Category Archives for Credit Report

Let's talk about common mistakes prospective clients make when choosing a collection agency.

Since we are a collection agency, and we are talking about collection debt, let's talk about money right up front.

1... PRICE! The first mistake we see is making your decision based solely on price. We really strive to give an extremely fair and equitable price to our clients. That doesn't mean we are going to be the cheapest if simply look at price on the surface. But when you look at the results we get then the math works out REALLY WELL because we get you a higher net result.  We actually collect more and put more money into your pocket.  Hire someone for performance.  You won't find a Gucci bag at Walmart so don't expect to get the best results from the cheapest agency.

But don't just take my word for it.  Check out some of our reviews and ask to see some of our references and current clients.  You'll be able to ask some of the important questions that you may not feel comfortable asking our representative.

The five factors we base pricing on are: 1. The age of the account.  2. The average size of the account. 3. The average annual volume sent to us. 4. The amount of demographics listed with the account. 5. Does the client have the ability to list the accounts electronically?

2... CHOOSING ONE SIZE FITS ALL. We have the ability to customize programs to fit your specific needs. There's all different types of businesses out there and the collection process can vary. A good example is an oncology clinic, a cancer clinic. Their patients are handled considerably different than say for instance, a contractor that did a bunch of work for someone and there's materials and labor involved that they were not paid for. So we can customize programs to fit whatever your needs are.

We as a collection agency are really just an extension of the client that we're working for. And so we try to protect the client's reputation or have that in the foremost of our minds. Nebraska is a pretty small place and you may see your customers or patients out and about in town. And the last thing we would want is for you to run into them at the bank or grocery store and have and uncomfortable encounter. So we put a lot of energy into our collection methodology for our clients so they can maintain that respect and relationships.

The collection methods in which we use, I wouldn't say we're the most aggressive, I would say we are very assertive and we're an accountability partner. A lot of our clients are ancillary. So it just takes a simple explanation to get the account collected. A lot of times explaining to people that are overwhelmed or get inundated with a bunch of the different bills of what those are. So they understand those.

3... INDUSTRY SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE. One of the other things that you want to look at when choosing a collection agency is their knowledge of individual industries. So for instance, if they give you all these nice neat reports, but they don't know the intricacies of your business, so they don't know the needs of your customers, and they may not get the best results for you. Remembers, we are an extension of your business so we have to know your business.

I can tell you by talking with a consumer, trying to collect a past due debt, that if they know we can speak their language about what the interaction was, they trust us more. And then we can help them get to a resolution and get the account paid for the you.

And things change all the time. There is no college curriculum that can teach you collections. It's an ongoing, ever evolving, changing business that we have to learn and be able to it act quickly to protect you as the client.

4... UNDERPERFORMANCE. Another mistake we see with clients and collection agencies is that sometimes they'll stay with an underperforming agency just because they think it's too difficult to switch. We've switched multiple clients that have had that reservation and they are surprised how easy it is. We help you through that process so that you can easily move from the underperforming collections agency.

We can even help you with your client intake process as well, to help you gather more information on the front end. So you collect more prior to coming to collections. But when it comes to collections, all the information is at our fingertips making our job easier to collect more money for the you. And we'll do that at no charge as part of the consultation.

If you would like a consultation to see how our collection agency can help your business, please give us a call and we'd be happy to meet with you and show you how we can collect your past debts with integrity.  We can also show you how we are one of the industry leaders and have some of the best numbers available.

Call 402-817-3929

Odds are you’ve had financial stress at some point in your life. If you really think about
it, most of the financial stress we suffer is ultimately our own fault. We spend more than we should and save less. We buy things we don’t need and fail to give money the
respect it deserves. One big purchase on a credit card can result in payments that
never seem to end.

If you could go back in time and eliminate all of your financial errors, your life would
probably be very different. Though it’s never too late to make improvements, it’s much easier to prevent challenges than it is to solve them. You can help your child avoid such financial challenges.

You can give your child the gift of financial wisdom.

Consider discussing these ideas with your children:

