.
I've got my list of my New Year's resolutions written down. On New Year's Eve and Day I customarily reflect on what's past and what I desire in the future. In my personal life, I vowed to visit the gym more, say "No" to dessert, reduce my caffeine intake, get to bed on time, and finally clean out the basement. In my business life I vowed to be better organized, develop a system to track leads and call backs, do more research about credit repair and related industries, and MAKE MORE MONEY!
As I shopped for Christmas gifts I heard from retail employees that business was slow because spending was down. Many of my friends expressed to me that they had less under the Christmas tree this year. More and more people I spoke to had made decisions to conserve resources based on uncertainty and fear. It's no secret that our economy has people uncomfortable, including me. I eagerly wait for our new President to lead us to greener pastures. I wait for the market or the economy to change and to see evidence of better days. But I know the truth is that real empowerment means changing my own personal situations and not relying on outside circumstances to solve issues or carry me magically forward to my goals. I am the driver of my own destiny and happen to be in a position to also help others achieve their dreams.
At Credit Justice Services, we have a simple and easy business opportunity to assist people to create more financial security in today's economy. People can start their own national credit repair company from home, on their own time, and make a few thousand dollars a month. What better way to earn extra income than from a service that helps others achieve the credit scores they deserve by protecting their credit rights? We'll even help you start your own CJS business by providing personal training, an interactive web site, support staff, marketing material, and training manuals and webinars.
Contact us for more information today at info@creditjusticeservices.com or 904-757-0880/866-380-0067.
Meg Murphy
Account Executive,
VP of Training and Development
Credit Justice Services
484.375.5484 (O)
484.331.6311 (F)
www.creditjusticeservices.com/?ccc=145
• (1956) Engineer Bill Fair and mathematician Earl Isaac found Fair Isaac — with an initial investment of $400 each — on the principle that data, used intelligently, can improve business decisions.
• (1958) Fair Isaac sends letter to the 50 biggest American credit grantors, asking for the opportunity to explain a new concept: credit scoring. Only one replies.
• (1963) Builds first credit scoring system for Montgomery Ward, beginning long-term
association with the company.
• (1970) Delivers the first scoring system for a bank credit card to Connecticut Bank and Trust.
• (1989) First general-purpose FICO score debuts--BEACON at Equifax.
• (1991) FICO credit bureau risk scores made available at all three major US credit reporting agencies — BEACONsm at Equifax, EMPIRICA® at Trans Union, and the Experian/Fair Isaac model at Experian.
• (2001) Partners with Equifax to launch Score Power™, the only online credit score delivery service giving consumers full access to FICO® credit scores (www.myfico.com).
• (2003) myFICO® service becomes first service offering consumers FICO® scores from all three major US credit reporting agencies, as well as three-bureau credit report.
• (2007) 100 billionth FICO® score sold, marking milestone for world's leading credit bureau score and the standard measure of U.S. consumer credit risk.
• (2009) FICO is in over 80 countries world-wide and expanded into new markets of Russia and India.
http://www.fairisaac.com/fic/en/company/history.htm
This past week I spoke to a man who was in tears. He told me about a life situation that lead him to living off credit cards for a period of time and the crushing credit card debt he lives with every day. He had received a letter in the mail from his major credit card company informing him that they had raised his interest rate 3 times, because they had been monitoring his credit score and it had slipped below what they deemed reasonable. He was panicked, devastated and embarrassed. He called the credit card company who agreed to lower the rate to the original rate, but informed him that if he charged just ONE more item anytime in the future, they would put the rate back up to the 3 times level = 18%. He began to panic again, knowing him gym membership payment of $20 was due to be charged to that account any day. He frantically tried to contact the billing department of his gym to avoid the billing.
