Archive for May, 2009

Is There Such A Thing As A Free Credit Repair Letter?

Your bet your bootie that there is such a thing as a free credit repair letter. In fact, there are many kinds of letters you can send that eventually help to repair bits and pieces of your credit. One free credit repair letter won’t immediately wipe out an entire history of bad credit, however. Well, not legally, anyway. If someone does offer to write you a free credit repair letter that will get you a brand new credit history or eliminate all of your bad credit history, kindly refuse the offer.

What Are They?

Although so much about business is done on line, there are still some things that have to be done by old-fashioned snail mail. Free credit repair letters can be typewritten or hand written, but they need to be actually signed by you in ink. If you’ve every written a business letter or a cover letter for a job application, then you already have the skills to write a free credit repair letter. If you are not sure what a good credit repair letter looks like, you can go online to see a sample credit repair letter.

Some types of free credit repair letters are communications with whoever claims you owe them money – whether it’s just one person, a company or debt collectors. For example, one day I received a letter from an ex-roommate demanding I immediately pay $500 from an old debt. I couldn’t remember owing the ex-roommate any money. We’d parted on good terms. So, I wrote politely asking him to prove that I owed him money (technically called a debt validation letter). I never heard from him again.

The Most Common Type

One of the most common kinds of free credit repair letters is called a dispute letter. As the name implies, you are disputing part of the information on your credit record. These types of free credit repair letters are only sent to the credit report agencies Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. These are the three companies that give free credit reports to everyone in America.

You should get these free reports every year and look at them closely to be sure that all of the information is accurate. For example, if they’ve spelled your name wrong, this can wind up being a serious problem years down the line and needs to be corrected immediately. You just write a polite letter stating your point of view and asking that the information be changed.

What The Heck Is A Credit Repair Letter?

There are many types of letters to financial institutions about your credit that are lumped together under the term “credit repair letter”. Unfortunately, none of these types of letters will instantly fix all of your credit problems. It’s just not that simple. But they can certainly help make your credit get any worse and can help plug up any money leaks that can affect your credit rating. What’s really nice is that many credit repair letters are free credit repair letters.

Cease And Desist

If you are getting hounded by debt collection agencies or anyone you owe money to, you are not only legally entitled to tell them to shut up, but they are legally entitled to shut up. You do have to send them a type of credit repair letter called a cease and desist letter in order to prove that you are being hounded. The cease and desist letter needs to be polite, just state the facts and not get personal.

Before you send off the cease and desist letter, you need to make a copy of it and keep it with any copies or original harassing letters you have been getting. You also need to have the letter go by certified, return receipt mail. This will give you proof that the receiver has gotten your letter, especially if this winds up in court. Hopefully, you’ll never have to write this type of credit repair letter.

Debt Validation

This is another type of credit repair letter that you can send to anyone who owes you money. Debt validation letters could also be called “prove it” letters. Basically, you politely ask them to prove that you actually owe what they claim you owe. You also want to send this certified mail and make copies in case this goes to court.

Disputes

In America, you are legally entitled to three free credit reports a year, one from the three credit report agencies – Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. In this way, you can keep track of any identity theft or any mistaken charges or information placed on your permanent credit record. For example, you get a free credit report and see that you applied for a mortgage last year – only you hadn’t. But the report says you have.

This is where writing a type of credit repair letter called a dispute letter comes in. It’s very much like writing your bank to inform them of a charge on your checking account that you never authorized. You write the credit bureau and include a copy of the credit report. Calmly state your position. Never threaten to sue. This only makes it look like you have something to hide.

The Best Credit Repair Letter Samples Are Free

When people are scared and desperate, they will willingly pay for stuff that they should be able to get for free. One of these things is a credit repair letter sample. There are many credit repair do-it-yourself kits for sale that include several credit repair letter samples. If all you need is to know how to write a simple credit report dispute letter or even a cease and desist letter to pesky bill collectors, then you can get those things for free on the Internet.

Short And Sort Of Sweet

The best credit repair letter samples do not make the most scintillating of reading material. They seem like they are completely devoid of emotion, as if they were written by a robot. This is precisely what you need. You don’t need to go into any great detail wit these kinds of important business letters. You need to make your case as quickly as possible and sign off.

A credit report dispute letter is one of the most common kinds of free credit repair letter samples on the Internet. One of the best free credit repair letter sample is given by the American government on the website of the Federal Trade commission (FTC). Although the American government is not usually known for their accuracy and efficiency, this is one exception. There is also a toll-free phone number to call for more information.

Copies Only

Here’s another tip you need to follow when sending off these kinds of letters — make copies. Make copies of the dispute letter, the credit report or bill or any other kind of paperwork that is necessary for your particular circumstance. Never send the originals. You need to keep the originals just in case there is court case. Also, some documents required to clear up an error could be a birth certificate or a Social Security card. You need those in real life. Don’t risk sending them through the mail.

About.com

Other kinds of accurate and free credit repair letter samples are up on About.com, which is considered one of the best places to go to on the web for accurate and brief information. This writer especially recommends the sample cease and desist letter up on the site. When you go to About.com, click on the Business and Finance section, and then click on Credit/Debt Management. Or, you could cheat and just enter “About.com cease and desist letter sample” into your favorite search engine.

The Importance Of Having A Credit Repair Business Plan In Place

To succeed with a credit repair business obviously means needing to have a good credit repair business plan in place. Such a plan is often a prerequisite to get the business off the ground and to also ensure that your credit repair business has a strong foundation and is well planned so that it can be run in a more efficient and effective manner.

Professional Help

To help you formulate a good credit repair business plan may even require taking professional help and in this regard there are many experts that provide tips to help you at each step of starting your own credit repair business. Even if it is your first credit repair business plan or one that is a follow-up to an earlier plan; you need to ensure that it is user friendly and easy to complete.

Today, there are many credit repair business plan kits being sold on the market that have been drawn up by experts in the field of credit repair and which come with complete details as well as instructions on creating an effective credit repair business plan. Many of these kits have samples as well as illustrations and charts as well as graphs an also a mission statement that will help you draw up a credit repair business plan that synchronizes well with other activities.

These kits can also be customized to suit your own needs and some of them even come with tools for forecasting as well as can be integrated with your other activities and they include complete financial plans as well. Other than that you need to look for a credit repair business plan that shows you how to market your services and which also comes with a complete plan for selling your services that includes optimizing strategies as well as using the best tactics and best pricing as well.

Once you have chalked out a credit repair business plan your work does not end because it is just as important that you keep this plan updated to suit changing circumstances as it is to draw up the plan in the first place. In this day of the Information Age, it is quite simple to locate and download credit repair business plan kits over the Internet.

There are also a few free credit report business kits available that you can use in case you don’t want to spend money in repairing your credit. The bottom line with using a credit repair business plan kit is that it must be easy to follow and all the required instructions should be provided along with the kit.