The credit crisis and your current credit situation

What does all of this mean? What is going on?

Well as I have been telling people, you should be more than a little concerned that our government will be bailing everyone out and basically becoming a bank. Not to knock the government, but they can’t balance a checkbook, let alone a loan program for billions of dollars. So what does this mean for you?

Right now, plenty. Stocks are not so hot right now. Unless you have thousands in oil stock, you are kind of sitting on eggshells. Will the market crash? What will happen to my bank? What will happen to my money?

According to persons like Dave Ramsey, you should be hoarding your cash and putting it into a bank right now. Only to draw out that 1.5% interest rate of course. But remember, the FDIC ONLY insures up to $100,000. Many people are withdrawing and are converting their cash to gold. It is currently selling for somewhere around $850 per ounce.

Your credit reports and credit scores have never been more important than now. Several of our customers are hoping to buy homes within the next year. There is no way that they will be able to do this until their credit reports are nearly perfect. Lenders will be requiring a nearly flawless credit application, as well as employment records and a large down payment. How many people right now have this? With gas still hovering around $4.00 per gallon, and homes being foreclosed on in the thousands daily, what can be done?

Without good credit, a chance at a loan, a job, or even college can limit you right now and nearly stop you dead in your tracks. How many people want to let that car repo from 5 years ago prevent them from getting a job in this economy?

Let us take a look at your credit report. If we can help you, we will tell you exactly how and what we can do for you. If we can’t help you, we will flat at tell you, but will give you a chance to explain what can be done to improve in the meantime.

Imperfect credit doesn’t have to be forever. the US will get out of this current slump at some point, and we will bounce back.

Support the Move- Google Tell ROR the honeymoon is over!

Missing Child- Please Help!

Angel Smith is Missing- Please Help Us Find Her!

KCS giving away $300 in gas!

Can you use $300 in gas?!
YES! We are giving away a $300 Gas Gift Certificate! Starting from now until October 31st, we will enter any of the following in for a chance to win our gift certificate:
*Sign up for our Triple Bureau Repair Program
*Refer One person to Kenyon Credit Services (Each and every referral will get you an entry into the contest!)
*Sign up for Chex Systems Removal
*Link to our website from your own!

Drawing will be held on October 31st! We can’t wait to announce the winner November 1st! Good luck!!

Get Removed From Chex Systems

What YOU need to know to get removed from Chex Systems!

What is Chex Systems? To those who don’t already iknow, Chex Systems isa reporting agency much like Transunion or Experian. However, unlike the credit bureaus, they actually report to banks and can prevent you from getting a checking or savings account or a debit card.

How do you get listed on Chex Systems? That remains a little bit of a mystery, but let’s use this example. Let’s say you closed an account with Bob Jones Bank 3 years ago. You go today to open a new account with Sally Jones Bank and they tell you that they are unable to open an account because you are listed on Chex Systems. So you pull a Chex Report to check your own and lo and behold Bob Jones Bank has an “Account activity- fraud” statement posted on your Chex Report. You have no knowledge of what this could be for, and Bob Jones Bank never let you know that there was a problem!

So what can you do? Well Chex Systems is considered a credit reporting agency which means that information with them can be disputed. (It also means that they fall into that 70% rate of having errors in their reports as well!)

This is where Kenyon Credit Services can help. So far, 100% of our clients have had their good names removed from Chex Systems. 100%! This is by using our services and our proven methods of dispute.

How long does it take? This is probably our #1 most asked question. It can take 7-10 business days on average but they legally can take up to 30 days.

Often times they false verify the information and will send you a form letter stating such. Kenyon Credit Services does not tolerate this! We make Chex Systems verify the information and that it is accurate and where they got their information. In most cases, they will delete the information rather than verifying it’s accuracy and giving you another runaround.

We also work directly with the banks reporting the false information to Chex Systems. Often times a polite request will get theitem quickly removed.

Our prices are very reasonable and start at $100.

Visit our website to learn more at http://www.kenyoncreditservices.com to get signed up today! We look forward to working with you.

(And if you are interested in Triple Bureau Credit Repair we offer that as well!)

Credit Scores- What’s in a Score?

