What do the pros say is the number one obstacle to credit repair? What one thing prevents them from being able to execute a major improvement to their clients’ credit scores?
A large national (and successful) credit repair company shared their statistics with me today.
The result is sad, only because most of their clients are shooting THEMSELVES in the foot and preventing the pros from success in raising their scores to what they could be.
This #1 obstacle is new late payments.
My mouth dropped open when I read that. Most people — after signing up for and paying good money to have their credit repaired by a professional service — create new negative credit activity for themselves.
Their statistics show that people who do not create a new negative activity see a score improvement three times better than those who did.
You cannot clean up a mess behind you while you are creating a new mess today!
If you want to raise your score from subprime to acceptable (or to top tier) then you must pay all obligations on time every month. And if you need an exception due to a loss of income or illness due to the impact of Covid, then call and ask for an appropriation per the CARES ACT before you are reported as being late.
If you are unable to pay a bill, call and make an arrangement and then get that in writing that they will accept $X per month without reporting you as being late for X amount of time until you can regain your financial footing. Do not hide from your financial hardship or ignore a bill, because that will only make things worse. If you call and write and are denied, and if your circumstances are so dire that paying late cannot be avoided, then prioritize by protecting your home first, your transportation second, credit cards third, and medical bills last. Put student loans into forbearance.
Common sense says that you cannot dispute an old late payment if you are late today (or have been recently late.)
I will share more specific statistics from the pros, so if you want to see that, you will want to subscribe.
Let’s finish out the year credit-strong and may God bless you and meet all your needs.