1. Consider the real cost of what you’re buying. A $500 stereo doesn’t just cost $500. Invested at 10%, $500 could grow to almost $27,000. This is commonly referred to as opportunity cost.
   • If you spend your money on something, that money isn’t available for anything else, like investing.
2. Show your child how to use a simple savings calculator. These free calculators are available all over the internet and are a great way to show what can be accomplished by consistently saving a little money each month.
3. Teach them about debt. The average household has over $7,000 in credit card debt. When kids go to college, they’re inundated with credit card offers from the first day on campus. Imagine how much better your lifestyle would likely be if you were debt-free. Teach your child not to fall into the debt trap.
4. Start building their credit. Consider co-signing for a credit card, if they aren’t old enough to get one by themselves. Look for a card with a low rate and no annual fee. Teach them how to use the card wisely
   • An alternative is to take out a loan together. Banks will loan money to anyone if the loan is fully secured. With a small deposit in a savings account, a comparable amount can be borrowed easily.
   • Most young adults are unable to purchase a home for several years, often due
     to a lack of credit history. Get started early.
5. Pull their credit report. After some credit building activities, teach your child how to view their credit report and check for errors. The majority of credit reports have errors, typically not in your favor.
6. Teach them how to save. Most of us pay our bills, have a little fun, and then plan to save whatever is left. There’s rarely ever anything left with that approach. Teach your child to immediately save 10-20% (or more) of every dollar earned. Think about how much money you’d have if you had done the same since you were 18.
7. Teach them to be giving. Allow your child to choose a charity and contribute to it. For a young child, it might be just a few dollars. You child will ultimately come to see that giving affects them as much as it does the person or organization receiving the money
8. Make them work during the summer. All teenagers want more money. Give them the chance to earn it. Their perspective will change.

Money is an important part of life. Money provides security, opportunity, and a greater ability to help others. You have a lot of control over the financial habits your children develop. Help them to have a financially successful life.

Are you reaching your financial goals? Do you even have financial goals? Regardless of your current financial situation, there are several strategies you can use that can make you rich. There are no guarantees in life, but you can greatly increase the odds in your favor. Intelligent decisions and consistent behavior are all you need.

These strategies needed to create wealth are available to everyone:

1. Have multiple streams of income. One of the most important aspects of becoming wealthy is the avoidance of financial disasters, such as losing a job. It can take years to replace the savings you might spend in just a couple of months. The more sources of income you have, the more financial security you’ll enjoy. You’ll also earn more.
2. Live within your means. No one can outspend their income indefinitely. Bankruptcy is the common result. Regardless of your income, it’s necessary to spend less than you earn.
3. Invest in yourself. We’re not talking about purchasing a sports car. Spend money on education and self-improvement. Develop your talents and learn valuable skills. Money spent wisely on self-education and enhancement can provide greater returns than any stock you could ever own.
4. Set and pursue financial goals. While a few people luck their way into wealth, setting goals is a more reliable strategy. Do something to pursue that goal each and every day. Measure your results regularly.
5. Accept responsibility for your financial future. It’s your responsibility to create your own prosperity. After all, no one else is going to do it for you. 
6. Be patient. Unless you find a way to secure a very large income, wealth requires time and patience. You don’t have to do anything spectacular to amass a spectacular fortune, but it won’t happen overnight. Keep your eye on the long-term outcome and be patient.
7. Invest consistently. If you’re not saving a portion of your paycheck each month and investing it as well as you can, you’re limiting your ability to build wealth. Build to the point where you’re saving at least 15% of your take home pay. Learn about investing so you know how to invest those funds wisely. 
8. Consider taxes. Taxes have a huge effect. Whether you’re purchasing a home or thinking about selling a stock, taxes matter. Make investment decisions with an understanding of the tax implications. Make full use of tax-deferred retirement accounts, too.
9. Focus on needs and let go of wants. Before making any purchase, ask yourself if you need the item or service. How many purchases have you regretted in the past? Do you really need a larger TV or your own espresso machine? As much as possible, limit spending to your needs and invest the remainder. 
10. Know when to stay and when to go. Nothing lasts forever. There is a time to exit a job, an investment, or a business. Staying too long with any of these things will cost you financially sooner or later.

Financially successful people have left many clues for you to follow.

Adopting certain behaviors will all but guarantee financial abundance. Choose a few of
these strategies and begin applying them to your life. Continue this personal
transformation and be persistent and consistent. Building a fortune takes time.

It’s not as easy as it once was to get a home loan. Government regulations due to the recent housing crisis are the primary culprit. The requirements are more stringent than they were 10 years ago. Debt-to-income ratio requirements are much tougher than in the past.

It’s more challenging to get a mortgage, but not impossible.