Unfair credit card practices are creating chaos in people’s lives. A bill to stop these practices has stalled on the floor of the House. Until something changes, and laws are put in place to protect American consumers, below is a list of credit card company tacks to be aware of:
(From American’s for Fairness in Lending, Credit Card Action Center, posted July 11, 2008) Credit card contracts are packed with fine print tricks and traps to increase the likelihood of paying fees and penalties. You will be hard pressed to find a credit card without these terms – at least until our government outlaws them – but if you’re informed and cautious, you have a better chance of steering clear of the traps and saving money.
Fees and More Fees – On any given month, you might pay a late payment fee, overlimit fee, cash advance fee, balance transfer fee, foreign exchange fee, bill payment fee, Western Union fee, and whatever else your lender can devise. Not to mention monthly and annual fees.
Tricks to Make You Pay Late – These come in many varieties. If you’re late you’ll pay a hefty fee and your interest rate may go up. Check each statement carefully and pay your bill as soon as it arrives.
Changing Due Dates – Your bill will not be due on the same day every month.
Early Due Dates – Bills may be due just a few days after you receive them.
Weekend Due Dates – If your due date is on the weekend and your payment arrives on the date, it won’t be processed until Monday and you’ll be considered late.
Morning Due Times –Your payment may be due at 9am on the due date, not 5pm.
Approved Overlimit Charges – If a purchase puts you over your limit, your credit card company will approve the charge then hit you with an overlimit fee and maybe even raise your interest rate. Keep careful track of your balance and know that even approved charges may put you overlimit.
Universal Default – Pay Card A on time but pay late to Card B (or anything else monitored by your credit score) and your interest rate on Card A may jump!
“Any Time For Any Reason” Changes – Most contracts include this ominous phrase. It means just what it says – they can increase your interest rate on a whim.
Teaser Rates That Don’t Stick – An introductory 0% interest rate can jump to 30% with a late payment or if you go overlimit. Don’t bank on keeping that 0% rate for the entire promotional period.
Retroactive Application of Higher Interest Rates – To make things worse, if your interest rate increases, they can apply the higher interest rate to the entire existing balance, not just to new charges.
Allocation of Payments – If you end up with two or more different interest rates, they will apply your payments to the balance with the lower interest rate first. The rest of your balance will continue to generate high interest charges until the low-rate balance is entirely paid off.
Tricky Interest Calculations – For some cards, you can pay interest on purchases from previous cycles. This is known as double cycle billing. Look for a card that uses the “Average Daily Balance” interest calculation method.
Credit “Protection” – Services like this may sound good, but they’re usually useless. The fee for the service likely exceeds the minimum payments it would cover if you became sick or lost your job. Avoid add-on products like this.
Binding Mandatory Arbitration (BMA) – This provision requires that you resolve any conflict with an arbitrator selected by the lender, which means you give up your right to take the credit card company to court.
http://www.affil.org/get_active/credit-card-action-center
Needless to say, he is an active duty officer deployed to Iraq , whose identity was stolen and realized it when he returned in 2003 and saw it in his credit report, bills etc. About twenty accounts were opened fraudulently, all going delinquent, written off etc. The person literally became him and utilized his SSN so he didn't pay taxes (so delinquent tax issues as well), got arrested a few times (convictions under his name, preventing him from getting a job) and also taking a picture for his driver's license. If your officer is still active he has the ability to getting FREE help from the military service he is with. They are called Credit Information officers. This is a common thing amongst our service people and is a shame. The collections laws are also different for service people than us non service people.
I know, typical identity theft with a bit more added! Needless to say, the client had filed and reported the incidents with our local police as even tried with his creditors. For the most part, getting anything removed or deleted, according to him was too complicated so he is calling us to see if we can help. This is tough but very do-able. Filing a police report is the best thing he could have done. He also needs to fill out a form with all 3 credit bureaus telling them to stop selling his report for 90 days. He can tag it as “Identity Theft”.
