The economy over the past few years hit millions of consumers hard and as a result, many are trying to fix the damage that was done to their credit reports. Without a good credit score, it can be nearly impossible to rent an apartment, get a checking account or even find a job.

Before you agree to work with any credit repair agency, there are five facts that you need to know.

Do Your Research on Credit Repair Firms

Be wary of any credit repair company that solicits you, whether it’s through email, direct mail or by phone. This is a multi-million dollar industry and unfortunately, you can’t automatically give a company your trust simply because they sound legit.

It is vital to do your own research on a credit repair firm before proceeding. First and foremost, you should never have to pay for this service until the promised work has been done. Avoid any company that requires you to make an upfront payment in order to “fix” your credit. Even if they claim they will be incurring expenses on your behalf in order to contact your bill collectors and the credit bureaus, you don’t have to pay anything before they do the work. In fact, the Credit Repair Organization Act has made it illegal for these companies to charge you in advance.

Another red flag to look for is a credit repair company that encourages you not to contact the three main credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and Transunion. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you, the consumer, have every right to contact the bureaus and dispute any information that may be invalid.

Understand Your Rights

Before you work with a credit repair agency, it is vital to fully understand your rights as a consumer. The Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Credit Repair Organization Act both contain information that you need to know in order to protect yourself, both from debt collectors and from shady credit repair companies.

The CROA states that credit repair agencies must provide you, in writing, your legal rights and how they will go about repairing your credit, the amount of time they estimate it will take to accomplish this, and how much you will have to pay to complete the work. Any guarantees they make must be made in writing.

Promises They Can’t Keep

If a credit repair agency tells you that they can remove all of the negative information from your credit report, this tells you that they are not being honest with you. Only negative information on your report that is invalid can be removed. Even if you pay off your debt, the entry will remain on your credit report for a period of up to 10 years.

The dispute process provided by the three main credit bureaus is designed to ensure that all of the information on your credit report is accurate, whether or not it is positive or negative to you. You cannot dispute a debt that is legally yours and have it removed from your credit report. If this was true, no one would have any negative entries on their credit reports.

Creating a “New” Identity

Another common “promise” you may run into with some credit repair agencies is that you can create an entirely new credit identity and you won’t have to worry about your past mistakes. This is completely false and fraudulent and you may end up facing prosecution as a result of this tactic.

If a credit repair agency urges you to apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) or encourages you to falsely claim identity theft in order to get a new social security number, this is your best indication that you are dealing with a scam artist. Unfortunately, many consumers find this out the hard way, after they are already in legal problems due to lying on loan applications or misrepresenting their social security number.

Understand Your Options

Don’t get disheartened. Just because there are a lot of wolves in sheep’s clothing doesn’t mean that all credit repair options are bad. There are reputable credit counselors out there who can assist you in legally repairing your credit and getting your life back on track.

The author who contributed this article is Chase Sagum, Financial and Business blogger. Check out more of his content at www.lexingtonlaw.com.

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Statistics have shown that the majority of failed small businesses lack underfunding and adequate capital investment. As a small business owner, it can be difficult to find the right funding source to meet the investment levels that will ensure your business has a fair chance for success in the market. A merchant cash advance is an alternative cash source that may be an ideal way for your business to get the funding it needs without the added risk of a conventional loan.

Is a Merchant Cash Advance the Same as a Loan?

When a small business loan is contracted by a business owner, the principle amount is paid back through payments that include interest. The interest rates on small business loans tend to be less reasonable for new businesses simply because they lack the merchant credit history that is required to garner a low interest rate. Merchant cash advances are different from loans because they are based on a flat fee rather than interest. The money is paid back automatically without further action by the merchant.

How Does a Merchant Cash Advance Work?

Any business that has accepted credit card sales for more than 60 days is typically eligible for a merchant cash advance. The provider in this case is known as a factoring company. When applying, the factoring company will agree to a lump-sum payment to the applicant business in the form of an agreed amount. The business owner is then free to invest the new capital into his immediate operation. The factoring company then retrieves the investment from credit card sales payments that are made to the merchant from credit card companies in lieu of that merchant until the full amount of the cash advance and the flat-rate fee have been retrieved.

