Consumers who are seeking help from credit repair companies in any state are protected by federal laws one of which is the CROA, Credit Repair Organization Act. Some states have also enacted state legislation to protect consumers from credit repair scams and Texas is one of these.
While people are most often advised to do their own credit repair rather than seek out a company to do it for them, there are many reasons to pay for help with credit repair. Many people simply do not have sufficient free time to do the legwork required. Some people do have the time but would prefer to spend that time with their family, or engaging in leisure activities and hire an agency to do their credit repair. The state of Texas realizes this and tries to help consumers locate legitimate credit repair companies like TRW Credit Group in Dallas.
For people who wish to hire a credit repair company, the state of Texas offers information from a variety of sources to assist them in making a wise choice. Consumers can check out any company in Texas through the Better Business Bureau or through the Attorney General’s Office.
There are credit repair companies in Texas that have been prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office and the FTC for violations of the CROA and this information is readily available at both the Better Business Bureau and the State of Texas Attorney General’s Office.
However, Texas also has credit service organizations that maintain high standards for customer service. One of these is TRW Credit Group in Dallas, Texas. Just by visiting their website, one can easily see that TRW Credit group in Dallas is in compliance with all the federal and state laws governing credit repair organizations. That’s why we have chosen to feature TRW Credit Group on our website as well as add their application to our site.
TRW Credit Group in Dallas offers testimonials from past customers and also provides a guarantee of excellent service to future customers. Very simply, if they can not repair your credit, they will refund your money. This
makes doing business with TRW Credit Group virtually risk free.
TRW Credit Group raised my wife’s credit score from 604 to 686 in 60 Days…Watch this Video!
Once people have completed the bankruptcy process, they are often relieved and have no wish to get involved with buying on credit again. This is a mistake. There are some necessities of life that must be purchased on credit. Very few people can afford to pay cash for a house or a new automobile. So it is important that people who have declared bankruptcy implement a credit repair program to prepare for the time they will need to use credit.
It is a popular myth that once a person has filed bankruptcy, they will not be able to get credit again. This is not true. Bankruptcy does not prevent people from obtaining credit. There are many companies eager to award credit cards to people who have recently declared bankruptcy. However, they will pay more for the credit. The fees and interest will be higher.
So people just out of bankruptcy first need to work out a budget to keep their spending within their income. The budget should include a regular savings plan so they will have a sizeable down payment when purchasing a car or house.
Then they should apply for a credit card. However, they need to shop carefully and evaluate all of their offers so they can get the best deal available. All of the companies are competitive so it is important to shop around for the best you can
buy.
Once a card is acquired, it needs to be used with care. And the payments need to be made on time.
There are many fraudulent professional credit repair specialists that prey on people undergoing financial difficulties. However, the state of Texas is aggressive in prosecuting and penalizing illegitimate credit repair companies. The Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott recently charged four credit repair agencies with misrepresentation. They were guilty of make false statements about their BBB rating and the type of services they would provide. In addition they misled customers regarding the protections which citizens of Texas are guaranteed under state law.
The Attorney General, in an open letter to citizens of Texas who are in financial difficulties, advises them to first contact their creditors and ask for assistance. He assures them that when they do this they are entitled to respect. Abbott also states that if any employee of the creditor treats them rudely, they should report this person to a supervisor. And if they have any complaints, these should be sent to his office.
Texas has exerted considerable effort to protect its citizenry from unscrupulous credit repair agencies and has enacted the Texas Finance Code, which, under Chapter 394 requires all debt management plans to be registered with the state.
Texas also requires people who are contemplating filing bankruptcy to seek counselling from a state approved organization within a six-month period prior to filing the bankruptcy.
While the Attorney General gives considerable advice as to how people can repair their own credit, he also advises that they seek professional credit repair assistance if they are unable to do the job themselves.
TRW Credit Group is a legit Credit Repair Company located in Dallas, Texas. Use the form on the right hand side of this website or call the number in the header.
