Stop Credit card companies from selling your information

On August 3, 2017   /   Blog  

Stop Credit card companies from selling your information

So the reason for this week’s blog is I was recently approved for a card that I wanted to get that gives you all sorts of points. I got all the official “disclaimers” and what made me laugh was during my approval and when the card was sent they raised the “late fee to $38.00”.

What I did like was that they provided to me and let me point out not because they are good people but they are required by law to is give me a breakdown of what they do with my information and how they sell it and how to stop them from doing most of that but of course not all of that.

That made me realize that I do not think I ever did a blog to help everyone reading this how to stop these companies or should I say limit them from “sharing our information”. As I was told by my web guy to always use “key words” (not really sure how that stuff works I will say them throughout this blog so sorry!)

As you already know I am a credit repair expert and while I hate using that term that’s what people automatically think of when they need some help with their credit in whatever form it may be.

I have been doing this for over 12 years now and always stay in the thick of it and in the trenches to see what the credit bureaus are doing and how they are “interpreting” the new laws based on case law etc… BUT back to the blog!

 

So I wanted to point out some things to the people smart enough to read this and act on it to stop not only the junk mail but the email spam and hopefully the annoying calls you get. While this is no guarantee everything will stop as it won’t, it will lower it and I do not know about you but I would prefer less people/companies to know about me who could care less about me.

What amazed me and I checked the papers on other credit card disclaimers it says on them “When you are NO LONGER our customer, we continue to share your information as described in this notice. However you can contact us at any time to limit our sharing”.

WOW…..just WOW….. if THATS’s not a reason to do this then I do not know what will make you take out a few minutes to stop these annoying jerks.

Many banks tell you to call them to “opt-out”. But the easiest way is to call customer service and ask them for the website to opt –out of sharing your information. Some banks use their website name and add “ /privacy ”.

I would try that first so you do not have to call but the odds are you will have to call. Once you do that it may take a bit, But there are SO MANY companies out there that take and sell our information I created a list and links to help make it easier for you.

Opt out of prescreened credit & Insurance:

www.optoutprescreen.com

**Operated by the credit bureaus & only for 5 years, to do it permanently you have to sign the form. All information requested is confidential.

Telemarketing:

The odds of this are nil as I get bombarded with calls like this regardless but who knows if I would have gotten more if I didn’t do this.

www.donotcall.gov

Mail & Email:

www.DMAchoice.org

This scumbag group ( yes I said that and when you will see why) has the nerve to charge us $2.00 (told ya)for a ten year period and you can choose to decide what mail you want and don’t want. They also offer the ability to reduce your unsolicited commercial email.

NOW, is that a joke to pay them NOT to sell your info, YES, but I look at it as it’s only $2.00 but it’s your call.

JUNK MAIL:

http://www.directmail.com/mail_preference/

This will help remove your name off the thousands of mailing lists out there, not all of course but the point is to greatly reduce it.

CATALOG CHOICE:

www.catalogchoice.com

This one requires a little more work as when you get a catalog go to the site above and login to enter the senders information, it can take up to 90 days for it to get into the system and they are a nonprofit so if you want to donate a dollar or 2 then it’s your call. I would suggest saving a bunch then entering them all in at one time.

VALPAK:

http://www.coxtarget.com/mailsuppression/s/DisplayMailSuppressionForm

I don’t know about you but when I get a Valpak in mail I walk it over to the recycle bin. EVERY

Once in a while I will go through it and 99% of the time I may find something I may consider using but for me personally I got rid of this, but if you have a family and are what seems to be constantly buying things you may want to keep this for any possible deals.

Valassis Direct Mail  (RED PLUM):

https://www.redplum.com/tools/direct-mail-preferences

Same thing as Valpak only in more of a magazine type lay out.

ADDITIONAL OPTIONS:

Go to the company website, typically found at the bottom of the page there is usually a FAQ section or even an OPT OUT link to click on. Let’s face it, maybe it bothers you, maybe it does not but at least you have the information now.

And we are at the end of this week’s blog…

This of course had nothing to do with credit issues or credit repair problems but one thing I have learned in the 12 years of credit education and consulting is the smart ones know a lot about a lot of things BUT are humble enough to let people know the only reason they know this much is they have just been around a long time.

ONE THING you will never see on this site is computer advice since that is one topic you do NOT want to be taking any advice on that from me.

 

Want to learn more about how credit actually works and how lenders view you? Buy my book “The Real World of Credit” on my website www.waynethecreditguy or go to www.BN.com and get the electronic version on Barnes and Nobles website!

WANT a HARD COPY in full color? Just contact me below to get one!

OR

Get a copy of your credit report and contact Wayne to review today at:

wayne@waynethecreditguy.com

 

SPECIAL NOTE:

The below article is many, many years old but shows you just HOW MUCH companies value data. And this company Epsilon Data Services is one of the vampires sucking information about our online habits, etc…. very worth the few minutes to read.

https://www.cnet.com/news/who-is-epsilon-and-why-does-it-have-my-data/

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My credit cards are paid off so that’s not a problem… or is it?