What Are the Benefits to a Merchant Cash Advance?

The most significant benefit is that the flat-rate fee associated with the transaction is highly competitive with interest rates because it does not continually accrue over the duration of the outstanding debt. Another benefit is that the risk of repayment default is lower due to the fact that the initial principle is retrieved according to the natural influx of credit card receipts. The principle is not based on a strict, predetermined timetable.

The merchant cash advance is intended to stimulate an immediate cash flow investment that is then repaid at a prorated pace according to credit card sales. The majority of small businesses that need extra funds can benefit greatly from merchant cash advances.

Fred often writes articles on how small businesses can improve their cash flow problems. He believes that a merchant cash advance company can be an excellent solution for many companies in this situation.

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Debt Settlement

Debt can be really scary! You worry about creditor calls even when they aren’t calling. Wondering what you will say, how you will tell them that you lost your job, your income is not what it once was, or you simply got in over your head. You lose sleep and work and still don’t have a solution. This may be the time to consider debt settlement.

What is Debt Settlement?

This is a program offered by experts in finance and negotiations. When these services are contracted an experienced debt settlement professional will act on your behalf, call up your creditors and work at reducing your debt, your late fees and penalties to lower your total debt substantially. If you owe more than $10,000 then this is an option you should carefully consider.

How Does it Work?

In most cases, you are already in a debt collection situation and creditors are already contacting you and aren’t being very nice in their collection efforts. When you decide to contract debt consolidation services, the creditors stop calling and you stop making any payments you are currently making. Instead any payment you make is placed in a savings or escrow account set up by the debt settlement company. At that point they begin negotiating with your creditors and use the account funds to settle a certain amount of your debt. When these funds don’t cover the negotiated settlement amount then they work with you to get a loan to pay off all the creditors and leave you with the one loan payment.

 The Advantages

With debt settlement services you could satisfy your debt for far less than what you actually owe. It is not unheard of for a reliable debt settlement company like http://tridentdebtsolutions.com/debt-settlement/ to reduce debt by as much as 50% to 60% and sometimes even more. This gives you the opportunity of becoming totally debt free within a 12 to 24 month period. Once the settlement is agreed upon and you fulfill your part of the deal these debts will no longer be subject to legal action or collection pursuits. Additionally, most people who undergo the process feel financial relief as their monthly debt payment is often reduced substantially, giving them more disposable income.

The Disadvantages

Debt solution is not a “get-out-of-jail free card”. There are consequences and one of these may affect your credit score negatively. For a while a debt settlement process could give you a negative mark on your credit history. Still, this negative hit is not as dire or as far-reaching as that of bankruptcy. Additionally the forgiven amount of the debt will be reported on your credit score. Even so, by following your credit consolidation agent’s advice you can turn this negative mark around and pull your credit score back up.

Still a Solution

Even with the disadvantages debt settlement can be a good option when your credit bills are out of hand and you can barely make the minimum payments – never seeming to get ahead. Just make sure the debt settlement service you choose works in your best interest and helps you get fair offers you can actually pay. Once creditors agree to your offer get letters in writing that the account is settled and keep these in a safe location. You never know when you have to prove these as having been settled.

Jonathon Blocker is an expert on information regarding legal matters. Jon searches online for debt settlement to find firms that offer legal advice and assistance.

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Debt Consolidation

When you owe tons of debt, it can truly be stressful. Having bill collectors calling you at home and on the job can bring you a great number of problems. If you are drowning in debt, there are answers that can bring great relief to your financial situation.

How Does Debt Settlement Work?

Debt settlement companies work by negotiating with your collectors to ensure that your debts are completely cleared. They open up a trust account that is funded with a portion of the debt money that you owe. This trust account is used to work with your debt collectors to make an offer on your behalf. They can often settle your debt for much less than you originally owed.

