faq's
1.
Can't I repair my credit myself?
2. How does our credit score
affect our daily life?
3. What is credit
repair / optimization and how does it work?
4.
What factors contribute to my credit score?
5. How long will it take to raise my score and
how do I keep my score optimized?
6. How
much money can I save by raising my credit score?
7. Does
OptimFic offer a guarantee?
8. Is there a good resource that I can use to learn more about
credit scoring?
9.
What do you do that I cannot do to repair my credit myself?
10.
What does the program cost
11.
Is credit repair legal, and is there anything I should watch
out for?
12.
How likely is it that my credit report has errors?
1.) can't i
repair my credit myself?
Yes, you can attempt to repair your credit yourself and any respectable
credit repair organization should inform you of this. In
fact, Title 4, section 2451 of the FTC's
Consumer
Credit Protection Act requires specific
disclosure of this as does the state of Missouri.
However, many people find that hiring a professional,
experienced company a better option for the same reasons
they hire a CPA to prepare their taxes, a plumber to fix a
leaky sink, or a mechanic to fix their car.
If you would like to attempt this process on your own, a
good website to visit is
MyFico.com which can assist you in preparing
letters to dispute inaccurate information yourself.
An excellent article can be found
here
that details some fast fix items you can attempt yourself.
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2.) how does a credit score affect my daily life?
Credit scores affect our lives on several levels. The lower
your credit score, the more you pay for mortgages, loans,
credit cards, and insurance. Conversely, the better your
credit score, the more favorable terms you will get on
interest rates and premiums. Credit scores can affect your
ability to obtain employment, rent an apartment and may
affect your ability to obtain utility services such as gas,
electric, and phone. Much of the information retained in the
credit reporting agency is obsolete, erroneous, inaccurate
or otherwise removable because is it unverifiable. With the
right strategy is possible to legally remove many negative
items from a credit report, even accurate items, if the
creditor does not adhere to the law that outlines what needs
to be done on a timely basis.
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3.) what is credit repair or score optimization and how does it work?
Contrary to what the credit bureaus would like you to
believe, credit repair does work for people in most
circumstances. This is, of course, provided you are getting
the best advice and have an experienced professional working
on your case. Anyone with a credit score below 740 can
benefit long-term from the advice and information provided
through credit optimization. OptimFic repairs and optimizes
your credit by providing assistance to individuals in
obtaining clarification and correction of obsolete,
erroneous, incomplete, inaccurate, outdated or unverifiable
information which may be contained in credit reports and
by creating a customized strategy for each client to optimize
their credit scores. Again, with the right strategy scores
can be substantially increased.
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4.) what factors contribute to my credit score?
A credit score is a number that reflects your credit
worthiness at a given point in time. The higher the score,
the lower the risk. The are 3 major credit bureaus that
compile and provide credit reports are Experian, TransUnion,
and Equifax. A FICO score ranges from a low of 300 points to
a high of 850 points. Five factors are weighted to determine
your score. They are payment history for 35%, extent of
indebtedness 30%, length of credit history 15%, type of
credit used 10%, and how much
new credit you have 10%. Some of the information that
affects these five factors include your history of
bankruptcy, foreclosures, debt ratio, collections, charge
offs, repossessions, medical bills, credit card debt,
inquiries, late payments, old addresses, judgments, tax
liens, payment history, and student loans.
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5.) how long will it take to raise my score and how do I keep my
score optimized?
While results can be seen in as little as 35 days, the
process will typically take 2-6 months for a person to see
an increase in their score. In an urgent situation there is
an option to use the rapid-rescore system for results in as
little as 5-10 days. A increased score is maintained by
obtaining education and adherence to prudent credit practice
such as maintaining timely payments, maintaining reasonable
account balances, and limiting the number of inquiries to
your credit score. OptimFic offers continuous customer
service and educational materials to our customers to help
you both raise your score and maintain the increased score.
