I did not have this experience with CCCS. In fact, we had only been in the program for 6 months and we were able to get a conventional loan from a bank with low interest on our first home. My bank was happy to see that payments were being made and my credit improved by just paying on time through CCCS. It may not be true everywhere, but we even used our CCCS counselor as a credit reference. We had no problems and we are now almost out of debt. You might want to research it directly with your CCCS office, our experience had been great.
Does anyone have personal experience with www.wehelpcredit.com ??? This site is The Law Office of Jack L. Schrold located in Ft. Lauderdale FL. I have initiated the process to retain their services. The second step, after paying a fee, is to sign a limited power of attorney allowing them to access the three credit reports. In addition there is a monthly fee of $49.95. The contract states the term is one year, even though my conversation with them told me the average lenghth of time necessary to clean up these reports is usally 6 months. If anyone has used this service successfully, I would appreciate your review. I found this site through creonline, which is why I even looked at it in the first place.
You should read the Fair Credit Act and see what you can do yourself. Three years ago I used ICR. I don’t know about other cases I only can speak from my experience. I became a represenative of theirs. All representatives get a discount and my credit was bad so I used the services. I didn’t feel right selling the product until I was sure that it worked. The only thing that did work is they reminded some creditors that I owed them. I did not recieve my money back. Of course they blamed me. The truth is if you truly owe a creditor and they can prove it, the matter will not go away for a long time. The Atlanta news did a special on this company last summer and it didn’t look good for ICR. Because of all the technicalities that is in their agreement chances are you will not get your money back. Needless to say becoming a rep was a waste of money because if I don’t believe in the product I don’t feel right selling it.
Getting good credit takes time. It didn’t become bad over night. It is easier than ever to repair damaged credit these days but it takes time. First step would be to get a copy of all your credit reports. The big three credit bureaus Equifax, Esperian (formerly TRW), and Transunoin charge $8 for a copy of your report. If you have been turned down for credit within the last 3 months they will send you a free copy if requested. Each one has a 1-800# you can call. The next step would be to correct any mistakes you find on the reports. (You must be able to prove the mistakes or corrections). When your report comes it will have an easy to fill out dispute section. Send proof back with the dispute form whether it is a paid account etc. It will take usually between 3-5 weeks for the proper corrections to be made. All credit bureaus by law have to check your dispute out within a certain amount of time. If the creditor does not respond in the allowed amount of time the account will be removed from your credit history. Truthfully this seems to be the method of most of these so called credit repair companies use. It seems that they keep disputing all your deliquent acounts every month until one month the creditor doesn’t for whatever reason get a chance to respond. This only works sometimes and I would much rather buy stamps than pay someone else hundreds of dollars to do the same thing. Credit reports are not as complicated as some try and make them out to be. The only sure way to make your credit better is to pay your bills on time from now on. 12-18 months of good payments will open up many doors to creditors. Even if you make only the minimum payment on a credit card it may take 10-15 years to pay off but it beats another late on your credit. Start a couple fresh accounts and never be late on them even if it is a secured mastercard or visa (try not to get one with a limit less than $500)they will help a lot. Try your best to keep your balances low. If you are very late on any accounts now don’t hide from the creditors. It may be annoying but it is always better to talk to them because usually if they put it in the computer that you are sending a payment they will not report you later than you already are (them not reporting you is not a rule but it had worked for me when I was rebuilding my credit). Also be realistic on what you can send them because if you are not usually that payment will not get sent when you told them it will, I have been their and that is just how it seems to work out.
You and only you can be the best thing for your credit. It doesn’t take a fancy lawyer or computer system. Their are many worthy books to help you on your uphill climb to good credit. But remember start with reading your rights on credit. I know I jumped around a little but I hope this helps you. I am sure you can find something better to do with your money instead of giving it away for a promise.
Whatever you deciede, DON’T USE ANY TYPE OF CCCS program. They do make it easier to pay your bills. BUT every mortgage company and bank will look at this just the same as a bankruptcy. This will NOT help your credit. However it will make it very hard to obtain credit. Call any mortgage company and they will tell you the same.
I USED to work at CCCS in ny but their service is only as good as the counselor and the office you use, re: their fees it also is dependant on their location although your interest is in their mind, unfortunately most creditors will listen more to a third party than to you --the attorney fees seem extreme but this really depends on how much you owe and if you are persistent, good at writing and talk to the right people you should get as far as the other two but with a little more difficulty - now i fight for the people who i want to sell to - there are certin advantages to using CCCS and probarbly the atty; which are depending on your creditors the interst rates will be dropped to as low as “0 %” which you will never be able to do on your own, many creditors now have depts especially for assisting people with bad credit find out work hard at it and good luck
I have no knowledge of this law office. I would suggest another way for you however, that has worked well for some people in my church.
Go to www.google.com (a very good search engine) and type in “Consumer Credit Counseling Service” (include the quotes.)
You should come back with over 4,000 “hits.” CCCS, for short, is a non-profit agency sponsored by businesses that helps people who are “in trouble” get their credit straightened out and their bills paid off. While they are a non-profit, they do charge a moderate amount for their services (last I heard it was $10.00 per month, but don’t hold me to that.)
This may be another alternative for you. This attorney is in business to make a profit, obviously. I’m just suggesting another way that works.