Two people won a free book for their photos in my first ever giveaway contest, “Animal with a book.”

“Lucky bear” with Mortgage Rip-Offs and Money Savers, my first book for home buyers. (The latest one is
Get the Mortgage You Want Like the Pros.)

Aspen with Repair Your Credit Like the Pros, book 1 of 2 in the credit repair series. (Book 2 is Repair Your Credit Like the Pros, DEEPER DIVE.)

The winners have been notified by email. They get to choose any one of my books for free.

If you have an idea for another book giveaway contest, let me know in the comments.

In the meantime, I encourage you to continue making progress on your credit and financial journey. So many readers have emailed me success stories, and I want you to be a success story, too!

I’d like to share with you another success story I received from one of my book readers.

She sent me the letter below with her name included so I saw it was genuine. Now her personal info is redacted for privacy, but look at this settlement!

The second sentence states it was settled in full. What that means is she paid the reduced amount they agreed upon, which was approximately 70% of the balance. 30% off is a successful negotiation, especially when the balance was fairly small at $500. (Some credit repair businesses don’t even negotiate for amounts that low. )

The paragraph below that states, “A request will be sent to the credit reporting agencies within 30 days to delete the tradeline associated with this account.” Perfect!

Using the strategy in Chapter 15, Repair Your Credit Like the Pros, she saved money and got a collection deleted from her credit report at the same time. BIG WIN!!

I will be giving away books — any one of my books that the winners choose.

One book for every five entrants.. If less than ten people enter, I’ll give away three books, so a 33% chance of winning.

To enter, take a photo of your pet (or any animal, even a stuffed animal will do) with one of my books and post it on your fave social media site. Then email me the link, or post the link in the comment section here.

Winners will be notified Monday, June 24th.

Here are the books you can choose from (English only; I don’t have easy access to the foreign translations.)

When Cathryn Drost-Hansen sent me this photograph of Aspen, first of all, I was bowled over by how cute he is, but it also made me wonder, how many smart pets are picking up tips from my books…?

There’s one way to find out — run a contest! So here is my first ever contest and book giveaway:

Post a photograph of your pet with any one of my books on any social media platform you like. Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, X, wherever. Then send me the link at askcarolynwarren @gmail dot com.

One in every 5 will win any one of my books — your choice of any that are printed in English.

Don’t have a pet? A stuffed animal will do nicely. Or borrow your neighbor’s pet, with permission of course.

Deadline is: MONDAY JUNE 24, 2024. Books will be given away at the end of the month.

To help inspire you, here is Aspen, who is now in the contest. I think he’s got his score over 700 now.

Books you can win (only English language books)

This a letter that has worked for others and you can edit it to fit your own situation.

This is for when there is a collection or charge-off on your credit report that you tried to work out with the creditor, but they completely ignored your letter and gave you no response. In fact, you are not even sure it belongs to you, because you never received any notification. You only discovered it when you got your credit report.

You would then write to the credit bureaus that show it on your credit report. You can say something like this:

I received my free credit report and was quite shocked to see an account that is FALSE.

1) I reached out to this creditor, and they did not respond to me.

2) I have never received any notification of this account.

3) I do not recognize this account as valid and belonging to me.

Account # (copy exactly what it looks like including any XXXs in the number)  DELETE

Please confirm that this false account has been deleted. 

Thank you in advance and have a nice day,

If you have otherwise perfect credit, add a sentence that says, “My credit is excellent, so this makes no sense!”

You have the right to a credit report that is 100% correct.

Thank you for reading and subscribing. I appreciate when you add a comment on a post, too.

I heard some good news from one of my book readers this week, and thought you’d like the encouragement.

He wrote: “I have recently started my credit repair journey. Using your first book, I have already gotten a collection account deleted from Experian. I have some more difficult accounts, so I am using your second book for those now.”

That’s GREAT news! Closed and paid collection accounts are easier to get deleted than open accounts. With open accounts, be careful and mindful of these three factors:

1. If the account is old and soon to age off your report, it’s probably best to leave it alone. The older it is, the less it impacts your score, anyway. If it is not past the date of the Statute of Limitations in your state, then don’t poke the sleeping giant. (There is an entire chapter on the Statute of Limitations with a state chart in the new book, Repair Your Credit Like the Pros DEEPER DIVE.)
   