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6.) how much money can I save by raising my credit score?
As an example, a person with an average credit score of 580
can secure a mortgage of $300,000 at an interest rate of
8.7%. This results in a payment of $2529 per month. A person
with a credit score of 700 can obtain the same mortgage at
an interest rate of 6.375% resulting in a payment of $2051
per month. This is a monthly savings of $477 and a total
savings of $171,998 over the 30 year life of the loan. In
addition to the home mortgage savings there will be savings
in credit card payments, car loans, other installment loans,
and insurance rates.
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7.) does OptimFic offer a guarantee?
Our money back guarantee is easy to understand and is one of
the best in the business. We will refund 100% of your money
if we do not remove more that 25% of all the negatives we
work on, from all three major credit bureaus, within six
months from the time you sign up. In order for the guarantee to apply, you must have at least four negative
items on your
credit report at the time you sign up, and may not have used
a credit repair agency nor have attempted to repair your
credit in the past 2 years. Unpaid collections and unpaid
charges-offs do not qualify for the warranty and are not
included.
Clients are required to send in updated credit reports from
all three credit reports within five days of receiving them.
Updated reports should be received by the client every 15 to
45 days. In short, there are huge savings in optimizing and
maintaining a good credit score. OptimFic will help
you do this.
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8.) is there a good resource that I can use to learn more about
credit scoring?
The myFico publication
Understanding Your Credit Score is a great resource for those who want
to educate themselves with accurate information.
Additionally, myFico.com offers a web based
forum
that contains great information and gives you the ability to
ask questions yourself. Another great web resource is
Credit.com.
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9.) what do you do that I cannot do to repair my credit myself?
Nothing. We act as your representative based upon our
knowledge of credit scoring and our experience working with
your creditors and the credit bureaus.
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10.) what does the program cost?
The real question to ask yourself is what is the cost of not
using OptimFic? If the outcome of our service is a savings
of simply a half percent interest on a new mortgage
your savings are in the tens of thousands of dollars. You
will also find savings from lower interest rates on credit
cards and improved rates on home and/or auto insurance
premiums among others.
The actual fee for our services varies based upon the amount of work
required. Examples include but are not limited to the number
of accounts, negotiations for the removal of negative
information, inquiries, etc.
Because of the volume of business OptimFic receives from
third-party sources, substantial discounts have been
pre-negotiated for clients referred to us by outside
companies.
DISCOUNT PRICES ARE NOT DISCLOSED ON OUR
STANDARD FEE SCHEDULE.
Many of the third-party companies or sources (i.e. mortgage,
real estate, etc.) that refer business to OptimFic have
agreed to reimburse the client for some or all of the cost
of their OptimFic credit consultation if the client utilizes
them as a service provider once the credit consultation
period is complete. Please consult with your Account
Executive for details.
If you were not referred to OptimFic by a third-party source
please inquire with your Account Executive about potential
reimbursement of our service fees from one of our referral
partners.
You should always obtain, in writing, from any third-party
source any and all terms of potential reimbursement.
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11.) Is credit
repair legal, and is there anything I should watch out for?
Yes credit repair is legal, but unfortunately many
companies don't operate under the law. You should watch out for any company
that requests an up-front credit repair fee just to speak with you, one that implies
endorsement by the FTC (Federal Trade Commission), any
company that advocates you get a new identity, or
services that do not disclose your rights.
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12.) How likely is it that my
credit report has errors?
Extremely likely. In fact,
a 2004
GAO study
concluded, ‘‘millions of consumers are at risk of being
penalized by inaccurate credit report information and
inaccurate credit scores.’’ The
GAO report also discusses research on errors and omissions
that occur within the credit files of a single agency. The
report highlights different perspectives on the data quality
issue. For example, one investigation by a consumer
organization estimated that up to 79 percent of credit
reports may contain some type of error and that about 25
percent of all consumer credit reports may contain errors
that can result in the denial of access to credit.
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