So here are the questions. Can we help him? I would have him go to the Credit Officer first. They have more power than CJS and it is FREE. I'm sure that is yes but does it help more since he has police reports filed?YES, the first thing one should do for Identity theft is file a police report. The second thing to do is send it to all 3 bureaus attached to the identity theft form which will stop them from selling your inaccurate information. Remember that the consumer can sign up for another (3) 90 day terms which makes it 1 year that the credit bureaus can NOT sell your information. The bureaus hate this law. Do we need copies? Tell your client to keep all correspondence with every creditor, collection agency and military. . I haven't seen the credit report yet as I wanted to run this by you first. Also, some things are still appearing on his report as of last year and he is saying that is all fraud as well. Should he just try and dispute the more recent ones on his own?? I just want to put this statement out there. Make sure your client is VERY clear on what fraud is and what is his. If he adds any legitimate stuff into the identity report he will be held to Federal prosecution. We had this happen to a client that wasn’t forthright with us and now they are in BIGGER trouble than before.
If you can, please let me know ASAP so I can call him and let him know what to do! I would love to take him on as a client and show him what we can do!! Thanks so much for your help!
Please let your client know that I appreciate his service to our Country!!! Let me know if there is anything I may do to assist him further.
view all blog entries...
Jan 2009
I Resolve to Make More Money in 2009!
The hustle and bustle of the holiday season is over and it's back to business. As the reality of the coming year sets in, and warm memories of connecting with friends and family begin to fade, I'm faced with the first Monday of the New Year. I'm focused on my tighter pants and a slimmer wallet.
by valeria on Wed Jan 07, 2009 8:10 pm
I've got my list of my New Year's resolutions written down. On New Year's Eve and Day I customarily reflect on what's past and what I desire in the future. In my personal life, I vowed to visit the gym more, say "No" to dessert, reduce my caffeine intake, get to bed on time, and finally clean out the basement. In my business life I vowed to be better organized, develop a system to track leads and call backs, do more research about credit repair and related industries, and MAKE MORE MONEY!
As I shopped for Christmas gifts I heard from retail employees that business was slow because spending was down. Many of my friends expressed to me that they had less under the Christmas tree this year. More and more people I spoke to had made decisions to conserve resources based on uncertainty and fear. It's no secret that our economy has people uncomfortable, including me. I eagerly wait for our new President to lead us to greener pastures. I wait for the market or the economy to change and to see evidence of better days. But I know the truth is that real empowerment means changing my own personal situations and not relying on outside circumstances to solve issues or carry me magically forward to my goals. I am the driver of my own destiny and happen to be in a position to also help others achieve their dreams.
At Credit Justice Services, we have a simple and easy business opportunity to assist people to create more financial security in today's economy. People can start their own national credit repair company from home, on their own time, and make a few thousand dollars a month. What better way to earn extra income than from a service that helps others achieve the credit scores they deserve by protecting their credit rights? We'll even help you start your own CJS business by providing personal training, an interactive web site, support staff, marketing material, and training manuals and webinars.
Contact us for more information today at info@creditjusticeservices.com or 904-757-0880/866-380-0067.
Meg Murphy
Account Executive,
VP of Training and Development
Credit Justice Services
484.375.5484 (O)
484.331.6311 (F)
www.creditjusticeservices.com/?ccc=145
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Fun Facts About FICO
As a Certified Credit Consultant with Credit Justice Services, I personally service and help consumers protect their credit rights so they can move forward in a positive direction in their financial lives. Using our 75 Day Credit Makeover TM, our mission at Credit Justice Services is to help people increase their credit scores by disputing the accuracy of the information being reported on their credit reports with the three major credit bureaus. A 2006 MASSPIRG study found that 79% of credit reports contain inaccurate information – that’s 8 out of 10 times. If I were in the business of being a surgeon, I’d be in a lot of trouble. An average client can see an increase of 50-100 points in their credit score in 75 days or less with our expert help. At Credit Justice Services, we talk to clients a lot about FICO scores, so I thought it would be fun to look up some facts about the Fair Isaac Corporation.
by valeria on Thu Jan 15, 2009 7:11 pm
• (1956) Engineer Bill Fair and mathematician Earl Isaac found Fair Isaac — with an initial investment of $400 each — on the principle that data, used intelligently, can improve business decisions.
