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Frequently Asked Questions to help You To better Understand the Credit Restoration & Rebuilding Process
- How do you restore bad credit?
Simple Solutions offers a confidential FREE Consultation to truly listen to what you are concerned with, whether it is to improve your credit, help deal with collections, student loans, Identity Theft or other financial issues. Once we receive your credit reports, we will go over exactly what we need to correct or delete to improve your credit and raise your credit scores in the fastest time possible which is usually 1 – 4 months. Simple Solutions uses one or more of 7 different ways to do credit repair. Most other companies only use one or two. We will then process your case and send the required dispute documents to all four credit bureaus. These unique documents are designed to communicate your dispute in such a way that the credit bureaus will accept the dispute and conduct a proper investigation.
While this may sound easy, any person who has attempted to dispute their own credit will tell you otherwise. According to federal law, the credit bureaus can ignore your dispute under a variety of conditions. In our experience, a large part of dispute documents sent directly from consumers are rejected under one pretext or another.
At the conclusion of the credit bureau’s investigation, a new updated copy of the credit report is sent to you by regular postal mail along with any deletions or modifications. You can either send us the new updated credit reports or if you are on a credit monitoring service like Privacy Guard, we can log into their system to pull a new updated credit report then process your results and send them to you. For the average person it is difficult for consumers to understand these credit reports. If there are any remaining negative inaccurate or unverifiable items that need to be addressed, we will repeat the dispute cycle at specific timed intervals.
Under federal law, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a disputed credit listing must be accurate and verifiable for it to remain on the credit report. If the credit listing is only partially inaccurate, fully inaccurate or can not be verified, the credit bureau is mandated by law to either delete or modify the disputed item to reflect the accurate status. Very often, though, disputed credit items cannot be verified: the creditor either no longer possesses the information or does not wish to go to the trouble of verifying it. Also, the investigation must be completed within 30 days or the listing must be removed. For these reasons, properly disputed credit listings are removed with remarkable frequency. Each time an investigation is commenced, the odds of receiving a particular deletion increases.
- Why choose Simple Solutions?
- We provide a more personalized service, spending more time with our clients, educating and explaining how to read credit reports, credit scoring, consumer rights and laws, dealing with debts, collections and more.
- Our clients will always speak to the same Certified Credit Consultant™ assigned to their case so that they feel comfortable in sharing personal information and not have to explain information all over again with each phone call to a ‘call center operator’.
- We answer ALL of your questions giving factual answers based on state and federal laws, plus more importantly educating you on several other topics so it can help you save a ton of money and make wiser financial choices for years to come.
- We dispute all required items right away to help improve your credit so you can enjoy good credit NOW, not years from now. This will help you get a home loan, car or job now, not months to years later.
- Our fees are usually a lot less than most credit repair companies, and definitely cheaper than the online companies who want to drag the credit repair process out for over 2+ years disputing one account every 2 months so they can get more money from you.
- After the credit repair process it is very important to remove any “Account in Dispute” statements on your credit reports. The underwriters for the lending companies require this to be done so clients can move forward in obtaining their home loan. We usually get this done within 1-2 days while most other companies don’t even know how to do this.
- Credit Repair is only one part of cleaning up credit reports, the other part is how to properly and legally deal with any unpaid debts, collections, judgments or pending lawsuits. It is extremely important to know what to pay or what not to pay and why there is a HUGE difference. So before you rush to pay off any old unpaid debts on your credit reports, we would like to talk to you first – which can not only save you money but prevent you from making your credit worse.
- We speak Spanish. Simple Solutions can provide the initial credit repair starting documents to you in Spanish and we also have our exclusive Credit and Debt Educational eBook and other educational materials available in Spanish.
- Unlike companies who just do credit repair, we provide other services such as: Credit Education, Credit & Debt Consulting, Establishing New Credit, Debt Settlement services, Identity Theft Protection and Assistance and just straight honest and blunt advice all by utilizing the State and Federal Laws. By providing a full service credit and debt consulting company, we can provide you with everything that you need all in one place.
- We have worked very hard these 29+ years to make our clients happy with our services because we know you have a choice to go anywhere and we are very blessed and fortunate to have you choose us. Plus we know that our happy clients will refer more clients to us. FYI – Did you know that 99% of our clients are referral based which speaks volumes about our reputation. Check out our reviews on the internet and our A+ Rating at Better Business Bureau. (By the way, we are NOT a member of BBB or pay them to get this rating, we earned it).
First step: we will go over your credit reports to create a step-by-step plan of action on how we can improve your credit reports and raise your credit scores. Then if there any unpaid debts, we will go over your debt options, and help to eliminate your debt load. We will also give you helpful tips and suggestions on what you can do to boost your credit scores and of course answer any questions that you may have. Through using our services and educational information, you will soon be on your way to having great credit and higher credit scores again very soon! This will save you thousands of dollars!
In summary, Simple Solutions is clearly the best Credit and Debt Consulting company that you can hire to help you improve your credit, raise your credit scores and get you out of debt.
- How do you legally do this?
Although the credit bureaus would like to have you think otherwise, there is absolutely nothing illegal about disputing items on your credit report. In fact, it is your explicit consumer right by law to do so (see the Fair Credit Reporting Act specifically section 609 and 611). Credit report repair is as legal as pleading “not guilty” in a court of law. It is up to the three credit bureaus and/or the creditors to legally prove otherwise.
