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It starts off simple, instead of paying in cash or using your debit card you figured “let me just keep the cash in my pocket OR I have that other bill coming up so will just put this on the credit card and pay it off when the bill comes due”.

And there is of course the out of nowhere expense that pops up like a blown tire or something with the kids. Then when the bill is due another issue pops up and you say “you know I will just pay the minimum payment or a little more than the minimum this month”.

STOP!

As with all my blogs here is the 15 second bio on me so you know the information you are reading is coming from someone who knows what they are talking about

*** NOTE: if this is your first time reading one of my blogs please know I am very blunt and direct but always polite. I do not have the time or energy to tip toe around things.

So I have been in the Credit Industry for over 17 years, analyzed over 22,000 reports, wrote a book, been interviewed on local and national TV and an educational educator for my home State of Texas for their Real Estate Division (T.R.E,C) and have been one for over 10 years now.

AND WERE BACK!

It was innocent, there was no plan to have this much debt, we call it the snowball/domino effect. This happens with one credit card, then another and another and another.

There is a part of learning in personal development called “put it on paper” your goals are just a dream until you put it on paper, once on paper it becomes real.

That also has the opposite effect with debt, you DON’T want to write it down as then it becomes all too real.

You get used to paying the minimum payment and feel good when you pay a little more than the minimum thinking the banks will see your trying to pay the debt off (they don’t care).

You don’t really look at the statement that comes in the mail anymore and if you switched to e-statements then you most likely NEVER go through all of the statement papers that show that approximately 55% of your minimum payment is the finance charge that doesn’t touch the actual money you owe.

Like everything in life it’s typically not addressed until it is too late. It’s the fight or flight response and since schools NEVER taught us financial literacy we just push it to the side and “deal with it later”.

ALL OF A SUDEN the total amount of the monthly minimum payments are out of control and life still throws out life challenges where a bill will pop up out of nowhere forcing you to possible “put it on the credit card” again.

I have a friend that her credit card companies would increase her limit by $100-$200 every 2 months or so and then she needed it/ used it just putting her further and further into the hole.

You try calling the credit card company for a break to lower the interest rate to help since after all you have been a great customer (short time or for years). BUT you get shocked when they flat out say no they can’t do that.

Now what do you do? If you look at the statement in detail there is a small section that if you pay the minimum payment it will take 17-27 years to pay off! So paying that extra bit will not have much of a dent in that timeline.

Panic sets in, this is really bad since it makes you extremely susceptible to sales pitches by the people you “call for help”.

UNDERSTAND that titles are made up, if you speak to a  “credit counselors” or “debt specialist or Senior debt specialist”  or whatever title/name they come up with to tell you they are. They are SALES PEOPLE who GET PAID to get you to sign up for their program. They are trained to make you think you heard what you want to hear BUT the paperwork will be totally different.

PERFECT EXAMPLE which is what made me write this is an old friend reached out to me on Facebook, Single mom got caught in what I mentioned above did some googling and reached out to 2 companies to see if they could help her.

She said she doesn’t want to ruin her credit, she was told they would get her a consolidation loan where she would pay much less than she is paying now, they would call the banks and get late fees and interest waived But her cards would be closed down.

She said she didn’t want her cards to be closed down.

NOW….. UNDERRSTAND that when you get into this position, it really doesn’t matter what you want, it’s not your card it is the banks card. I’m sorry but that is just the way it is. (I will elaborate later ).

She said they started off nice and sweet but then slowly turned rather nasty saying you just don’t understand this your credit is already ruined (she only had 2 or 3 late payments on all of her cards).

They began talking over her saying things such as your credit is already ruined you really have no choice it’s not going to fix itself it’s either this or filing bankruptcy IF you could qualify.

These are all psychology sales tricks. The reason my friend “didn’t understand was due to them explaining it poorly to her or explaining it in a way to her so she goes “well I guess I will sign up since I don’t really have any other options for help”.

The part of mentioning their fee which is on average in that industry is going to be approximately 25% of her total debt doesn’t really get mentioned when I asked her if they mentioned that.