• (1958) Fair Isaac sends letter to the 50 biggest American credit grantors, asking for the opportunity to explain a new concept: credit scoring. Only one replies.
• (1963) Builds first credit scoring system for Montgomery Ward, beginning long-term
association with the company.
• (1970) Delivers the first scoring system for a bank credit card to Connecticut Bank and Trust.
• (1989) First general-purpose FICO score debuts--BEACON at Equifax.
• (1991) FICO credit bureau risk scores made available at all three major US credit reporting agencies — BEACONsm at Equifax, EMPIRICA® at Trans Union, and the Experian/Fair Isaac model at Experian.
• (2001) Partners with Equifax to launch Score Power™, the only online credit score delivery service giving consumers full access to FICO® credit scores (www.myfico.com).
• (2003) myFICO® service becomes first service offering consumers FICO® scores from all three major US credit reporting agencies, as well as three-bureau credit report.
• (2007) 100 billionth FICO® score sold, marking milestone for world's leading credit bureau score and the standard measure of U.S. consumer credit risk.
• (2009) FICO is in over 80 countries world-wide and expanded into new markets of Russia and India.
http://www.fairisaac.com/fic/en/company/history.htm
Unfair Credit Card Practices Create Chaos for Consumers
As a CCC with Credit Justice Services, I relish the results people report to me after they have used our 75 Day Credit Makeover to repair their credit. There’s nothing like the phone call that makes your heart sing – a positive report from a satisfied client who has increased their credit score and is moving forward with their plans for their financial life.
by valeria on Wed Jan 21, 2009 8:10 pm
This past week I spoke to a man who was in tears. He told me about a life situation that lead him to living off credit cards for a period of time and the crushing credit card debt he lives with every day. He had received a letter in the mail from his major credit card company informing him that they had raised his interest rate 3 times, because they had been monitoring his credit score and it had slipped below what they deemed reasonable. He was panicked, devastated and embarrassed. He called the credit card company who agreed to lower the rate to the original rate, but informed him that if he charged just ONE more item anytime in the future, they would put the rate back up to the 3 times level = 18%. He began to panic again, knowing him gym membership payment of $20 was due to be charged to that account any day. He frantically tried to contact the billing department of his gym to avoid the billing.
Unfair credit card practices are creating chaos in people’s lives. A bill to stop these practices has stalled on the floor of the House. Until something changes, and laws are put in place to protect American consumers, below is a list of credit card company tacks to be aware of:
(From American’s for Fairness in Lending, Credit Card Action Center, posted July 11, 2008) Credit card contracts are packed with fine print tricks and traps to increase the likelihood of paying fees and penalties. You will be hard pressed to find a credit card without these terms – at least until our government outlaws them – but if you’re informed and cautious, you have a better chance of steering clear of the traps and saving money.
Fees and More Fees – On any given month, you might pay a late payment fee, overlimit fee, cash advance fee, balance transfer fee, foreign exchange fee, bill payment fee, Western Union fee, and whatever else your lender can devise. Not to mention monthly and annual fees.
Tricks to Make You Pay Late – These come in many varieties. If you’re late you’ll pay a hefty fee and your interest rate may go up. Check each statement carefully and pay your bill as soon as it arrives.
Changing Due Dates – Your bill will not be due on the same day every month.
Early Due Dates – Bills may be due just a few days after you receive them.
Weekend Due Dates – If your due date is on the weekend and your payment arrives on the date, it won’t be processed until Monday and you’ll be considered late.
Morning Due Times –Your payment may be due at 9am on the due date, not 5pm.
Approved Overlimit Charges – If a purchase puts you over your limit, your credit card company will approve the charge then hit you with an overlimit fee and maybe even raise your interest rate. Keep careful track of your balance and know that even approved charges may put you overlimit.
