Faith Is The Only Way Through This Economy... Not everybody is going to get this

I've been sharing messages about Credit Reports and Scores for a while now and I have come to realize I have been shortchanging my readers. You see the fullness of the message I share has more to do with Faith then just having an understanding of Credit and how it works.

Now, I can't go on sharing tips about Credit and how it works without giving God what belongs to Him. I give Him all the Glory, the Honor and the Praise but it is my Faith that pleases Him. You see I woke up this morning realizing that I am not subject to this world financial system and as it fails I am able to overcome it. You see God reminded me that I must remember, I don't have to tell Him about my financial woes, He knows them already and I don't have to tell my financial woe's about Him because they know Him already. I have to walk in my Authority and tell my Financial Woes to line up with the Victory I have been given through Christ Jesus. I have to speak to my situations directly. We can't sit back and wait for Wall Street to take care of our economy because they won't or our Government to take care of it because they can't.

Take the $700 Billion Bail Out for instance. Even after the Bail Out, Wall Street is still loosing money and just how is it supposed to help Main Street? Part of the Bail out has been used to provide capital to banks to boost Commercial Lending especially to Small Businesses but did you know that many of the banks have used that money to purchase smaller banks? The notion is eventually they will realize they'll have to increase lending and it will turn around. What? They should have been forced to first provide lending opportunities to Small Businesses but the Government said they didn't want to be in business of telling banks how to run their lending institutions. So here's the picture. You get money to help sustain Main Street and you have the audacity to choose not to do it and our Government gave you the money to do so, but they chose not to make sure you did it and we actually trusted the banks to think of Main Street First? Did that help sustain the banking industry or make those banks portfolio larger...or both? Main Street is supposed to wait for this to trickle down to us? Yeah right. In case you haven't figured it out yet, we're in a recession heading towards a depression and Wall Street still doesn't get it. Let’s not forget about what AIG did after they got their money and that was before the Bail Out.

I submit to you God is calling His people to demonstrate Christian Character that will transcend Wall Street and Main Street. The streets are paved in Gold and not subject to a Recession, Depression or any other Oppression. We are to owe no man anything but to love Him. S&C Financial Credit Resolutions Group, NFP has been blessed with a system of Credit Education that will allow you to resolve your Credit Issues, Create a Planning Strategy and Improve your Credit Scores within 6-12 months demonstrating Risk Characteristics that you earned. This is not Credit Repair or Traditional Financial Literacy and like I said, I realize...Everybody is not going to get this. We are an IRS 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization located at 1545 W. 83rd St, Chicago IL. We provide one-on-one sessions and Workshops. When you're ready give us a call at 773-383-0849.

As Always, Be Blessed,

CC

Statute of Limitiations...Credit Report or Judgment

Hey faithful readers, just wanted to take the time to ensure you knew the difference in the Statutes of Limitation on a Credit Report and in a Court of Law. Many people know the Statute (or reporting time) of Limitations on a Credit Report is 7 years. But when does that start? The 7-year count actually starts 7 years from the last time you made an on time payment on the account in question with the original creditor. For instance you have an account with Whoever Credit Card. The last time you made an on time payment was January 2001. The account was sold to a collection agency and they show the last date of activity as June 2004. Technically that account can no longer show up on your credit report because the last time you made an on time payment was more than 7 years ago. You have a valid dispute and must request the Collection agency provide proof otherwise. There are exceptions to the 7 years in regards to Bankruptcies, but I'll have to explain that in my next article. The answers are not as cut and dry as you may think.

What about a Judgment on that same account? Say a Sheriff comes to your door with a Subpoena to come to court for a possible Default Judgment. In the State of IL a credit card debt is no longer collectible in a "Court of Law" after 5 years from the delinquency date. That won't stop the Collection Agency from trying to sue you. Given the same credit Card example above, the Credit Card account must be removed from your credit report and it is illegal for the collection agency to try to file a Judgment against you. There are different Statutes of Limitations in a Court of Law depending on what State you were in when the Debt was initiated. I'll try to get that covered in the next article as well. We're using Credit Card Debt as an example because it is the easiest to relate to and the most widely abused by collection agencies.

Believe me, when the Collection Agency decide to try to sue you, the information on your credit report more then likely will mysteriously change. It takes a trained eye to catch these glitches and S&C Financial Credit Resolutions Group, NFP is here to help. We are an IRS 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization. Working with us is worth the thousands of dollars you'll save. If you think you're in the clear, just take a stroll down to the County Court Building and look on the wall at all the court cases of Collection Agencies filing Judgments against unsuspecting consumers. More than 75% of them are bogus. Many people pay thousands of dollars for Credit Repair only to end up with just as bad if not worse credit later. Don't trust credit repair. It takes us the same amount of time to resolve your issues as it takes them to turn your score around and they may charge thousands of dollars in the long run.

If you think you are ready to get serious about Resolving your Credit issues and you're tired of trying to fix them yourself, get a copy of all 3 of your credit reports from either a willing lender or www.annualcreditreport.com then give us a call to make an appointment at 773-383-0849. Get the help you need and stop guessing.

As Always, Be Blessed,

CC

What Does Excellent Credit Look Like?