Make your mortgage application more likely to be accepted:

1. Have a down payment. The less money you need to borrow, the better your odds of being approved. The larger your down payment, as a percentage of the sales price, the more comfortable the bank will feel. Banks would much rather loan 70% of the value of the home than 95%.
If your income or credit are less than impressive, a larger down payment can make a huge difference.
2. Pay down your debt. Your debt utilization ratio should be below 30% to maximize your odds of receiving approval. That means if your credit card has a credit limit of $10,000, your balance should never be above $3,000 at any point during the month.
Raising your credit limit is another possibility, provided you won’t be tempted to borrow even more.
3. Stay at your job. Frequent hopping between employers will make your lender nervous. Show that your income, and you, are stable by staying with your 1 employers for at least two years. Avoid changing employers during the application process. After you’ve closed on your new home, change jobs as often as you’d like.
4. Minimize the amount you pay toward debt each month. If you’re making payments on two cars, a student loan, alimony, a home-equity loan, and three credit cards, there might not be much left over for a mortgage payment.
5. Have reasonable expectations. Applying for an $800,000 mortgage with a household income of $50,000 is likely to end in failure. Aim for a mortgage payment of 25-30% of your monthly income. Anything higher is likely to result in rejection.
Increasing your income to ensure that you can make the mortgage payment is also beneficial.
6. Know and fix your credit score. Before beginning the search for a new home, get copies of your credit reports and your credit scores. In most cases, you will struggle to get a mortgage if your credit score is less than 680. There are many online resources dedicated to raising credit scores. But be wary of companies selling credit repair services.
7. Negotiate for a lower price. This is similar in effect to raising your income or finding a lower-priced home. Anything that reduces the loan amount or increases your income is helpful.
8. Give yourself plenty of time. The above advice can’t be implemented on short notice. A year or more of planning is ideal. There’s little that can be done to enhance your odds in the next month or two. Sit down with a loan officer and review your situation with him. Make a plan together.
Making a financial commitment that could last 20 years or more is serious business. Do the necessary pre-planning to make it happen.

Focus on being as attractive to your lender as possible. This means minimizing your debt, having a significant down payment, and setting your sights conservatively. Lenders are interested in reducing their risk. Do all that you can to minimize the risk to your lender, and your odds of receiving approval are greatly enhanced.

The information in your credit report can affect many areas of your life, so it's important to keep track of what's in it. If you find information that is incorrect for any reason, it's your job to dispute that information in order to have it removed from the report. Only you are looking out for your own credit rating, so it's to your advantage to pay attention to your report. 

There are actually three credit reports: from Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union. Monitoring all three of these credit reports is essential because the information can differ from report to report. 

Follow this process to ensure your credit reports are accurate:

1. Request your credit report. The fastest way to get a copy of your credit report is to visit AnnualCreditReport.com, where you're entitled to receive a copy of each of your three reports for free once per year.
   • If you haven't been following what's in your credit reports, start out by requesting all three reports at once, because the information they contain can actually vary quite significantly, depending on who has reported what to them. The differences from one report to the next can amount to a significant credit score difference.
   • Once you've obtained and corrected past information in your reports, you can stay updated by spreading out your credit report requests to every 4 months. Simply request your report from one of the credit reporting agencies every 4 months, and over the course of a year, you'll have received all three.
   • Of course, correct important mistakes in all 3 of them if you find an error.
2. Verifying information accuracy. Comb over all three credit reports carefully in search of incorrect or inaccurate information. Any detail that isn't right should be changed, even if it's just a wrong address, because these pieces of information can have an impact on how lenders view you.
3. Contact the credit reporting agency. If you find information that needs to be changed in your credit report, the next step is to contact the agency in charge of that specific report. It can take some time to dispute incorrect information, so the sooner you begin, the better.
4. Writing a dispute letter. You can find sample dispute letters online that will give you a good starting point for writing this letter. Be professional and include all of the necessary proof that the information is incorrect so the credit agency can make the change.
   • Include copies of any documents that support your position. Do not include the originals.
5. Disputing an item. Typically, the credit agency (Experian, Equifax, or Trans Union) will contact the company that reported the false information, and an investigation will follow to determine whether or not the information is inaccurate.
6. Add accounts to your file. If not all of your credit accounts are being reflected on your credit file, then you may want to ensure that missing information is added. You can achieve this by contacting the companies that aren't reporting your credit history and asking them to begin reporting for you.
   • Not every company is going to want to report this information for you, so it can take some time for you to have this information added to your account. However, if you're diligent, you should be able to have the information added.
7. Following up. Follow up on your requests if you don't hear anything from the credit reporting company within 30 days, as this is the normal length of time for an investigation

The power is in your hands to keep your credit report in good standing. If there is inaccurate information in your credit report, or if important information is missing, then take the steps to get the information corrected. Your next job, home, or loan may depend on it.

It’s possible to raise your credit score with some simple changes. Credit scores affect insurance rates, loan interest rates, and other important financial products. A higher score can lead to a brighter financial future.