2. If a collection has a large balance owing, make sure you have the funds to negotiate a 50% settlement before you touch it. If it’s “sleeping” you don’t want to wake up the creditor before you have money to negotiate with. On very large collections, sometimes you can get as low as 30%, but 50% is very good.
   
3. If a collection account has a large balance owing, they are more likely to file a lawsuit against you. Be aware of that before proceeding. If you are served papers, respond immediately and try to work out an agreement or payment plan that includes them deleting the account from your credit report when it has been fully paid. Keep a record of all your payments in a file, because you might need that later.

Credit repair can be a sprint, but some accounts are more like a marathon. Either way, you CAN repair and restore your credit and good name. Week-by-week, month-by-month, you pay on time and work on having anything that is reporting false, misleading, erroneous, outdated, or unverifiable removed.

Never give up! You are 100% worth the effort it takes.

Did you apply for financing with an automobile dealership only to find later that they created a zillion inquiries by shot-gunning out your name and social security number to a long list of possible lenders?

Did they fail to inform you that they would be pulling your credit report multiple times? And fail to get your permission to do that?

If so, here’s how to handle it:

1) If they are older than 10 to 12 months, ignore them. Inquiries only impact your score for the first 12 months, even though they stay on your report for 24 months.

2) If new and you want them removed, look online or in your auto paperwork to get the name of the Sales Manager. Then write to that person and say this:

On (date) I purchased a (kind of vehicle) from your dealership. The car is great and I was happy with my experience, except for one thing, which I want you to rectify.  I did not give permission — nor was I informed — that the finance agent would shotgun my credit information out to multiple lenders, causing my credit report to have (how many) inquiries on my report. I did not authorize this! I was not asked permission! I was led to believe my credit report would be ordered only one time. Therefore, I need you to have your team delete the following erroneous inquiries from my credit report immediately:

1) name of loan company on your report
2) Next one
3) Continue with list

I will be looking for a quick and amicable reply, so I can continue being a fan of (name of dealership).

Sincerely,

your signature and contact

That should do it! Follow up with a phone call, if needed.

In case you aren’t aware, my new book with a ton of new valuable information and 27 new letters I wrote this year is available on Amazon. If you’re still on your credit restoration journey, you need this resource. See it here.

Sharing some good news to encourage you today…

From 500 Score to 720!
A book reader emailed: “My credit score was 500 and I never thought I’d be able to own a home. Now, four books later (the Repair Your Credit Like the Pros series), my score is 720 and I just purchased a brand new house.”

That news really made my day, so I wanted to share it with you, because if she can do it, why not you?!

Late Payment Deleted, Credit Score Restored!
Another book reader had been preparing his and his wife’s credit to buy a home and had saved for a down payment. They were in the process of getting officially preapproved by their mortgage broker when BAM! his credit score dropped by 80 points. And it wasn’t even anything he’d done wrong.

One of his credit card companies was linked to a club membership for the annual dues. He completely forgot about it and never received any notice. The dues didn’t get paid and his credit card reported a 30-day late payment which plummeted his credit score by 80 points. Devastating!

He called the credit card company and explained everything and asked them to remove the late payment. They said, “Sorry, there’s nothing we can do.”

That’s when he reached out to me vis https://askcarolynwarren.com/ask-a-question/ and asked if he could hire me to write a custom letter. I said yes.

Less than a week later, the president of the credit card company telephoned him personally and said the late payment was being removed and that his credit score would be restored to the high 700s as it had been before.

That’s what I call success!!!

Professor Chooses My Book as Required Reading

The Metropolitan College New York is requiring students in their summer class, “The Principles of Finance,” to read my book, Repair Your Credit Like the Pros. A reader wrote to tell me and say she’s learned so much from the book.

I am grateful for this compliment and endorsement! I never expected that to happen when I wrote the book for people who need help repairing and restoring their credit. God is good!

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. James 1:17