Opting out from the three agencies will stop these unwanted offers and also offer protection from identity theft.

A simple letter to each of the agencies will opt out your information and keep you off certain marketing lists in the future.

You can find a sample at the Federal Trade Commission’s website at this link:

http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/cred-ltr.htm

Other Related Articles:

• Guerilla Credit Repair
• 3 Reasons Why Free Credit Reports Are Bad
• An Introduction to credit

Thanks for reading Simi Valley’s Premiere Real Estate Blog!
Author – Ted Mackel Simi Valley Real Estate Agent – Keller Williams Realty
Ted Mackel is a top producer at Keller Williams Realty Simi Valley,
specializing in Simi Valley Real Estate
(805) 432-7705

Here is a glossary of terms you need to know and I will add to the list as I go.

• CRA – Credit Reporting Agency
• TU – Transunion
• EQ – Equifax
• EX – Experian

This will be broken up into bite sized pieces.  First I want to let you know that I believe there is a place for credit repair companies, but I will be frank………The Credit Reporting Agencies (Transunion, Equifax and Experian) receive so much canned ham from Credit Repair Companies that the CRAs now profile all the incoming disputes. Another problem with a credit repair company is they can never do what you can accomplish on your own and you can get results much faster; and last, if you work on it yourself, you will probably be more careful with your credit in the future.

The very first step in working on your credit is to order your reports.  DO NOT ORDER FREE REPORTS. Free reports are BAD.  I wrote in my blog  about “Why Free Reports are bad“, please read that before you create a set back.  Order your hard copy reports directly from each CRA and pay for them.  I wrote a blog post titled “An Introduction to Credit” the addresses for each CRA are in that post.

Once you receive your reports you need to triage your reports.  Look them over and determine if you need work and if so how much.  Before you attempt any disputes, you want to make sure your personal information is as clean as possible.

The first attack is your name(s) and addresses.  If you have a whole slew of different variations of your name you are going to correct that in your first dispute.  Second you are going to dispute all the addresses that do not match your driver’s license.  Don’t worry whether you lived there or not.  You want old addresses off for the simple reason that those old addresses could cause your identity to become compromised.  Your name and an old address could get on a mailing list and the person living at that old address could use it to steal your identity.  The CRAs do not have to delete valid previous addresses, but I am of the school of thought to get everything off you can.  In order get the best results you need to send a copy of your driver’s license and social security card to prove who you are.  TU, EX & EQ already have this info, so all this does is verify you are who you say you are.  This also validates the exact spelling of your name and the correct address they should have on file.

How to write this
first dispute

Please follow this carefully and do not let other ideas creep into your mind.  There is a very firm reason as to why you need to follow this approach.  Your dispute CANNOT BE COMPUTER GENERATED.  It must be WRITTEN, on yellow lined note pad paper. Remember how I explained that the CRAs profile the disputes for Credit Repair Companies?  This is why you need to use the handwritten approach.  If you ask why yellow lined paper?  It is suggested that the CRAs scan the typed disputes in to the computer system then OCR the disputes so the computer can profile and find the form letters from the Credit Repair companies.  Also a hand written letter typically will not be sent to off shore processing and will be handled here in the states.  Make sure your letter sounds like a consumer and not an attorney.  See the below sample.   Send this Certified but without the Return Receipt.  You can track online, with the number, that it was
delivered.

If you have spelling errors and cross outs on your letter, this is even better; the point it to make sure it does not look like it is coming from a Credit Repair Agency.  Yellow paper and purple/lighter-blue inks make it harder to scan for OCR.

And one last very very important tip, DO NOT INCLUDE a copy of the credit report you are disputing
from. Make the CRA do as much work as possible.

Thanks for reading Simi Valley’s Premiere Real Estate Blog!

Author – Ted Mackel Simi Valley Real Estate Agent – Keller Williams Realty

Ted Mackel is a top producer at Keller Williams Realty Simi Valley,

specializing in Simi Valley Real Estate

(805) 432-7705

1. The main reason why free reports are bad is because when you need to file a dispute with Transunion, Equifax or Experian, they now have 45 days to do their research rather than 30 days.  If you are playing the loophole game in credit rehab, this is very important.  If you have a problem you want clear up, it is reasonable to get it cleared up a quickly as possible.
2. You need to order your reports directly from each Credit Reporting Agency.  A Free Trimerge (or even paid) report will do you no good.  If you are going to fix errors on your reports you need the real McCoys.
3. The scores that come from Trimerge reports are FAKOs not FICOs.  Only MyFICO.com has the real scores.  MyFICO scores will match what a car dealer or mortgage lender will pull, as long as your credit does not change between the time you order a MyFICO.com report and when you apply for credit.  I don’t put much stock in auto based FICOs or Mortgage based FICOs.  Have not seen one yet, but they could be out there.

