Ok on the surface it’s a pretty sweet deal. The “cash for clunkers” program is probably going to help our globally overheated, ozone depleted, melting little planet by getting those evil gas-guzzling beasts off the road. (Sense just a tad bit of cynicism?)

It might give the auto industry a little boost, and will probably help the used auto parts industry. That’s all cool. That means more jobs, maybe a little more spending etc.

The program may have some benefits.

But there’s a downside and we’re already seeing it with some of our clients. Yes you know who you are – and you knew this lecture was coming

In general when we really want something, we tend to put blinders on. We see what we want to see, and we always figure out a reason why it makes sense to buy it.

Yep, Cash for Clunkers is the perfect excuse for some of you.

What better time than now to finally get a new car right?

Uncle Sam is one hell of a guy and he’s going to make the down payment for us. Ok that’s super cool – Sam you’re the man! But he’s not making your monthly payment.

Do I need to remind everybody what happened with the housing market? If we had a pulse and could drool on a contract, lenders had the perfect adjustable rate mortgage for us.

We had no clue how we were going to make the payments, but who cares – we’re getting a new crib.

We are seeing a lot of our very own credit repair and debt settlement clients trade in cars that were working just fine, for new cars when you know you can’t afford the payments.

I get it, I promise I do. If I needed a new car, I’d probably be taking advantage of this program too.

But I can assure you, I’d be looking past the 4500.00 Uncle Sam is forking out, and I’d be focusing on the payments I’m obligated to for the next 5 years.

If you are absolutely sure you can afford a couple hundred more each month for the next 5 years, maybe it’s a great time.

If you’re sure you’re job is not the next to start letting employees go- than maybe it’s a great time.

If you’re credit cards are paid off – than maybe it’s a great time.

Am I starting to sound like Jeff Foxworthy?

But if you find yourself figuring out a way to buy a new car, than it’s probably not the right time. Do the right thing. There will be a better time later on – I promise.

Related posts:

1. Solutions for Debt Relief: Ask Yedda

So let's beat this horse one more time. After I wrote yesterday’s post about relying on disputes alone for credit repair – I thought I’d leave that topic alone for awhile.

Stupid me! I sparked a bunch of questions which well, is a good thing. One of the questions, actually a comment came from our debt settlement department who are all ex-debt collectors. Yes they read our blog religiously.

Anyway Stacey, our settlement supervisor reminded me that her old employer would almost always sue as soon as they were sent a dispute letter. That is something I should have mentioned yesterday, so I will now.

Let’s go over the phrase again.

“Send us your credit reports, tell us what to dispute, kick back and let us do the rest”.

In my humble opinion (and a decade of watching it happen) is the stupidest thing I’ve heard. It is a recipe for disaster. It's probably not going to repair your credit, and could even make it worse. So, Let’s try the analogy version today and see if it makes more sense this way.

Let’s pretend you’re being charged with a crime. Your attorney is preparing your defense, so he can keep you out of jail. You tell me which attorney you’d feel more comfortable with.

Scenario No. 1

Chop Shop Attorney: Mr. Client. Log into my super duper client gateway and tell me how you want to plead this case. Guilty or not guilty.

You: Not guilty!

Chop Shop A: Ok. Sit back let me do the rest. (and keep your fingers crossed)

You: But wait I have proof. I was at the movies with my wife, and have my ticket stubs.

Chop Shop Attorney: I don’t get into all that. Besides, my super duper client gateway doesn’t have an area for important facts. I’m just going to say not guilty.

You: Well what if they find me guilty, can you at least plea bargain, negotiate or something?

Chop Shop Attorney: Nope. We're going to just wing the not guilty thing out there and see if it sticks.

You: Honey go to the garage, find me a piece of rope and that bar of soap

——————————————————————————————————-

Scenario No. 2

Smart Attorney: Tell me where you were that night.

You: At the movies with my wife.

Smart Attorney: Can she testify to that?

You: Of course

Smart Attorney: Do you have ticket stubs?

You: Sure do.

Smart Attorney: Did you stop anywhere on the way?

You: Yes, We dropped the kids off at the babysitters, then got gas and we stopped for dinner.

Smart Attorney: Do you have any receipts?

You: Yes, here’s my bank statement which shows the dinner and the gas.

Smart Attorney: Can your babysitter testify?

You: Sure, her parents too. They were there when we dropped our kids off.

LOL aren’t scenarios fun sometimes? Too bad it's pretty close to reality.

And even though the consequences may not be as serious, a chop shop attorney could just as easily get you sued, your paychecks garnished, bank levied, liens on your house and the list goes on.