This Debt industry reminds me a lot of the used car sales industry (I was never in that) but I am referring to it just being plain sleazy, double talk, not explaining everything, not presenting other options as those options do not make them (the company) any money.

There are SO MANY companies out there and they use companies that specialize in S.E.O (Search Engine Optimization) which means when you type in what your looking for it tries to steer you to them.

And when you read articles you NEED TO UNDERSTAND that all articles are paid for and “sponsored” or “partners”. Which means the article is not published useless the company paying for it is happy it gets the message they want across.

Even the “ the best companies of____________ “

I know it stinks but that is why experience is huge in this business

So when you see the big ones advertise like National debt Relief, Freedom Debt relief, Credit Associates and especially the ones that present themselves to make you think an attorney will be doing the work for you.

Don’t believe me? Read all of this and call them….

BUT, here are some hard facts to consider, if you are in this predicament YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND your options are actually limited, so here they are:

See if you qualify for chapter 7 bankruptcy:

You can no longer “choose” to file bankruptcy if you want you have to qualify and if you can’t qualify for chapter 7, then chapter 13 is not worth it. Many people typically do not want this option; this is considered the dead last option.

Continue paying off the minimum payment every month

Based off the credit card statements this will probably take anywhere from 10-35 years to pay off (BUT, your credit score will slowly increase once it gets below 80% of the limit IF there are no late payments). 

Hire a Debt Settlement Company

This will destroy your credit BUT it is TEMPORARY… if you have someone who knows what they are doing you can recover 70% of the damage done in a year.

** NOTE:  On average they will get you a 40% discount NOT COUNTING their 25% so you save 15%, REALLY???

                                 (It’s in the fine print)

HEAD in the Sand technique

You do nothing, you avoid the phone calls and throw out all mail received.

** ISSUE: After 6 months of non-payment the account gets charged off, THEN it stays on your credit for 7 years.

The original creditor can sue you OR sell the debt to a debt buyer and then a NEW COLLECTION pops up on your credit report further damaging it.

BUT

They can now sue you as the new owners.

EVERY state has a different timeline for lawsuits, they range from 3 to 10 years. Most of the states are 4 years and too many to list but below is a link to see your state but here is the bad news for the 10 year states:

• Illinois                                                      – Iowa
• Kentucky                                              – Louisiana
• Missouri                                               – Rhode island
• West Virginia                                        – Wyoming

If you live in one of the above states I feel bad for you as you have that lawsuit cloud hanging over your head for 10 years.

https://www.thebalance.com/state-by-state-list-of-statute-of-limitations-on-debt-960881

WHAT TO DO??

HAVE a QUESTION on your specific situation and want to chat with someone who is not going to sell you?

Contact me below and we can talk about your situation and I will tell you my personal opinion on your situation if I was in your shoes to help give you some clarity.

Wayne @ Wayne TheCreditGuy .com

( NO Spaces, doing it to prevent spam)

The Disclaimer:

Of course this is not financial advice and only my opinion based on my experience and you should seek out the services of a certified financial professional who specializes in this

So to start off a little background on me….I have been in the credit repair business now for over 17 years. You can go to the part of my website that gives you a breakdown of my credentials listed under Credentials to learn more about my background to know there is a good amount of experience speaking behind these blogs.

So what has changed since Covid in our industry? Nothing but tons and tons of illegal things…. allow me to elaborate.

Obviously at the onset of this situation a majority of Americans started working from home due to the craziness and unknown factor of this issue if they were lucky enough to keep their job and while people are slowly going back to work now many are still working from home and companies are seeing the financial benefit of not having an office and all the overhead it encompasses.

The government issued a press release awhile back at the onset of the 2^nd quarter of 2020 I believe which effectively said that due to everyone starting to work from home and that the Fair Credit Reporting Act states that the credit bureaus have 30 days to conduct an investigation, HOWEVER as long as the bureaus are acting in “good faith”. There will be no government action taken against them.

EVER since that happened it has been crazy in our industry so allow me to elaborate, in the past 17 years I would tell clients or future ones the “credit repair process” typically works in 45 day increments. 7 days for the credit bureaus to receive our investigation then 30 days allowed by law and then another 7 days on average to get the reports back.