OKAY Ted, What is a FAKO? A FAKO is the credit score you see from third party credit monitoring service, for example Truecredit.  While there is benefit from using a service like Truecredit, remember that the Fair Isaac Corporation owns the FICO formula and it is as guarded as the formula for Coca-cola and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

There are two types of credit report pulls.  One is known as a “Hard Pull” and one a “Soft Pull”.

Hard Pull – This is when you apply for credit.  This pull (inquiry) will show on your report and after certain numbers of pulls will start to affect your score.  Typically if you are shopping for a loan for a home or car, multiple hard pulls within a short time frame will not decrease your score.  These pulls will stay on your report for two years before dropping off.

Soft Pull – This is when you as a consumer pull your own report through a thrid party service such as myFICO.com or TrueCredit or order your report directly from Transunion, Equifax or Experian.  You can pull daily through a service like TrueCredit and monitor rehab or changes in real time.  SOFT PULLS have no (ZERO) impact on your score. In fact they can help your score on Transunion and Equifax.  Continual daily soft pulls on TU and EQ will eventually bump off Hard pulls, so if you have too many hard pulls and do not want to wait 2 years for the hard pulls to fall off, you can bump them off early through daily soft pulls.  It takes as many as 100 or more soft pulls, but I have seen it work.

Remember FREE REPORTS are BAD.  If you cannot afford to pony up the whopping total of $30.00 to get the three reports directly from each Credit Reporting Agency, then you should not be applying for new credit.

Thanks for reading Simi Valley’s Premiere Real Estate Blog!

Author – Ted Mackel Simi Valley Real Estate Agent – Keller Williams Realty

Ted Mackel is a top producer at Keller Williams Realty Simi Valley,

specializing in Simi Valley Real Estate

(805) 432-7705

Credit and Credit scores are very mysterious. Mysterious to the point that many people do not pay much attention to their Credit status until it is time to make a purchase. The little steps you take today can pay huge dividends later when you go to purchase that next home, car or appliance, etc.

If you have not looked at your credit recently there are two ways you can do this. Well there are more than two, but the following two are the best. You need to see your reports in a raw form. The best way to do this is to order a hard copy of each report from each Credit Reporting Agency (aka – CRA). Each report will cost approximately $10.00. If you believe you might have a few challenges then this first option is the best.

Let me stress…………NEVER USE A FREE REPORT SERVICE.

Free reports make it more difficult to dispute any errors on your reports (this topic will be covered later). The $30.00 you spend for the hard copies will be well worth it if you need to dispute. Additionally DO NOT ORDER YOUR REPORTS FROM ANYONE OTHER THAN TRANSUNION, EQUIFAX & EXPERIAN. Third party company reports will not have many of the details you may need to see in order to optimize your report.

Exception: The only other place place to get your report (s)is a little more expensive (between $45.00 and $50.00 for all three) and that is www.myfico.com. myFICO.com is the only website you can go to and get your REAL FICO SCORES. All the other websites that claim to have your score, have what is affectionately called a FAKO (Pronounced FAKE-O). The Fair Isaac Corporation owns the secret formula for the scores and does not share that with anyone. The formula is closely guarded just like the recipe for Coke and Kentucky Fried Chicken. The score you see on myFICO.com will be the same score that a car dealer will pull or any other lending source.

What is a Trimerge report? A Trimerge report is a report you can order from third party providers which will include all three reports combined into one report. While these reports are helpful, they are not as detailed as the reports recommended above. If you sign up for a credit monitoring service then you will have access to a trimerge report. This is good for monitoring purposes and costs less, but if you need to dispute or work on your credit, the hard copies are a must. The good news is if you dispute items on your report and they are removed, the CRA will send you a new updated copy of your report at no additional charge.

To order you report mail your payment and request to the following companies:

Equifax
PO Box 740241
Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
Currently $8.00

Experian
PO Box 2104
Allen, TX 75013
Currently $9.95

TransUnion
PO Box 2000
Chester, PA 19022-2000
Currently $8.00

You will need to include a copy of your Driver’s License if you mail in your request. You may also order over the phone with a credit card.

Also when you request your report you will want to OPT-OUT at the same time. When you opt out you will have your name removed from the mailing lists the CRAs sell to credit card companies and others. You will recieve less junk mail when you opt-out. This option is good for 5 years and must be renewed.

In my next blog post I will cover how Free Credit Reports hurt your ability to dispute errors.

Thanks for reading Simi Valley’s Premiere Real Estate Blog!
Author – Ted Mackel Simi Valley Real Estate Agent – Keller Williams Realty
Ted Mackel is a top producer at Keller Williams Realty Simi Valley,
specializing in Simi Valley Real Estate
(805) 432-7705