You can’t just send dispute letters Like I said yesterday, you have to consider statutes, dollar amounts, the actual collector you’re disputing with and dozens of other factors.

Just like Chop Shop Attorney, simply stating “Not guilty”, disputing without some research and planning is pretty stupid, yet consumers fall for it everyday.

I don’t know, maybe he sounds like a good one to you – that’s your call I guess.

But honestly, which one would you want defending you?
What if they were the same price, then which one would you choose?

Folks, anybody can improve their credit. ANYBODY! You just have to be smart about it.

Let me put it to you one final way. It would save us a fortune in payroll if we didn’t do our one-on-one coaching. God life would be easy. We do it because without it, we would suck just as bad as the chop shop attorney mentioned above if we didn’t.

All characters in this scenario were fictitional. No actual attorneys were hurt, or abused in the making of this blog post.

No related posts.

Sorry it’s been a few days since our last post – it’s been pretty busy at camp MCG lately.

We received an email Monday that we really need to discuss again. I say again, because we’ve talked about it over and over. That being said, we really have noticed a change over the last year in your perception of credit repair. It’s a good change – you’re becoming much smarter about your credit, and you’re asking more educated questions.

Anyway, on to our email.

Louis writes:

"Hi I hope you can help me. I have pretty bad credit and after doing a lot of research I’ve decided to probably use mycreditgroup.com

I have a question before I get started though. Can I repair my credit just by disputing the bad stuff? I know you include debt negotiation and stuff, but I don’t want to pay 1 of the debts.

It was for verizon. After signing a 2 year contract, I moved to an area where they didn’t have service. They wouldn’t let me out of the contract, but I didn’t feel I need to pay, so I didn’t.

Now its on my credit, but I refuse to pay them.

So if we remove all the other stuff and leave this one alone, can I still repair my credit?

Thank you"

Answer: These types of questions are very difficult to answer and remind me of this post. But there are so many unique factors to consider when talking about repairing somebody’s credit, so all I can do is paint some broad strokes for you.

Improving a credit profile takes a well rounded approach and it’s much more than just sending dispute letters. In fact, if I had to name the most overrated and least effective means of repairing credit – it would be those dispute letters.

Further, disputing something without careful consideration of state statutes, balances, and whether or not you own property could land you in court. It really makes my blood boil every time I see a credit repair website that says something like:

“Send us your credit reports, tell us what to dispute, sit back and let us do the rest”.

Anyway, to get a little more specific about Louise’s question. If you’re trying to repair your credit by pounding out dispute letters and nothing more, you’re probably going to be disappointed.

Assuming you did manage to remove something, you’re only going to get so far because that verizon bill is a big black eye on your credit report.

And what about good credit, do you have any? Again, negative items is one little piece of a big puzzle.

In closing, consumers are getting much smarter about their credit. But if there’s one piece of advice I hope everybody listens to, it’s that you have to focus on the whole credit picture. There is no single aspect that’s going to turn your credit profile around.

• Look at erroneous debts and have them removed
• Make some sort of payment arrangements on accurate debts
• Make sure you have a responsible mix of good credit
• Keep your balance to limit ratio in check
• Keep your inquiries to a minimum

Related posts:

1. Credit Repair: It’s More than Removing Negative Items
2. Ask MyCreditGroup: Should I Ignore Outdated Collections On My Credit Report?
3. Fix Credit Errors: What Does It Mean?

Everyone’s tightening their belts. They know that the only way to get out of their credit hole is by paying off their debt, which means cutting corners, not going out to dinner and shows as often, buying fewer clothes, and getting the generic brand.

Sorry, what was that last one?

Apparently the generics aren’t happening so much. In fact, we’re buying more luxury foods and other home goods than ever before. There was a good article in the Atlantic Monthly recently called Home Economics, where researchers found that while people are spending less on pamper-me stuff outside the home, they were spending tons more on luxury materials INSIDE the home.

So instead of going out to a restaurant for a nice steak and a glass of wine, those same consumers go to the grocery store and lay down a fair chunk of change for some filet mignon and a nice cabernet to take home and make themselves. When you think about it, it’s a marked improvement. You can have your delicious food without that condescending waiter or that guy at the next table talking too loudly to his disinterested girlfriend about his many business conquests. Not bad at all.

Now, the idea is that all of these consumers are still saving themselves money. If you usually spend $100 on a nice meal and wine for two at your favorite restaurant, and the same meal components cost you only $60 to buy at the store, you’ve saved yourself $40 that you can then use to pay off your credit card debt. Rinse and repeat and you’ve got a nice little debt reduction strategy that you can gloat about over those homemade gourmet meals, right?