Most people can expect to pay around 50 to 60 cents on the dollar for their debt. By having the amount reduced so drastically, you can save tons of money. Most collection companies are willing to accept less since this allows them to get an immediate lump sum instead of waiting around on money that they might never receive.

How to Work with a Debt Settlement Company

To work with a debt settlement company, you will need to provide all of the information regarding your debts. It is vital that you not leave out any company that you owe so that each collector can be contacted and will be a part of the negotiation.

Once you have provided all of the necessary information and filled out your forms, the debt settlement company will begin working with each account that you owe. They will use your trust account to provide leverage to convince the company to be willing to settle for less than you owe. Most of these companies are more than willing to take a percentage of your debt rather than waiting on only the possibility of receiving the full sum.

Most debt settlements can be finished in as little as 18 months. This can happen sooner if you are able to provide a lump sum payment. If you are making monthly payments, these will be decided upon for a set number of months to ensure that the payment are affordable for you and that your debt is satisfied as quickly as possible.

If you find yourself falling deeper and deeper into debt, you should contact a debt settlement company. They can offer you many services that will allow you to clear your record of your amassed debt and get your credit back on track.

To help ensure that you do not have debt issues again, many of these companies offer debt counseling to help you understand what spending issues you are having and how you can make simple changes to bring about big effects in your finances. Now is the time to reach out for help before you are sent to court or have adverse settlements brought against you. The sooner you act, the sooner the debt settlement company can provide you with a positive outcome.

Wayne Hemrick is aware of information regarding legal situations for example, a person who is dealing with debt. Wayne refers to Trident Debt Solutions when in need of expert advice and information.

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We are in the place where we are going to complete a financial year & will start another one. As the New Year has already started so this is the best time to plan your budget. As in our daily financial activities we are stuck with some debt or payable amount. But won’t find the way to clam the creditors with proper settlement, the reason is family burden & expenses. Hardly we can keep money for savings.

But this is important to get rid of the debt problem. So, here also we can assemble our budget plan, through that we will surely save some money to pay the creditors. Following are the money saving tips to solve the debt problems.

1. Get ideas about best possible ways to overcome debt problems online: Now we are used to about internet & its providing information, so we call research the best possible ways to get rid of debt issues. This will give a clear idea that you are in the right track or not. There are so many forums where you can post your financial query so that the professionals would come to know about your problem. They will provide their solutions free of cost. If you will get to know your exact situation that will help you to find the right path as well.

2. Guide yourself to overcome financial problems: You yourself is the best savior from any type of crisis. So, instead of appointing a professional advisor you can guide yourself to get rid of your financial problem. In this case online tutorial will help you a lot. So, good luck for your coming journey.

3. Do work on household power usage to minimize the expenses: There is a tendency between all of us that we are not switching of the light, fan, T.V if we are not using that. So, the result is a huge amount of electricity bill. Nothing but being concern will make this amount reduce. So, save money through this & save power too. And the saving amount we can use to pay our payable amounts.

4. Use free & discount coupons to reduce your household expenses: Use free & discount coupons to continue your household activities. Now the question is how you will get it. The answer is there are so many e-commerce where you will get something after doing free sign up. So, this will be good options. Apart from that go to nearest fair & get the instant discount there. This is another clever way to save money. Use that money to solve your debt problems.

5. Avoid restaurants, party, hangouts; this will save a lot of money: We are spending lots of amount in parties with friends or other hang outs activities. So, if we will avoid these activities then that will partially help us to solve our financial burden.

6. Do one to one talk to get the best possible discount from your creditors: Do a one to one talk with your creditors & share the unexpected time to pay back the money. In return ask to give you more discounts for the same. If the creditor will agree then you will get some extra financial benefit which is next to impossible in a general way.

Being a layman I have shared those points, I hope if I will follow these that will help me a lot. Just plan your budget & get rid of your financial burden / debts as soon as possible by this financial year.

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