How To Clear Up Your Credit
You know when you come across someone that’s not only smart but gets where you are coming from? Paris Dean gets it and gets me more than most of my friends that went to school with me lol. I reached out to him on Facebook August 26th, 2020 and said I love this posts, and would he be ok with me sharing EXACTLY what he wrote? He said yes. At this point, after reading this and several others, there’s no need for me to write something like this at this time. Have you ever come across something that was so perfectly written that you wish you wrote it yourself?
THIS IS IT.
Without further ado.
Paris Dean’s aka Like A Caucasian’s Guide To Clearing Up your credit.
Disclaimer: This is for learning purposes only. Reading this does not guarantee you will make money or clear your credit.
Since this page was launched we’ve had a NUMBER of conversations about credit and credit repair, and the amount of misinformation and “opinions” labeled as truth that’s going around about the two (credit and credit repair) is…frustrating to say the least. (GO TO THE PAGE.)
It’s like the game telephone.
A long time ago someone said something to someone who misinterpreted it who said it to somebody else who misunderstood that and told somebody else and now everybody knows the wrong thing as truth. But even though this information that everyone knows is wrong, it has to be true because “everybody knows…” Right?
Wrong.
Because if it were true, why is it that everyone who knows it has bad credit? Why are so many people paying $850 a month for a lease on a $45,000 Charger? Why are there more Rent-A-Centers, payday loan companies and stores offering layaway programs in lower income neighborhoods than in the suburbs?
Because the majority of what most people in those lower income neighborhoods know of credit and credit repair is not true.
It’s almost all myths and misrepresentations of the truth, so in this guide we’re gonna clear up a few of the more popular myths we hear so you guys can make decisions on how to clear up your credit Like A Caucasian.
Myth #1: Credit repair = good credit.
Truth: The goal of credit repair is to give you a clean slate that you build good credit on.
Credit repair is a process that does one thing and one thing only: correct or remove negative accounts from your credit report(s). That’s it.
There are things you can do post credit repair like buy trade lines, but that’s not part of the core credit repair process.
The core credit repair process involves stuff like setting up a credit monitoring account and writing and mailing a BUNCH of letters: debt validation letters to debt collectors asking them to prove that you owe the debt; goodwill letters to creditors asking them to do things like forgive missed payments; cease and desist letters to debt collectors that break CFPB (Consumer Finance Protection Bureau) laws and call 20 times a day; and debt settlement and negotiation letters where you arrange to pay a fraction of what you owe.
Myth #2: Good credit is a certain score (750+).
Truth: Good credit is an ongoing process, not a score.
Yes. You have a high score when you have good credit, but good credit isn’t just a score range (commonly presumed to be 750 and up). Good credit is short for good credit history, which means good credit is something you have to build. It also means that having everything removed from your credit isn’t going to get you a high score.
“But I ain’t got not debt so my score should be in the 800s!”
Not necessarily. Follow the logic. If good credit is an established positive credit *history,* and everything on your credit report is negative, then everything negative on your credit report gets removed, you have no credit history — which means credit repair can’t get you good credit.
Myth #3: No debt means a high score.
Truth: You need debt to build good credit.
Credit isn’t about not having any debt, but how you manage good debt. Good debt is anything that is bought on credit that can be used to help you make more money, so stuff like business loans, college tuition, a mortgage, etc. To make it simple, when you think of good debt think of the phrase “it takes money to make money.”
When determining your score, credit score algorithms look at 5 things: Payment history (35%); Amounts owed (30%); Length of credit history (15%); Credit mix (10%); and New credit (10%).
So having good debt in itself isn’t enough to get you an 850. Remember, it’s how you manage that debt that determines your score.
Myth #4: Credit repair is illegal.
Truth: Credit repair is 100% legal.
Have you ever heard of anybody going to prison for having their credit repaired? I bet $100 you haven’t.
It may seem illegal because you’ve been conditioned to accept low credit scores and piles of debt as the norm, but there is nothing illegal about having negative marks and accounts from your credit report. If credit repair was illegal companies like Lexington Law, Ovation (Lending Tree), Sky Blue and Credit Saint wouldn’t exist to the point that they do (in public, millions of dollars in revenue).
Credit repair has a murky image because it involves disputing debt that you know you owe (and that makes you feel slimy) and people often associate CPNs as part of the process, which is the perfect segue into the next myth.
Myth #5: CPNs are legal.
Truth: Using a CPN is very illegal.
A CPN, or credit privacy number, is a nine-digit number that’s formatted just like a Social Security number (SSN). It may also be called a credit profile number or credit protection number. Companies that sell CPNs to consumers market them as a way to hide a bad credit history or bankruptcy. They’ll also claim you can use the CPN instead of your SSN to apply for credit with your new credit identity.
Sounds too good to be true doesn’t it? That’s because it is. In fact, it’s illegal.
Companies selling CPNs market them as replacement SSNs, promoting the idea that CPNs are legitimate. For example, one site advertising CPNs claims the numbers are “fully tri-merged with the Social Security Administration.”
Sounds official, doesn’t it?
In reality, these companies are running off on the plug twice (literally). They steal actual SSNs (often from children, senior citizens or prison inmates) and sell them to other people.
If you’re paying attention, you’ll spot plenty of warning signs that CPN sellers are involved in something shady. While SSNs are issued for free, companies will charge you money for a CPN — sometimes thousands of dollars. They may tell you to provide false information — such as a different address, phone number or email address — when you fill out credit applications using the CPN. Often, they’ll pretend this is a way to protect your identity — but they’re really telling you to use someone else’s identity.
When you’re eager to repair your credit, it’s easy to ignore these red flags. But using a CPN will lead to much bigger problems than a poor credit score. No matter how the CPN is obtained, using it on a credit application or anywhere else is considered identity theft. Plus, lying on a credit or loan application or misrepresenting your SSN is a federal crime and you don’t want those problems.
You might think bad credit only keeps you from getting a credit card or loan, but it goes further than that. Bad credit can leave you homeless, carless, and jobless. That’s because more and more businesses are using your credit to make decisions about you.