We get asked this question ALL the time. How is a credit score determined? Unfortunately the answer to that can’t 100% be answered. While Congress did make the credit bureaus release your credit reports free every year at http://www.annualcreditreport.com they forgot to include making Fair Isaac release exactly HOW they determine a credit score. However, there are some lovely leaks on the Internet, and this list will give you a fair idea of how a credit score is determined:

About 1/3 of the score is your current payment history. Usually this goes over a 2 year period. Both late and on time payments are figured into this number.

The next 1/3 is determined by amount of debt, and the ratio of debt, to credit available. The higher the debt level the lower the score. Even if you have a perfect payment history this can really drag you down.

The next 1/3 is determined by the types of credit you have (multiple types are better) the overall length of credit history, and how many recent credit apps you have.

This is just a basic list but gives you a good idea of what to be looking for when it comes to your credit score!

Is your credit limiting hurting your credit score?

Because of the credit crunch that America is currently facing, many people are facing lower credit scores, even if they aren’t having trouble making their payments. Why you ask? Because of the credit limit on their credit cards.

Let’s say Bob Jones has a credit card with a $10000 limit. He is currently carrying a $4000 balance, which makes it look as if he is at 40% utilization on his credit cards; a good balance to be at. The credit score FICO likes you to stay around 30% to be at “perfect” utilization. Now let’s say that the credit card company considers Bob to be at a high risk because he has a balance. They lower his credit limit to $4500. This now looks as if he is maxed out on his credit cards, which makes his credit score take a huge hit!

This is happening! The best thing to do is to call the company and ask them WHY they have done this. Plead your case to get your credit limit back. If that doesn’t work, pay off the card, close it, and take your business elsewhere to a company that appreciates it.

Have balances, or late payments, and want to get them removed from your credit report? Kenyon Credit Services can help! Visit us online at www.kenyoncreditservices.com to see what we can do to help you today.

And the Winner Is…..

S. Speicher! If this is you, please contact us immediately to get started on your prize! CONGRATULATIONS!!

Our winner for 3 months free of Triple Bureau Credit Repair!!!

Creditor Harassment- Make it Stop!

Times are getting hard. Some people are missing payments. Some have stopped paying all together and an account has gone to a collection agency. Or maybe you are getting phone calls and threatening letters from a “junk debt buyer” who purchased a 20 year old account from your 20′s.

Are they calling day and night? Harassing you at work, even though you’ve told them to stop? Calling relatives and demanding payment? If so, these collections agents are violating the law, and you can stop them. In fact, in many cases, you can collect $1000 for violation PLUS damages! Many people think there is nothing to do.

First things first. The Fair Debt Collections Practices Act. This is the best law in the world. It basically says what collections agents can/can’t do. For instance.

*They can’t call pretending to be a police officer or law enforcement agency. They also can’t threaten to throw you in jail for not paying your bills.
*They can’t talk to other people about your debts. If they so much as mention it, they are violating the law. They can call references to try to get a hold of you, but they can not tell them why they are calling.
*They can not call you once you tell them in writing to stop. If they do, they are breaking the law.
*If you or someone at your place of employment has told them that it is inconvenient for you to receive phone calls at work, they can’t call you. It is breaking the FDCPA if they do.
*They can only call between 8 AM and 9 PM. Anything above and beyond this is breaking the law.
*They cannot call you names, threaten you, call more than a couple times a day, cuss you out, or anything of that nature.

I personally had fun with the last one one day. I was helping my older father out at the time and was representing him for some things. He started getting these awful phone calls from this guy “Christopher Adams.” or C.A. for short. I have never heard such filthy language in my life. Calling my father an old coot who should be taken out to pasture and shot because he was worthless and couldn’t pay his bills. In the meantime, he had called my sister and a few other family members claiming he was an attorney, a police officer, and a member of the FBI. I got a hold of a Skype number so the call couldn’t be traced and called into his office. I explained that I was Power of Attorney for the person he was harassing, and started going over the list of violations that he had committed. He tried to turn the tables on me, calling me a “piece of work.” When I got off the phone after reminding him not to call again, I immediately called the police filed a complaint, and filed a complaint with the State Attorney General’s office. We never heard from the guy again.

So what can we do to help you? We can stop the harassment immediately. In some cases, we can even help you in getting up to $1000 for each violation of the law as well. Visit our website to learn more at http://www.kenyoncreditservices.com and contact us today!

Fair Credit and Reporting Act and the Credit Bureaus

What is the Fair Credit and Reporting Act? Well the FCRA as many people know, are the laws that govern what any credit bureau (the company holding information about you) and your creditors (who you pay your monthly bills to) are required to follow.