How come we're hearing so much about credit these days but what we're hearing is not helping? I mean you get a lot of tips you may not have heard before and applying them makes you feel good, but if you look at your credit without looking at a score, how can you tell if where you're at is where you need to be? Further, what if it works, but you only end up with few points or even worse your score goes up then right back down. For most people "Excellent Credit" would be a score above 700, but exactly what does your credit report need to look like?

Say you finally hear that a good score is above 700 and that's what you're shooting for. You find out your score is about a 610 and you start doing your homework to figure out how to get accounts removed, negotiate pay offs and get your accounts paid on time. Your goal is to move in your new home, refinance or buy a new car in about a year. You spend that whole year working your credit to do just that. At the end of the day all your bills have been paid on time for a year, you got those old accounts removed from your credit report and you paid off all those collections. A year latter you moved up a whole 60 points or you got your score over a 700 and either you're high enough for a decent loan or you've reached your goal. The lender pulls your score and offers you a loan. About six months latter you apply for a credit card or apply for a personal loan and you're either denied or you're told you're being offered a less desirable rate because of your score. What happened? My score was nearly 700 or above@#!$#%$#!#%$ . Without even looking at your score you can determine about where you would be based on what your credit looks like. Getting out of your situation long enough to get there is another story. Look for my "Life after Bad Credit" blog.

What does Excellent Credit look like though? First pull your credit report for free at www.annualcreditreport.com then, shoot for the following and I guarantee (not worth more than the paper it's written on, but I promise you this will work) your score will rise to the occasion:

1) 4-6 Accounts Total
2) 2-4 Should be Revolving Accounts
3) 1-2 Should be Financed
4) Open 24 months with 24 months of activity
5) Paid on time every month for 24 months
6) Keep balance on Credit Cards below 30%
7) No open collections with a balance

Now you will get well above 700 if you can avoid having any collections showing on your credit report at all. What if you have an account open 24 months and have 1 late payment, is all your hard work for not? What about the collection that was just paid off, how long will it be before you benefit from that? What if you have an emergency and have to use more than 30% of your credit limit or went over your credit limit? What if a collection got added to your credit report with no prior notice on an account that hasn't been paid on in 7 years? What happens if the Sheriff shows up at your door for a judgment on an account you had 10 years ago? How do you know if you have too many credit cards? What if you had student loans that went to collections, how do they affect your credit?

Well I gave you a list of what you need your credit report to look like but the path to get there is not always easy since life's issues sometimes get in the way. I can't give it all to you in one blog even though I'd like to. If you're stuck and traditional help is not helping, please don't hesitate to give us call. We will go over your credit report for all 3 major credit bureaus line by line. Then we help you develop a plan to get your credit to look like "Excellent Credit" by helping you get accounts removed that should legally be removed, negotiate a reasonable pay off and create a short term budget to get you based on your current financial situation. Finally, we prepare all your letters for you so you're not left to guess what you need to do next. Our objective is to help you improve your score by 15-40 points in 30-45 days and 40-100 points within 6 months and we have an 85% success rate.

For more information please contact us at 773-383-0849 or visit our website at www.sandcgroup.com

Your Credit Report Is Trying To Tell You Something...Look Again

I've been sharing this message for many years . It doesn't take years to have good credit and you don't have to be dishonest to make it happen. You can EARN 15-40 points in 30-45 days and up to 100 points or more within 6 months. The key is combining the law with the truth. Some experts teach you how to manipulate the law while others tell you how to pay your bills on time. Both methods do get you some points, however neither are telling you the whole story and rarely does anyone understand how the law can help you get a fair chance at not only paying a fair amount off, but getting a bad account removed in it's entirety. Challenging all derogatory debt regardless of it's validity is not only unethical, it can cost you a lot more money in the long run.

So, how do I earn these points, get accounts removed and be honest through the whole process? First you get a complete copy of all 3 credit reports from www.annualcreditreport.com. Then you look at all 3 very carefully. If you have really poor credit you'll notice some collection accounts repeating from one credit report to the next. So what's the big deal. Look again. Many times the last date of activity on one report will be different then another. This is known as re-dating. So what? The amount they say I owe looks correct. Look again. Many times the collection agency will load on automatic fees, increasing the amount you actually owe. These are both valid reasons to request validation of debt.

Once you request validation, the collection agency must cease all collection activities until the debt can be validated. Many times they still keep at it, even to the point of summonsing you to court. So what? I owe the money. Think again. The burden of proof is on the collection agency. There are a rise of judgments in our court systems and 70% of them are false, yet consumers are getting taken and no one is doing anything about it while collection vultures are literally robing you of your rights.

It takes a trained eye to catch all this and more but their is help. "Well", you say, "I can fix my own credit." Think again. You can fix your own taxes too and you may get a return, but are you getting the best return you can get? It's likely unless you're a professional tax preparer, you're not. Well the same holds true for your credit. We'd love to be your Credit Consultant.

S&C is an IRS 501 (c) 3 organization and has over 8 years of in-depth knowledge and understanding of credit. How about giving us a call to make your appointment. You can get your credit checked every year just like you do your taxes. This way you won't forget and you'll be taking care of both financial opportunities at one time. Give us a call at 773-383-0849 and visit our website at www.sandcgroup.com.