Typically 8 out of ten people will get 2 or more of the 3 reports, why not all 3? Hard to say but ultimately realize these are BILLON dollar companies so you are the ant looking up at the giant.

And while you could sue them in small claims court for state violations ( easier than federal ) if you have documented proof the main issue you run into is 99% of people are either not equipped to go in front of a judge or they do not want to.

So NOW what I unfortunately have to prepare clients (new and old) for is now 2 out of 10 people will get reports and the other 8 will not.

NOTE: and if you are trying to fix your credit yourself be prepared for this to occur even with certified return receipt mail. (It should greatly increase the odds of a response, may not be the one you want or if they will send you what you ask but it will increase the odds sad to say).

I have noticed this pattern now for a little over a year. I even reached out to a few credit repair companies across the states told them who I was and asked them that question and got the SAME answer. Only a small percentage of their clients are getting the reports they requested from the credit bureaus.

So why is this happening? You may be asking yourself this question if you have tried repairing your credit yourself.

So let’s break it down with logic and an educated opinion (that’s me).

ANYONE with any experience will NEVER tell you to dispute things online. The credit bureaus have designed their system to be a mirror image so they do not have to do anything other than confirm what is reporting on your credit report from the creditor.

Not exactly the definition of an “investigation” is it?

This was reported in a 2005 subcommittee hearing report with the senate and a Capital One Manager.

NOTE: I am currently looking for it in my office but after 17 years I have collected  A LOT of articles so bear with me, I tried a quick good search and that did not help me. (If I can find it somewhere in all my docs I will attach it at a later point).

Back to it!

Disputing anything online places your problems/challenges/disputes/ investigations in a box, and they are sending it through a system called E-Oscar which if you say you were “not late” for example the E-Oscar system sends it electronic basically says “ hey mike says he wasn’t late, and the system talks back to the same system that is saying you were late and says sure he was it says so right here”.

Reponses: we investigated your dispute and it came back as verified, our investigation is now complete”.

So that is why it is always suggested you send letters, this way you can document everything. Many times it is a back and forth process (with different entities)  which is tiresome and just part of the game of what they do to you.

So let me focus back….

So since most people now work from home, people multi task you work from home you can vacuum, do laundry go online to blog sites and because one person said I did this on a blog and it worked for me and you said sure let me try this and send  it to the credit bureaus their overheard costs most likely have tripled if not quadrupled since Covid.

For example, if you send a letter request they are supposed to response with paper (a letter request), which means they pay for the paper, the ink, the stamp and the envelope.

Multiple that my hundreds of thousands of disputes monthly if not millions and that’s A LOT of money they are paying out.

I have personally sent letters certified and even with return receipt and NO RESPONSE from the credit bureaus.

 HOWEVER…..

When we logged into consumer monitoring sites majority of the time we could clearly see work was done, coding was changed and deletions have been made, only a minor portion were ignored.

So then since no one will actually say why this is being done we need to apply logic and finances to figure out this little mystery.

The government said to them as long as you’re acting in good faith we won’t penalize you if it takes longer to conduct your business.

So, if they are not going to get penalized financially, and their overheard financially to response to disputes have tripled or quadrupled then what reason do they have to comply?

It’s the law is a great response to that question and I’m guessing you’re not that naive if your reading this.

But if their system has a “hiccup” and it shows it was sent out but it wasn’t then it’s easy to blame the post office since we all know how competent they are at delivering the mail (sorry to any postal employees reading this but you know what I mean since I have had several clients that worked for the post office and they agree).

Ex: how many times have you spoken to customer service for something and when you call back they have no notes or records that you called or notes about what you are claiming.

Now since this is part of my job I can tell you IT’S A LOT.

Recent example…. I had a power of attorney for a client and was dealing with Chase Bank, I was transferred 7 times and each time I gave them the specific department I needed and not one of those idiots got it right.

Each time they said they don’t see the power of attorney & I sent certified mail a month prior & confirmed they received it and it was in process of being applied. I then got the supervisor department and one of them said its right here as well as the faxed copy you sent a few days ago  but since I didn’t have the full account number they couldn’t help.