I want to address the most common problems that credit bureaus and creditors seem to have problems with. Including a story of my own.

1.) The credit bureaus are required to investigate any complaint that comes across their desk. They seem to have a different idea on this than we do. The credit bureau’s idea of investigating, is to take your dispute, put it in a simple code format of “not mine” and send it off to the creditor. The creditor then sends another code back saying “verified as owned by consumer.” Never, at any time, are your specific problems addressed by the credit bureaus. They claim that they don’t have time for this, yet they are supposed to follow the law.

2.) If an account comes back as “verified” you are allowed to ask the name, address, phone number, extension and any other information of the individual who verified this account. The credit bureaus, and Chex Systems like to play games with this one claiming that they don’t release this information. However, the law is clear that if an account is verified, they have to release who verified the information. Many lawyers interpret this as a way to follow up with the credit bureaus and make sure that they are doing their jobs. If they can’t prove who verified an account, how can they possibly have a leg to stand on? Personally, I would want to pass the blame along to someone else if I were a credit bureau, and this would be a perfect way for them to do so.

3.) The credit bureaus are required to post correct information ONLY on your credit reports. Many fail to do this. My own personal example is as follows: I once belonged to a Bob’s County Services Employees Credit Union. TransUnion had the account listed as Bob’s City Credit Union; not even close to the correct name. I emailed the president of the company via PlanetFeedback, and told them to delete the account as it was false. I received an email back from an Eileen Little (a nasty woman btw) who informed me that yes I did have an account this Bob’s City Credit Union, that I was a member from x day to x day, that I had x amount of accounts with them, that my employment with the county was from x day to x day. I still have all of the emails. I immediately sent a reply demanding to know who had released such private information, and reminded Eileen Little that I didn’t release this information to her or give Bob’s County Services Employees Credit union permission to release that information and wanted the name of the person she spoke with. At that point, she nastily told me the only way that she would release that information was through a court order. I still have the information saved, and have been speaking with someone to get legal representation on this. This however, is a classic example of the credit bureaus not following the law. They are still listing the false name on my credit files. (Yes, even we have items that can’t be corrected occassionally. Luckily I was only disputing the name and not a bad account!)

4.) You have a right to privacy. According to Eileen Little and a man named David M Emery with TransUnion, you do not. They have admitted to releasing your private information to a 3rd party (who remains unnamed) to verify things like judgments, bankruptcies, and other court documents. This is where it gets interesting. The courts themselves DO NOT VERIFY accounts to the credit bureaus. The courts themselves are NOT a creditor. The FCRA states that they must verify the information with the creditor or the item has to be removed. Yet many people have judgments, liens, bankruptcies and other information showing on their credit files! Who is verifying this information? And who is checking to make sure it is correct? Anyone can go to PACER and pull up the information. However, it is the responsibility and the need for the credit bureaus to make sure the information is accurate. One of the best lines of defense is to remind the credit bureaus that the courts do not verify court information with them. When a credit bureau says “verified” this is FALSE and they are breaking the law!

5.) The credit bureaus are required by law to re-investigate anything that comes back to them. If you want them to look into something 100 times, you have that right; especially if the information is truly false. The credit bureaus get tired of this, and will often times send back a “previously investigated- this complaint is frivolous” or some other nonsense. They are breaking the law when they do this. The FCRA is clear that you have the right to have something investigated.

6.) You are entitled to one free credit pull a year. This can be done at http://www.annualcreditreport.com. However, what many people don’t know, is that if you have been denied credit at all, for any reason, you are also entitled to a free credit report as well; at no charge to you!

7.) Your creditors are also required to post correct information. If they do not, they can also be held accountable. This is easier to catch, but getting them to correct their heinous errors can sometimes cost a lot of time and effort. Google should be your best friend when doing this, as you need to track down the top dogs and bring the issues to their attention. Many times they are more than glad to help, and you can see improvement almost immediately.

8.) Anyone who pulls your credit without your permission is breaking the law, and you are entitled to $1000 for each violation. Always check to see who is pulling your credit. Even creditors who haven’t notified you of their acquisition of your account can’t legally pull your credit. Go after these people! WE CAN HELP.

These are just a few of the most common problems that we get to see at Kenyon Credit Services. However, we are just a phone call or email away from being able to help you! Visit us on the web today at http://www.kenyoncreditservices.com and get signed up.