Not necessarily. The problem is that many people don’t actually budget precise amounts. They see a luxury item that they want (steak) and think, “Well, we stopped eating out, so we can afford to do this.” And that’s true. Unless they start indulging at home even more frequently than they once did out at a restaurant. In which case they may wind up spending more than they used to when they were gadding about painting the town red.

Our food example is simplest, so let’s stick with it. If you usually eat out once a week, and instead you substitute the homemade gourmet meal, you’ve saved yourself $40 by our count, right? Except since you’re not going out to eat, you think that you’ll indulge a little more often, because why should you have to live like a peon just because the budget is tighter these days? So now you do your luxury meal thing twice a week.

Every at home luxury meal costs you $60, remember. Every night out used to cost you $100. If you bump up your luxury meal to twice a week, you’re actually spending $20 MORE every week than you used to. You might as well go back to going out every week – it’d be cheaper.

So what’s my point?

Deciding to indulge at home is no big deal – in fact, it’s a great idea, since it can still give you that nice luxurious feeling while still allowing you to set aside extra money every month to put toward improving your credit. That said, you should sit down and crunch the numbers. Make sure what started as a money-saving idea doesn’t turn into just as much of a cash sink as the indulgence you just got rid of.

Related posts:

1. Ask MyCreditGroup: Divorce and Debt. Who Pays?
2. 5 Things: To Do With Your Snookums on a Budget

By the time most of us figure out that our credit score takes a huge hit when we don’t have any available credit, we’ve already maxed out those two cards we got way back in college. To get available credit, we have to either pay off the debt, which can take a long time, or open up a new line of credit so that we have unused credit available.

The bad part is that with the lousy credit score you now have, no one’s willing to extend a new credit line to you. They think you’ll just max out that one too. They don’t realize that you’ve learned your lesson, and you’re trying to take steps to make it better.

It’s like being in a very deep hole with nothing in it but you. You’re certain that if someone could just give you a boost, you could get a hold of the edge of the hole and get yourself out of there. But since no one is willing give you a boost, you’re stuck down there. Forever.

We think that sucks. So we’re giving you guys a boost.

MyCreditGroup figured out a way to extend a $10,000 credit line to anyone, and that can possibly make a huge difference in your credit score.

We can’t  tell you how many points you could get added to your current score with this credit line - it's the ultimate credit repair tool. So this can go one of two ways: either you give us a call and ask us, given your credit history, what this will likely do to your credit score. Or you do a little research on your own and figure out just how much a $10,000 of credit line will do for you.

It should do a lot. This isn’t just a boost. This is like giving you a ladder out of the hole.

It’s not a borrowed trade line. It’s not a piggyback. It’s a new trade line. Plain and simple.

We just figure you need a boost. And we have a lot of faith that with this hand up, you’re going to get out of that hole no problem. We could do this with little tiny boosts too, and that also works. I just know that it’s a lot more gratifying if you start off with a huge improvement when you’re so far in the hole you can’t see daylight.

But you know what? If you want more help, we’re happy to give it to you. That’s what we do all day long at MyCreditGroup.

We’ve been trying to figure out how to do this for some time. I’m incredibly excited that we’ve managed to make it happen. And I really, really want you to take advantage of it. Come on over and get your credit line today.

No related posts.

One of the reasons thousands of people don’t get the help they need to repair their bad credit is that they don’t think they can afford it. It’s the ultimate Catch-22: without money, you can’t repair your credit. But with bad credit, you’re sinking deeper and deeper into debt.

Someone’s got to break the vicious cycle. We decided it should be us. So here’s what we’re going to do.

We’re going to give you one month of free credit repair services with us.

All you need is that little boost. When you start to repair your credit with us, we’ll help you do things like:

• Lower your interest rate
• Get rid of erroneous marks on your credit report
• Dispute and settle items you can’t manage on your own
• Open new lines of good credit to improve your score

Every single one of those things is going to save you money in interest, credit card fees, and late fees. You save money, which then goes to repair your credit. Your credit gets better, and you have more money to keep repairing it.

It’s another Catch-22. But this one’s working for you, not against you.

How do you get that month of free credit repair service? Simple.

Just refer a friend who needs our credit repair services too. They shouldn’t be hard to find – pretty much everyone’s having credit trouble these days. You’ll be able to help your friend and yourself out with one easy step.

It’s that easy. Refer a friend, get a month of free credit repair with us, and get on the road toward a credit report you’re proud of. Get started today. Call your credit coach and ask how they can help you, help your friends.