There are many unscrupulous credit repair companies who try to take advantage of those who are undergoing financial difficulties. These credit repair agencies claim that they can totally erase bad credit from your files. They demand that you pay out front for their services and then provide very minimal if any assistance. They typically mislead the customer about what service they do provide. That is why consumers need to be very careful in seeking out a credit repair specialist.
However, one online credit repair company with an outstanding reputation is Lexington Law. Lexington Law is an online credit repair company that has earned a five star rating from TopConsumerReviews.com. This puts Lexington Law as first in the nation on a list of the top ten.
TopConsumerReviews.com is an online agency that reviews various services and products, evaluates them and then publishes the results of the evaluations on their website. TopConsumerReviews.com has a current BBB rating so it is a trustworthy site.
One area in which scamming credit repair specialists are criticized for is putting out misleading information or withholding information from their clients.
Lexington Law was commended by TopConsumerReviews.com for the clarity of its website and the detailed explanation of the assistance that they would offer. In fact, it was this very feature that helped place Lexington Law in the number one position.
Lexington Law was also recognized for the professionalism of its website and the round the clock availability.
Lexington Law has been in business for fifteen years and is a member of the Better Business Bureau Online.
There is considerable advice floating around stating that people undergoing financial difficulties with less than perfect credit scores should seek to repair their own credit and avoid credit repair scams.
These individuals and companies would have you believe that all credit repair companies are scammers. This is not the case. While scams certainly abound, there are many legitimate credit repair agencies.
Not everyone has the ability or the time to undertake personal credit repair. So they need to find legitimate and affordable credit repair while avoiding scams.
It was concern regarding the scams that prompted Congress to pass the Credit Repair Organization Act that placed credit repair programs under federal regulation. According to the Act, a credit repair agency cannot ask for payment until they have rendered services.
The Federal Trade Commission, in a warning against getting involved with scammers, stated that a red flag for scamming was a request to pay for services that had not yet been rendered.
Another red flag is the company’s recommendation that the consumer refrain from establishing direct contact with the three credit reporting agencies,
Experian, Equifax, and Transunion.
Some scammers recommend that you perform an illegal action thereby committing fraud. They advise you to obtain an EIN number (an identification number that is given to businesses for tax purposes) and use it in place of your social security along with a different mailing address to establish a new credit
identity. This in itself is illegal. But if this is done through the US post office, than there is a case of mail fraud as well.
While, as many net sites state, people can repair their own credit scores, this may not be advisable. Unless one is familiar with the manner in which these scores are derived, one can do more harm than good when attempting do-it-yourself credit repair often omitting helpful steps.
When lenders evaluate credit scores 750 and above is considered excellent. A score of 660 to 749 is rated good. A fair score falls between 620 and 659. A score between 340 and 619 is poor. Lenders and credit card companies use these results to determine whether an application for a loan or credit card will be accepted or denied. And if accepted, the scores will also determine the interest rate.
The scores are based on credit history or information stored by the major credit reporting agencies. It includes the institutions with which one has credit who report to these agencies. Not all creditors report. So one strategy in improving a credit score is to be sure a loan that has been paid off according to terms with no late payments is included. Student loans are often overlooked.
The average person thinks in terms of removing negative inaccurate information but not adding positive information. Professional credit repair agencies will remind clients of these opportunities.
Not everyone is aware that the mere act of requesting a credit report lowers the score. People fill in the ads for free credit reports on the net out of curiosity or boredom. But doing this can lower one’s score. People are advised to check their reports annually but using the free net offers is not a recommended method.
When you apply for a credit card or a loan to buy a house or car, whether in Canada or the USA, the potential lender will first review your credit score. If it is below a certain figure your application may be denied.
Credit Score
To a lender your credit score implies the degree of risk they must undertake when granting you credit. They believe that if your score is low, the likelihood of your defaulting on the loan is high and they will lose money. Therefore, they will deny your application.
They obtain the scores from credit bureaus or credit reporting agencies that maintain files containing consumers’ credit histories.