On April 10, 2017   /   Blog  
My credit cards are paid off so that’s not a problem… or is it?

My credit cards are paid off so that’s not a problem… or is it?

As a credit expert I always get clients telling me exactly what their credit issues are. Now for a small portion of them who do not have many issues a portion of them are correct. After all if you’re currently a 680 credit score then you may only have one or two issues that are hurting you.

However many times there are many other factors affecting their score so I will always tell them what you look at is most likely not what I am going to be looking at.

This is a huge advantage when you have been doing this for over 12 years and have analyzed over 16,000 credit reports in that time frame. Dissecting them, analyzing how the underwriting process behind the scenes looks at them and approves or denies them.

All of this behind the scenes underwriting reviewing is all for your benefit to help you achieve your goals for you and your family.

Many times I have clients that have made recent late payments on their credit cards or car loans, mortgage etc.. (basically recent late payments).
And then if it was a credit card for example which majority of the time it is, they tell me I don’t have to worry about it as its been paid off so it’s no longer a problem.

This is where the education portion of my program begins and I start explaining to them it does not matter that the car is paid off and it is a problem. Explaining the issue to them during the conversation as why it is an issue they will understand it but many times the information leaves them once the conversation is over.

So what I like to do is create a visual picture as most people are visual so painting a picture helps them retain the information for the future.
Think of your credit score in the same way as a crystal ball “works”. The concept is to predict the future. So if a credit score operates along the same lines then a recent late payment gives the lender an indication there may be a financial problem as they are looking at lending you money in the hopes of you paying it on time for the next few years or even the next 30 years if it’s a mortgage.

It’s a math equation, granted a very complicated one but still a math equation. So if you were delinquent in making an arranged payment on time they have no clue if that was a one-time slip up of a foreshadowing of future issues.

They see it two different ways, the first is there is some financial challenges you are going through which of course would give anyone pause on lending you money or lending you money at a low interest rate as those loans are for people who don’t make late payments.

The 2nd you are not going to like a may even take it personally but you can’t argue with a mathematical equation so it’s looked at as if your financially incapable of paying your own bills on-time. Another way it can be called is you’re financially incompetent (at least at this time).

An excuse I hear people say is they never got a bill. The answer which I try to say with a good deal of tact is the credit scoring system reads it as:
“But you know you owe that bank money and that you make payments every month so why didn’t you call them”. It’s not their responsibility to remind you of your financial obligations.

Is it harsh? Yes it is, Realistic in how the world works, yes it is also. What you need to understand is these banks do not know you, they look at how past bills are paid in order to identify if you will pay future bills on time.

I also get people saying they have had excellent credit for 10 even 30 years. And then I have to inform them “that’s great and I will guess that if you even needed to get something during that time you benefited from that great score but you do not have that score now and then lender thinks there could be a future issue now that you did not pay something”.

The hardest thing in credit repair is removing late payments or what is nicknamed “slow pays”, ESPECIALLY when it’s on a current open account as it’s very easy to prove.

So many times I have heard clients tell them that other credit repair companies said it’s not a problem at all so they signed up and paid them money only to later find out months later they were lied to.

UNDERSTAND, when it comes to your credit report and your credit score when it relates to qualifying for a loan and even when credit repair is added to the mix that even if you paid the credit card (for example) down or off does not mean the problem has been fixed.

The RECORD of you not paying that bill on time for that particular month is marked in your credit report and depending on how recent it is will reflect as to how damaging it is to your credit score.

The older it is, the less it affects your credit score as how you pay your bills today counts a lot more than how you paid them 5 years ago.
I hope this helps to increase your credit knowledge when it comes to how the credit system works and the issue with this situation in relationship to credit repair.

But if the late payment is an honest mistake on the banks part while you may get incredibly frustrated to how little help you get to rectify the late payment on your credit if that’s the only issue then the credit repair company should only charge you a small fee after going through a series of questions to create an investigation on the matter.

Want to learn more about how the world of credit works? Contact me today and get my book in full blown color. No nonsense direct answers and easy to understand.

How the “Real world of credit” works:
wayne@waynethecreditguy.com

And of course if you need some credit work to increase your credit score then call me today to discuss!

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Credit Card Balances and Your Credit Score

On March 26, 2014   /   Blog  

Why is your credit card balance not correct you ask? Credit controls our lives, But people do not know how important credit really is until you need it TODAY and then it’s too late.

Everyone you read about is a self proclaimed “Credit Expert” (even me), beware of these “experts” making claims that you cannot verify. If they don’t ask you specific questions or quote you a price without seeing your credit file then run!

Having a credit company who understands the underwriting criteria of future lenders and how they look at you is more important than you can possibly realize.

Bad credit, credit repair, repair credit, How to repair credit, fix credit, credit fix, how to fix credit…. No matter how you say it you don’t realize how important credit is until you need something today and then it’s too late.

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