Universal Default – Pay Card A on time but pay late to Card B (or anything else monitored by your credit score) and your interest rate on Card A may jump!
“Any Time For Any Reason” Changes – Most contracts include this ominous phrase. It means just what it says – they can increase your interest rate on a whim.
Teaser Rates That Don’t Stick – An introductory 0% interest rate can jump to 30% with a late payment or if you go overlimit. Don’t bank on keeping that 0% rate for the entire promotional period.
Retroactive Application of Higher Interest Rates – To make things worse, if your interest rate increases, they can apply the higher interest rate to the entire existing balance, not just to new charges.
Allocation of Payments – If you end up with two or more different interest rates, they will apply your payments to the balance with the lower interest rate first. The rest of your balance will continue to generate high interest charges until the low-rate balance is entirely paid off.
Tricky Interest Calculations – For some cards, you can pay interest on purchases from previous cycles. This is known as double cycle billing. Look for a card that uses the “Average Daily Balance” interest calculation method.
Credit “Protection” – Services like this may sound good, but they’re usually useless. The fee for the service likely exceeds the minimum payments it would cover if you became sick or lost your job. Avoid add-on products like this.
Binding Mandatory Arbitration (BMA) – This provision requires that you resolve any conflict with an arbitrator selected by the lender, which means you give up your right to take the credit card company to court.
http://www.affil.org/get_active/credit-card-action-center
Solider with ID Theft - a Question from Liz Marcardo
I have a potential client with a big mess on his hands so I was hoping we could help him out. I wanted to run it by you first since he has been given the run around by the credit agencies and other so-called repair companies in the past.
by valeria on Fri Jan 30, 2009 3:34 am
Needless to say, he is an active duty officer deployed to Iraq , whose identity was stolen and realized it when he returned in 2003 and saw it in his credit report, bills etc. About twenty accounts were opened fraudulently, all going delinquent, written off etc. The person literally became him and utilized his SSN so he didn't pay taxes (so delinquent tax issues as well), got arrested a few times (convictions under his name, preventing him from getting a job) and also taking a picture for his driver's license. If your officer is still active he has the ability to getting FREE help from the military service he is with. They are called Credit Information officers. This is a common thing amongst our service people and is a shame. The collections laws are also different for service people than us non service people.
I know, typical identity theft with a bit more added! Needless to say, the client had filed and reported the incidents with our local police as even tried with his creditors. For the most part, getting anything removed or deleted, according to him was too complicated so he is calling us to see if we can help. This is tough but very do-able. Filing a police report is the best thing he could have done. He also needs to fill out a form with all 3 credit bureaus telling them to stop selling his report for 90 days. He can tag it as “Identity Theft”.
So here are the questions. Can we help him? I would have him go to the Credit Officer first. They have more power than CJS and it is FREE. I'm sure that is yes but does it help more since he has police reports filed?YES, the first thing one should do for Identity theft is file a police report. The second thing to do is send it to all 3 bureaus attached to the identity theft form which will stop them from selling your inaccurate information. Remember that the consumer can sign up for another (3) 90 day terms which makes it 1 year that the credit bureaus can NOT sell your information. The bureaus hate this law. Do we need copies? Tell your client to keep all correspondence with every creditor, collection agency and military. . I haven't seen the credit report yet as I wanted to run this by you first. Also, some things are still appearing on his report as of last year and he is saying that is all fraud as well. Should he just try and dispute the more recent ones on his own?? I just want to put this statement out there. Make sure your client is VERY clear on what fraud is and what is his. If he adds any legitimate stuff into the identity report he will be held to Federal prosecution. We had this happen to a client that wasn’t forthright with us and now they are in BIGGER trouble than before.
If you can, please let me know ASAP so I can call him and let him know what to do! I would love to take him on as a client and show him what we can do!! Thanks so much for your help!
Please let your client know that I appreciate his service to our Country!!! Let me know if there is anything I may do to assist him further.
