Should You Pay Off Your

Auto Loan Early?

Why Hire Us To

Repair Your Credit

Credit Scores Online vs.

True Scores

What Is A

Charge Off

Who Are The

Credit Bureaus

Will Paying Off A Collection Automatically Get It Removed Off My Reports and Help My Scores Increase

Paying Off Collections

Pros and Cons

Will An Auto Loan Help

Build Your Credit?

Consumer Online Dispute Process Vs. Investigative Credit Dispute Process

Secured Credit Cards

Explained In Detail

Clarification Of The Credit Scoring Model - FICO Scores

Explained.

Credit Cards

How To Use Them Properly

Revival Solutions

Your Credit Experts

Inquiries How They Impact

Your Credit Scores

Freezing Your Credit With All

3 Credit Bureaus

Will Your Late Payments Get Erased After Making More Payments?

My online score is my credit score

False, there are four main industries that credit is pulled in. Online, credit card, auto loan, mortgage. Each industry has different scoring models and the more debt you are assuming to go into the lower your score will be. Online scores are usually the highest and mortgage scores are usually the lowest.

Buying a car will raise my credit score

False, an auto loan is a type of installment loan with a fixed monthly payment. Similar to mortgages and student loans, they do not factor into building your credit score beyond their age as accounts.

The more credit cards the more it will help my score

False, all credit cards weigh the same regardless of their limits. Credit cards are knows as revolving accounts and make up 30% of overall scores. Having one card is the same as having multiple cards. The limit on the card does not matter, It’s the utilization of total credit card balances to their limits that factors into credit scores.

Paying off a collection will remove it from my credit report and help my score

False, paying a collection will often times lower your score, depending if the company reports the received payment back to each credit bureau or no. Either way the item needs to be deleted from the report for the score to raise.

I have the divorce decree and the judge said ... so it should not affect my score

False, lenders do not care about the success or failure of your marriage. Just because a judge says one person has to pay off a loan or account, any positive or negative account information is attached to both reports as long as they were signers at the time the account was opened.

When I pay off my cards I’ll close them all so I don’t have to worry about them

False, closing accounts negatively impacts a credit score as it impacts the average length of open and active trade lines. It's difficult to get over a 699 score in the mortgage credit scoring models without 2-3 years average length and its difficult to get over 799 with those same mortgage scoring models without 8-10 years average length of all tradelines combined. As accounts age it helps credit scores grow.

Biggest Credit Misconceptions

Installment loans such as mortgage, auto and student loans are not factored into building a score (when it comes to their balances), only as they age will it help grow scores. Paying these down or off will not increase your credit score.
All revolving credit accounts are weighted equally. (ex. a $200 credit card is weighed into credit scoring the same as a $50,000 credit card).
Being current on loans and credit cards, does not erase late payment history from the past.
The statute of limitations only applies to the date the item was last active (DLA).When an account is bought and resold, each time it gets reported the statute of limitations is reset.
Paying off collections does not remove them from the credit report. Similar to a speeding ticket, once a collection is paid it will remain on your report to negatively impact your scores. We say, "If you know it and owe it, PAY it!" You always want to pay your collections and debts, but don't always expect a credit score raise from paying them.
"I’ll just clean up my report on my own…". Anyone can attempt their own credit repair and often times succeed. We believe you hire a professional for their expertise and guidance.