So I had to call back that same department (different person next time of course) could not see the power of attorney which I was then sent to the office of the president and they finally fixed the issue.

This kind of thing is what credit repair companies and I deal with. Now you always want to make sure you choose a company that doesn’t ask you when you want to get started after every question to grab your money and you should be able to sniff out a sales pitch (I hope).

But the easiest way to do that is see if they speak to you and not at you. If they  seem like the hardest thing you need to do is pay them then …. They could care less about you and just want your money for their bottom line.

I know this was a lot but I hope it was an enjoyable read and the point was to understand that ultimately while there technically is nothing a credit repair company can do for you that you cannot do yourself hopefully this is a little peak into what we have to deal (maybe 15 %) with and basically your average consumer who doesn’t deal with it daily has not clue how to handle it, especially when the bureaus do not comply.

Just like the quote mentioned in that 2005 subcommittee hearing report it was said “the general public does not know how to deal with a creditor or collection agencies as these industries have the money and the lawyers to work those laws to their full benefit and consumers do not.

Have specific questions? Reach out to me at:

wayne@ wayne the credit guy.com

(no spaces in email, done to prevent spam)

So, it’s a new year and hard to believe that its march already. I was watching a favorite TV show of mine and low and behold a new Credit Associates commercial was shown.

I recorded the show so I can go over what was said in detail and the first thing I noticed was they removed the initial lie they tell the general public.

So as the phase goes same !&%$#^ different day definitely applies here.

Now as I always do when pointing out the lies that deceive unknowing consumers I point out that I have been in the credit industry now for over 14+ years.

Everything that I say in these blogs is my opinion and my opinion only. What I do is dissect what is said by these commercials and advertisements and point out:

Is it either a flat out lie or are they embellishing to get you to call them so they can “sell/help” you.

As we all know the whole point of commercials is to get you to call so their “expert representatives” can confuse you and double talk you into hiring them and get your money.

So before I start pointing out “things” to help you “possibly” realize they are lying to you to get your business, then you are informed and if you wish to work with them you’re an adult and can now make that an educated decision.

RED FLAG #1—- If they are talking too fast to you or if you feel they are talking “At you” and not to you then the goal of that is to confuse you to think they must know what they are doing so hire them.

RED FLAG # 2—- If after they finish their sales pitch/explanation they try to get you to sign up with them and even email you the paperwork so you can sign it while you’re on the phone with them that should be a red flag.

Their sales managers typically say if you give them time to think about it you will start realizing that some of the things they are saying do not make sense and you will change your mind. And that doesn’t put money in their pockets.

Of course I have no clue if the marketing people said since the phrase they use “there is a secret that the credit card companies don’t want you to know” was too much of a lie to put at the beginning of the commercial. So they changed it around but let’s begin.

SO, let’s get back to the commercial:

They now they start with the phrase “If your credit card debt is out of control”. A much better way since credit card debt seems to sneak up on you and you don’t realize how much you owe until you’re practically underwater.

So it catches your attention and then they hit you with the “powerful secret the credit card companies don’t want you to know’.

I have no other way of saying that is just a lie plain and simple, There is “NO POWERFUL SECRET”.

Then they try to qualify you and only get the people that they can make money on by saying “if you owe more than $5,000 you have the right to let them settle that debt for a fraction of what you owe”.

THE FACTS:

• There is no minimum, you could owe $500 and could settle (but there’s a catch).
• There actually is NO RIGHT you have in this matter. You signed an agreement and if you still paying them on time you have to break the agreement. they seem to love to hammer the statement to you that “you have the right to settle”.…. OR

You already broke the agreement and you’re finally ready to start taking the steps to handle this matter in some capacity.

BUT:

What’s in the credit card companies banks best interest is too do a risk assessment on the account and get what they can from you so they will allow a certain amount to be written off their books ( & send a tax form to the IRS which we will discuss later).

CRAZY FACT:

After Credit Associates settle the account for you (and they will) you will save on average a whopping (major sarcasm) whole 20% of your debt.

So you owe $25,000? They save you a whole $9,000….. OR DO THEY?