Consider using these ideas to raise your credit score:

1. Piggyback on good credit histories. You can use a family member’s or friend’s good credit history to help you.
   • If you add yourself to an account in good standing, your credit score will go up.
   • Most credit cards allow users to add family members and distant relatives to their accounts.
   • You’ll be an authorized user on the account and able to make purchases and pay the bills.
2. Keep old accounts open. It’s important to keep older accounts like credit cards open because they influence credit scores. Credit scores can decrease if you close accounts.
   • Account age also matters. Scores are affected positively by older accounts because they show a history of maintaining credit.
   • Plus, these old accounts add to the amount of credit you have access to, thus lowering the percentage of available credit you’re using, which raises your score.
3. Set up auto-payments. Automatic payments are a convenient way to pay bills every month. They’re also an easy way to avoid a late payment and a fee. Auto-payments can help improve your credit score by preventing these issues
4. Pay credit card bills more than once a month. Credit scores rely on a debt utilization ratio. This ratio compares how much debt you have to the size of your credit limit.
   • One way to improve credit scores is to lower the debt utilization ratio.
   • Paying your credit card bills more than once a month can help you improve the score by decreasing the ratio. Extra payments lower your debt while increasing how much credit is available during the month.
5. Ask for good-will deletions. It’s possible to ask credit reporting agencies and lenders for good-will deletions. 
   • Late fees, late payments, or unpaid bills can affect credit scores. A good-will deletion is a request to remove these items based on a prior good history. This method works best if you’re a long-term customer with few issues.
6. Avoid pre-approved offers. The pre-approved offers that come in the mail usually require a credit check, and multiple credit checks affect your credit score by lowering it.
   • It’s also beneficial to avoid creating too many accounts. It’s easier to manage a smaller number, so you’re less likely to make mistakes.
7. Avoid new utility accounts. Utilities like gas, electricity, and phone services require credit checks that lower scores. It’s better to transfer utilities to a new address instead of opening new ones.
8. Remember library fines. Did you return all of your library books? Unpaid fines can decrease your credit score, and libraries can send unpaid bills to collection agencies
9. Avoid online quote comparisons. Online quotes for insurance or loans count as inquiries on your credit score. These credit checks affect the score each time you ask for a quote.
   • Getting quotes from multiple websites can lead to many credit checks. It’s best to narrow down the options before getting a quote, so your score isn’t affected.
10. Establish long-term credit. Instead of switching to a new company that promises lower rates for a few months, consider staying with the previous one.
    • Credit scores go up based on positive, long-term relationships with lenders.
    • It may be tempting to take the lower credit card offer from another company to move balances, but your score may suffer.

It’s possible to raise credit scores with several strategies. Careful planning is an important part of getting a higher score.

It’s important to monitor your credit reports at least yearly. That way, you’ll regularly be able to spot and handle any mistake that occurs on your credit report that could adversely affect you.

Using this process will help you find errors on your credit report and correct them:

1. Go through the report with a fine-tooth comb. When you receive a copy of your credit report, sit down and take the time reviewing it. Consider it an important part of your financial goals to find out what your creditors are “saying” about your financial life.
2. Look at each item. Carefully check each entry to spot any listings that don’t look familiar. If you don’t remember an item, make a note out in the margin, like “What’s this?” or “I didn’t apply for this loan.”
3. Notice names of companies and financial institutions. Are there any you haven’t heard of? If so, put an “X” by them so you can look up the names on the internet. An unfamiliar name may well be the name of a company that is known by various names.
   • Consult your own financial records. If the company still sounds unfamiliar, pull your own financial records for the year in question. Perhaps you’ll see some record of what you did that will refresh your memory regarding that part of your report.
4.  Call the credit bureau where the report originated. If you can’t resolve or figure out a particular listing on your report, contact the bureau who issued the report. Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union each offer customer service and might be able to assist you.
5. Contact the company that you believe has made false claims against you. Try to resolve the situation with the entity directly and insist they make the proper changes to the credit bureau to correct your information.
6. Dispute the claim. In the event you are unsuccessful in resolving a credit issue with a creditor, you can formally dispute the claim. You do this by phoning the credit bureau that produced the report. You can also contact the credit bureau online to fight the claim there. State you want to dispute the claim. You’ll likely have to explain why.
7. Place a fraud alert on your credit report. If your identity was stolen or any of your banking accounts or credit cards were inappropriately used by others, you should contact the agency where you received your credit report and follow their steps to place a fraud alert on your credit report.
   • This way, the agency will monitor your account extra closely to ensure your privacy and security and might even inform you of any action as it occurs on your account under your name
8.  Do your homework. Learn more about credit reporting from the Federal Trade Commission’s website at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/menus/consumer/credit.shtm.

Your credit report should be an accurate reflection of your financial life. Go through your credit report and examine each entry carefully. Take notes of entities issuing information about you and then peruse your own financial records to support any claims you may use as you go through this process.

Stay on top of your credit reports so you can correct errors right away. Protect your credit and identity by obtaining your credit report at least yearly and following up on questionable data.