Credit History
Unless you have always paid cash for everything you bought, never financed a car or a house and haven’t carried a credit card in your lifetime, you have a credit history.
Canada has three agencies that maintain files on people who have credit and that is just about everyone. These agencies are Equifax, TransUnion and Northern Credit Bureau.
Those files contain a record of your payments to your lenders. If any payment was ever late, that is on your record. The agencies evaluate this and other information and assign you a credit score.
The lender uses that score not only to determine if they will grant you credit but also how much interest they will charge.
Determining Factors
Various factors affect your credit score such as the length of time you have had credit, the amount of outstanding debt you have, and whether you pay off your credit card balances in full or carry them over from month to month.
Those most important are whether you have had late payments and how many, whether you have ever declared bankruptcy and the amount of your outstanding debt.
Verifying your Credit Information
You need to check the information that is on file about you to be sure it is accurate. You also need to check all three agencies. These agencies do not exchange information. They do make mistakes. Identity theft does occur and you can be a victim.
For all of these reasons you need to know what their files say about you.
Errors in your Credit History
There is hardly anyone who has not at some time or other made a late payment. People are hospitalized unexpectedly, storms delay mail, and payments go astray in the mail. Any one or all of these events occur in everyone’s life.
When this happens you call your lender and explain the circumstances. They are understanding and often reverse the late fee. So you feel that all is well.
But that may not be.
The moment that payment was late, your lender reported you to the credit bureau they deal with. The credit bureau posted it to your file. When you rectified the matter with your lender, they may have sent a follow up report but maybe not. If they did send a report, the credit bureau may have neglected to adjust your file. Or one agency corrected your information but the others did not.
Credit Agencies Do Err
These agencies are not infallible. Inaccurate information can be posted to your report. This is particularly true if you have a common name. For example, Jon Doe’s delinquent payment could easily be posted to John Doe’s account.
Suppose Jon Doe purchased a $40,000.00 automobile and has $30,000.00 outstanding. And then imagine Jon Doe has five delinquent payments. If this debt is added to John Doe’s record his amount owed may be too high for him to obtain credit. And the delinquencies will lower his score even more.
Credit reporting agencies maintain millions of files so it is very easy to err when inputting information. As easy as it is to error, the opposite is true in getting the error corrected. It is very difficult to have false information removed from your file or to have inaccurate information corrected. Although to err is human, most humans are reluctant to admit their errors.
Identity Theft
Identity theft is becoming more common today. Technological advances have depersonalized business relationships.
To lower operational costs credit card companies have outsourced record keeping to offshore companies who employ their nationals at below subsistence wages. These employees may be barely literate and not even know male from female names.
Computers around the world store a wealth of personal information. Information technology security specialists strive to protect this information but hackers are adroit at accessing it.
The result is anyone can be the victim of identity theft and be totally unaware it. This is why government agencies recommend that everyone check their credit history at least once a year. And when they check, they may find some credit repair is needed.
Ontario has a ‘Consumer Reporting Act’ to protect consumers from anyone who unlawfully tries to access their credit files. This Act also protects consumers’ rights to responsible conduct by businesses that collect and store personal and credit information.
Correcting Errors
The credit-reporting agency will not correct an error until directed to do so by the financial institution that submitted the information. So you will need to contact the financial institution in order to have them resubmit a correction. If the financial institution is not cooperative then you need to file a complaint. The government of Canada requires that all financial institutions have a method in place to resolve consumer complaints.
Ontario’s ‘Consumer Reporting Act’ also affirms the right of consumers to correct inaccurate information in their files. This act makes Ontario credit repair easier. And of course, Toronto credit repair falls under the same law.
Canadian credit repair is also easier than in the United States since Canadian law specifies that a bankruptcy can only remain on record seven years instead of the ten years in the USA.
Canadian professional credit repair
There are credit repair services that specialize in helping consumers correct credit reports. The advantage of employing a credit repair company is access to the services of highly knowledgeable and experienced professionals who handle many complaints daily. They are alert to the latest scams and know the businesses with compliance issues.