, telling you that
they can ruin your credit score at a glance or file a claim on
your credit score. Don’t fall for this. Your credit score is
instantly affected when you fail to make a payment or are
reported to a collection agency, but there is nothing that the
collection agency employee can do to make your credit score
worse beyond those two things.
You will still be eligible
for credit in many cases. Do not let false claims about your
credit score intimidate you into accepting the abuse of a
collection agency.
Tip #101: Keep at it
Credit repair is not
something that you simply do once in a while when your credit
rating slips below 620. Credit repair and credit check-ups need
to be part of your overall long-term financial plan. You need
to follow a regular maintenance schedule of checking your credit
reports regularly (you can get one free credit report from each
of the major credit bureaus every four months, which lets you
check your credit for free three times a year).
Regular check-ups will
ensure that you have not been the victim of identity theft and
will help you make sure that your credit has not begun to slip.
Catching errors and problems early can be an excellent long-term
way to ensure that you never need intensive credit repair
again.
Your credit should be part
of your financial goals because your credit can help you meet
your goals. Good credit can help make loans affordable, and so
can help make education, homes, and cars possible.
Your credit score will not
stay steady - it may drop due to oversight or if you suddenly
open some new loan accounts. However, overall you should
continue to follow the strategies in this ebook in order to
develop good habits that will keep your financial life stable
and will help keep your credit score overall in good repair.
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