Related posts:

1. Your Credit Repair Questions Answered
2. More Budgeting Tools At MyCreditGroup

Everyone’s getting tons of fees tacked on to their credit cards, especially if they have bad credit. The fee-happy creditors aren’t just stopping at the consumer, though – they’re also hitting businesses.

“So what?” you’re thinking. “If they have to pay some fees, maybe the credit card companies will get off my back for a change.”

Though your logic is impeccable, there are quite a few reasons you should care when your neighbor’s house is on fire (so to speak). Here are just a couple:

You’ll Still Wind Up Paying the Fees

Have you noticed that some smaller mom-and-pop shops and gas stations charge a small fee (usually about 35 cents) for using a credit card instead of cash or debit? That’s not because they’re being ornery, they’re just trying to recoup their losses. A percentage of your purchase – no matter how small – goes directly to the credit card company for the privilege of having your credit accepted. For little mom-and-pop shops, those fees cut deeply into their profits, so they simply charge you up front and hope you’ll get the message that plastic isn’t their friend.

Even if you don’t see the fee at the register, it’s still there. Larger companies will raise prices if the credit card fees are cutting into their profits too deeply. Notice how your latte at Starbucks went up about 50 cents? That’s partially because more and more people are buying their morning joe with a credit card, and Starbucks doesn’t want to have to pay for it. If you want to keep prices on your smaller purchases low, the credit card fees are still something you should take an interest in.

Credit Card Fee Abuse is Credit Card Fee Abuse

One of the reasons so many people were seriously damaged during this last credit crisis was because of unfair fees. Credit card companies have had free rein to change their policies for whatever reason – “Hey, that woman’s wearing pink! Let’s raise our fees!” – for years, and while the new Credit CARD Act is working on minimizing those abuses, allowing credit card companies to get away with bad practices anywhere is a bad idea.

Bad business practices are never good for you. If credit card companies think they can get away with it for other businesses, the smart money says they’ll try it on you. After all, you don’t have a team of lawyers to go through your credit card policies and figure out whether a fee is reasonable or not. Companies do, and they’ll put up a fight. Given the choice between fighting a team of lawyers and fighting you, which do you think the creditors are going to pick?

Limits on Using Your Credit Card

Right now, having an American Express card with a decent limit and a long history shows up very well on your credit report. If you use it and pay off the balance in full regularly, you’ll be putting some good work toward building up a good credit history and improving your score.

Which makes it all the more frustrating when you can’t use it.

American Express is one of the creditors that charges other companies the highest fees for use, which is why you often see stores that accept Visa and Mastercard – but not AmEx. If you want to be able to use your card wherever you want without having to hassle with the store owner about whether that card should be accepted, take an interest in the credit card fees companies are charged.

If other kinds of fees are the least of your credit woes, give us a call. We’re good at credit repair, and we are extremely enjoyable to talk to. Everyone wins.

Related posts:

1. Your New Credit Card Rights, Part I
2. Your New Credit Card Rights, Part 2

See, the last 10 years for My Credit Group have been spent trying to help people get control of their credit. Most of the time, people think that means just clearing out all the bad credit and helping them build up new. And sure, that’s a part of it, of course it is. That’s what we do best. But there’s so much more to us than that. We don’t just want to be the ones who come rushing in to save you from the evil demons of bad credit. We want to help you become free of credit woes forever. We want to teach. We want to actually help.

And folks, Mint.com is the perfect addition.

See, Mint.com helps people keep track of their credit and debt through simple, easy-to-use tools that show you where your money goes each month, how much debt you currently have, and when your bills are due.

Instead of letting you mess up and then fixing it afterward, Mint.com helps you create a budget you can stick to and gently reminds you when you’ve gone over or you’re about to miss an important payment.

People make better credit choices when they can see where their finances are going. Remember last week, when I talked about how you can drastically improve your credit if you just find another $150 a month to put toward your credit bills? Well, Mint.com helps you find it.

You can see that you’re spending an extra $50 every week on a small expense that you weren’t really even aware of, like buying a sandwich and a soda at Whole Foods. And then you can brown-bag it and put that money toward your credit instead.

How awesome is that?

Even better, mint helps you improve your budgets everyday. Just the other day, I found out that I spent over $1,300 last year in ATM fees. I didn’t even think about it, because it’s only a few bucks at a time whenever I get money out of the 7-11 ATM.

We’re incorporating Mint.com into the services MyCreditGroup provides. Our strengths complement each other so well. Fixing credit and helping you budget to get out of your current credit hole. It’s just perfect, it really is.

Did we mention Mint.Com was free? Go give it a shot.