On their website they have a savings calculator and the above mentioned example is a 36% discount. BUT, ask them does that include their “fees”, the answer…. it doesn’t.

News flash…. You could literally get 36% discount by yourself but if you want 60+% of a discount you may need someone who deals with them on a consistent basis.

Another part is they then say (which is laughable after what I just mentioned above)

“Virtually eliminate your debt with a monthly payment you can afford’ and they mention you can settle it for a fraction of what you owe”

REALLY???????????????????? was the example they provided you considered a “fraction”? i guess technically anything less than the full amount mathematically can be broken down to a fraction but you see what i mean by the deception.

I had gentlemen who called me a month ago and spoke to them and said he owes about 80k and spending $4,000 a month in monthly payments they said they could get his payments down to $2,000 a month for 42 months.

He had said he read some of my previous blogs and agreed the sales person talked very fast and used words he was unfamiliar with which in my opinion if you don’t explain those industry words your trying to convince and confuse the consumer. he then decided he wanted to at least have a short conversation with me to confirm him suspicion and to see if i may be able to help him.

In the old commercial they said call our expert debt consultants or a similar term and now they removed that term and just said call us to learn more.

That tells me that they realized or were caught that these people answering the phones knew nothing about debt negotiations or how settlements work and were just on the phone to close you  (sales term for getting you to sign up). But I could always be wrong, it’s happened before but I doubt it but have to say it.

THE FINE PRINT:

Before I get to the really good part these types of commercials you need to pause the TV and get really close to the TV so you can read this fine print. A part of theirs says this:

“Retaining us to reduce debts is your right to settle”.

Using the term “rights” implies the law and there is NO LAW that gives a consumer the rights to settle a debt or pay less than they owe. This is a civil contract/agreement and both parties will basically renegotiate the agreement.

So hopefully your reading this before calling them and if not feel free to call them back and ask them the big question that they lie to you about and below is a response for you to see how quickly they moonwalk backwards.

WHAT is This BIG POWERFUL secret that allows me the consumer or you to do this on my behalf?

The first answer is typically the FCRA which is the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

The FCRA is only concerning the reporting of the information from creditors on consumers in regards to accounts they have agreed to. There is NOTHING that discusses any rights to settle the accounts.

The second answer may be the  FCBA which is the Fair Credit Billing Act.

This also has nothing to do with any rights a consumer may have in regards to settling debts owed.

What it does concern is things like billing errors and disclosures. Don’t believe me on these two? Go google it yourself and check it out yourself.

NOTE:

I’m still doing some research but it seems that “TRUST PILOT” is being accused of paid reviews and fake reviews as i find it funny that on trust pilot they have 5 star rating YET EVERY OTHER site says….. well let’s just say they don’t get such rave reviews which makes it suspect.

So if they lie to you to get you to call and then lie to you to get you to sign up or don’t talk about the ramifications of destroying your credit or possible legal issues that can arise while doing this then all I can say is good luck if you go with them.

If you make good income and have good credit and it’s only the credit card debt hurting your credit score then call me and I can point you in the direction of a possible option. Doesn’t always mean it’s an answer as everyone’s situation is different but you deserve to know all options you have.

If you have the some funds and you let stuff go recently or awhile back email me as I may be able to point you in the direction that’s best for you.

One thing I always promise people I speak with is I will tell you the truth whether you like the answer or not and will tell you what I think is the best option for you and why I think its best.

P.S– if you are uptight on grammar or run on sentences i apologize if it drove you crazy however i don’t really care as i write these to help people and write these blogs as if i am sitting directly in front of them.

=)

Wayne

If you have a situation you want to chat with me on shoot me an email to the address below and give me a synopsis of the situation and if i can answer or direct you to what i think is best for you i will, or if a 5 minute call is easier i will call you.

Typically 90-95% of people that contact me i direct them elsewhere as they would not be a client for me with their given situation but as i always promise i will tell you the truth whether you like the answer or not, does not mean i cannot help but i will tell you what’s best for you and your family not some companies bottom line.

wayne@ waynethecreditguy.com      (spaced out to prevent spam)