- How long does it take?
It is illegal for any credit repair company to promise a particular result within a certain time frame. Though we can give you an idea as to how we have performed in the past. If credit reports are received promptly, many clients see exhilarating progress within the first 30 days but overall best results may take longer.
Statistically, clients have received several deletions and modifications by the end of the 1st dispute, and if there any remaining items left, continue to do the credit restoration process until the desired result is obtained. A deletion is a credit item that can permanently disappear from the credit report of the client. Results may vary from client to client and specific situations. Simple Solutions does have a vast extensive background in the credit repair industry, knowledge of the State and Federal Laws and credit bureau strategies and tactics, but still we cannot legally promise a particular outcome. We have gotten our clients amazing results in 1-4 months though and that we are extremely proud of.
The progress of your case will depend on your participation (sending in credit reports on a timely basis,) the nature of your case, and the level of credit bureau and creditor cooperation.
- Can a deleted item reappear?
On occasion, a negative listing that was recently deleted may reappear. Usually these accounts were not the same ones that were deleted before, but will be a new collection account that a new collection agency took over to collect on. Let’s say we deleted a negative inaccurate/unverifiable account from Sears. If you don’t resolve this debt (using different payment options that we go over with you) then Sears will eventually hire a collection agency or attorney to collect on the unpaid debt. Then this new collection agency called ABC Collection Agency sends you a collection letter but you either trash it, or don’t respond to their 30 day validation notice to “validate the alleged debt”, then ABC Collection Agency has the legal right to put a new negative listing called a ‘collection account’ on your credit reports. (See FDCPA section 809) So you see how important it is to be educated in how to handle unpaid debts so you don’t have any new negative accounts from appearing on your credit reports! In most cases, it is fairly rare for normal listings to come back on once they’ve been deleted. If an item is re-reported, it is a simple matter to challenge the listing again at a future time to press for permanent deletion.
- Do I need to pay my bills?
If there are delinquent accounts appearing on your credit reports that have not been paid off, the actual debt behind the listing remains the same even if we delete the account from your credit report. You still owe the same money that you owed in the first place. If you don’t pay the debt, the creditor or collection agency could always re-report the item. So removing the listing without addressing the debt is only a temporary solution. We address any unpaid debts and will tell you all 9 of your debt options, and sadly are the only company in the U.S. that will do this. You wonder why the other companies don’t tell you or do they even know the answer?!
- Does paying my old bills/old debt restore my credit?
You would think that would be true. But, again, the credit reporting system just doesn’t work that way.
When you pay an old debt, the negative credit listing doesn’t disappear. In fact, it re-ages and the seven year clock begins again with that payment you so thoughtfully made. And, the most ironic thing is that a paid, current negative listing (ie: Collection account) is not any better than an unpaid negative listing (ie: Paid Collection account). That’s not always true, but in most cases, you won’t get much further by paying the old debt and if the debt is past the state Statute of Limitations. This means you no longer can be legally sued for the unpaid debt.
- Do I need to get my credit reports first?
Yes! First you want to see exactly what is on your credit reports to know how to improve it. You can obtain your credit reports online for an initial fee of $1 at: www.PrivacyGuard.com or www.CreditCheckTotal.com Please forward your credit reports to us via email, fax 1-800-723-4192 or give us the username and password so we can log in and view them. This way we can give you a FREE Credit Report Analysis to see what we need to do to improve your credit reports and raise your credit scores! We will even go further than other companies by pointing out other very important information to help prevent you from being sued or let you know if you may be a victim of Identity Theft. We are a highly trained and experienced team of credit experts who do more than just credit repair! Our job is to protect your consumer rights, improve your credit, raise your credit scores and help get you out of debt!
Simple Solutions will give you a plan of action based on laws and facts to get the best possible results within 30+ days.
- Do you guarantee your service?
Although we would love to guarantee a particular outcome, it is illegal for us to do so. Anyone telling you that they are giving you 100% Guarantee is not legitimate and are violating the CROA federal law. This is like in a court of law, an attorney could never guarantee a client a particular outcome of their case. Simple Solutions can guarantee however, based on our experience, educational information, advice and assistance that your credit reports and raise your scores will improve over time.
- Can I restore my own credit?
Given some experience and study, you could do some of what our staff does. It is much like your right as a citizen to represent yourself in court.
Most people choose to allow an attorney to represent them because the attorney understands the legal system better. But, should you wish, you could represent yourself.
Another factor to consider is the amount of time and follow-up required to coordinate disputes with all three credit reporting agencies.
Simple Solutions Credit & Debt Consulting, Inc. has systematized the disputation of credit through a trained staff and a custom designed software package.With that said, we encourage consumers to dispute their own credit if they have the time, patience and knowledge to do so.
- How do I get updates on casework?
The credit bureaus will mail you your updated credit reports. Make sure that you forward all correspondence from the credit bureaus to us so we can proceed with your case. We will always keep you informed of the process and the results or you can always log into our credit software system that we sent you a user name and password to.
Additionally, you are always welcome to call or email your credit consultant and request an update of the progress of your case.