Related posts:

1. Free Credit Repair At MyCreditGroup

Sorry, but even those shmancy office chairs from Sharper Image can’t compete with our new credit repair support desk. We realize it doesn’t make for as much of a relaxing visual, but let’s face it – your credit took a much harder hit last year than your back did.  So, let’s put the support where it really counts.

So we made you a support desk, all for your credit. Well, and for you. Everything we do is for you.

So What Does the Support Desk Do?

It’s basically a really easy way to communicate with us and get your credit questions answered fast. We have a credit repair forum where you can search for the answers to your question and find out if there’s already a discussion going on about it. If not, you can submit a support ticket to get an answer promptly.

Does It Have Any Other Cool Tricks?

Yep. You can also see a complete case history of your current and past support activity, so you can see if there are recurring issues that crop up again and again. This can help you avoid those problems and it can help us identify whether you’re particularly susceptible to certain issues. That way we can head them off before they show up as red marks on your credit report.

What If I Want It To Do More Stuff?

Tell us all about it. Use the Support Desk to give us feedback on whether our answers are actually helpful or if they had you staring at the screen thinking, “Well, I knew that. What about THIS problem?” Tell us about the features you want to see. Tell us if you need your credit report available online vs. paper.

Are There Other People Out There Or Just You Credit Freaks?

There are real people on the support desk all the time (that’s why it was so solidly constructed). You can talk to any of them and find out what they did to fix their own issues. That means if they came up with a handy shortcut or have additional tips from their own experiences, you can get the benefit of that. In a bad credit environment, it’s nice to have a community of people out there who are in the same fix and willing to help each other out of the hole.

Sounds Pretty Cool. Where Do I Go?

Here. See if you can’t bring along one of those ergonomic chairs while you’re at it. The more I talk about it, the better it sounds. Ahhhh . . . lumbar support. Not quite as good as credit repair support, but close.

You may have seen some changes on the MyCreditGroup website. That’s because we’re building interactive tools to help you manage your credit better and have easier contact with your advisors. This is good change, not the big scary asteroid about to crash into the earth sort. The sliced bread sort of change. The pizza-is-available-by-delivery change. The now-it’s-easier-to-keep-track-of-your-credit-so-you-don’t-go-broke change.

Good change.

Summary Page

So here’s what you can expect from your new client login. You’ll see a home page that summarizes your credit as it currently stands, with all your disputes in a pie chart. You’ll be able to see which disputes have been resolved, deleted, or remain in transit.

You’ll also get a credit summary from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. If you didn’t realize there are several different credit agencies before, you’ll be aware of the differences now. Some items will be considered negative on one report but not on another, and there may be items that are disputed differently on each one. You’ll be able to keep track of what’s happening where with an easy side-by-side comparison. 

Live Communication 

You’ll also be able to get in touch with the people that are most important to your credit repair live, in real time. Your credit coordinator and client advisor are both on your summary page with a phone number and notes portal. You always have the same advisor that you deal with every time, so you don’t have to call up and ask for “that guy that you talked to last time, he said he had a cold, is there a guy there with a cold?” Instead, you can just open a live chat right there. If you work those "off hours", your credit coach will respond as soon as he/she returns to the office.

Up-To-The-Minute Status Of Your Account

If you want to get in-depth about it, you can go to your status page and see exactly which items are disputed, what has been deleted, what the account number is, and on which credit reports that item remains a problem. If you're having us settle some outstanding credit card debts for you – you can see the progress of those too. Wait there's more.

If you're fixing your credit to get a home loan or refinance, you can see the progress of that, or chat with one of our home loan advisors through the portal as well.

Attachments

If you have credit reports, bills, dispute letters, or anything else that we need to see, you don’t have to go track down the one fax machine left in you're city, drive to our offices, or lick 75 stamps to mail it all to us. Just upload it and viola, we get it and you know we got it – because it's right there.

Education

If you have a little spare time on your hands and don’t feel like checking your facebook page for the millionth time today, come over to Credit Education and get the answers to basic questions like, “What’s included in a credit report?” Our credit repair software just to keep you informed and help you understand your credit a little better. Hopefully, that knowledge will help you avoid future problems with your credit.

We can’t help you not buy that new pair of shoes, though. You’ve got to find the power within yourself. Just say no to Manolos.

Until then, though, go get a login and enjoy the new addition to our credit repair services. We hope you like them. Let us know what you think! Here is a different explanation with pictures

Important Message: We are loading your cases one-by-one, item-by-item, but rest assured we are on top of your case. If you have not recieved your login yet, call us and we'll walk you through it.