Credit Repair: Why Old Negative Accounts Are Not Usually The Issue

One of the most common misunderstandings about credit repair is the amount of importance given to negative accounts. When most people begin to review their credit report, the first thing they are drawn to are the so called 'bad accounts.' They mistakenly believe that if they could just clear up these items they would end up with a good score. Oddly enough, tinkering with these accounts will usually do nothing to raise your score, and will many times do just the opposite.

The Absence Of 'Bad Credit ' Does Not Make A Good Credit Score

The misguided and uninformed will spend countless hours on the phone trying to make settlements with old creditors. Many of these creditors have forgotten about them and have not reported fresh data on their account to the credit bureaus in years.  When Bob and I owned a mortgage brokerage company we dealt with this situation on a daily basis. We even had a special term for it, 'waking up the dead.' Negative accounts that have not been reporting fresh data on you within the last 18 months have very little impact on your score. Once you pick up the phone and start contacting old creditors, you will only stir up a hornet's nest. You are now red meat for these collection agencies, and they know that you are desperate to raise your score. They will start reporting fresh data, update your account, begin making collection calls to you again, and will likely be seeking top dollar (original balance, late fees, interest, etc...). There are times when settling an old account makes sense, but most often this is not the main issue.  When a negative account is currently reporting, there is a way to deal with it. I will be discussing my proven method on my upcoming online workshop.

The Most Important Factors In Your Score

Most of your credit score is based on the payment history of your current open credit, your outstanding balances (compared to overall available credit), and the type and number of accounts you have. This means that the fastest path to boosting your score is not trying to make deals with old creditors, but establishing new credit. Even if your credit is completely destroyed, it is still possible to open up new credit accounts. This is typically done through secured credit cards and secured loans. These types of accounts require that you make a deposit equal to your credit line. Not all secured credit accounts are equal. Your best secured credit options are not with the national card issuers, but with local banks and credit unions. This will be covered in detail in my live workshop.

Live Credit Repair Workshop Wednesday Night (October 1, 2014)

This will be a 60 to 90 minute online webinar (length will depend on the number of questions). We will be doing this live on Wednesday night at 8:05 pm Eastern. I want to do this on our webinar platform which will allow me to do a more complete overview using the tools I don't have on a Hangout. Frankly, I am also not willing to give this valuable information away. If you are already a member of ChristianMoneyPlus, you can go for free. Just send me an e mail and I will reply with the link. If you are not a member, we would love to have you and the tuition is only $15. If you can't attend live, no worries - I will send out a link to the replay to all those that are enrolled for this session. 

I am limiting this one to 50 students as I want to keep things at a level where I can handle the Q and A without it getting crazy. Our shopping cart is already programmed to limit enrollment to 50 and go into 'sold out' mode after that.  Here is your link to sign up. $15 and you are on your way to a good credit score!

Helping you make the most of God's money!

James L. Paris 
Editor-In-Chief ChristianMoney.com 
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