Since 1991, Lexington Law has been helping Americans enforce their rights to fair and accurate credit reporting. In this time, Lexington Law has helped over 1/2 million people legally take action on their credit.
After using Lexington Law's services, past clients have been able to take advantage of their improved credit by lowering their current interest rates and purchasing homes, cars, and other items that had previously been denied to them because of the questionable negative items in their credit reports.
Credit repair is necessary because the credit system is broken. The credit system is supposed to serve as a tool lenders can use to accurately determine your credit worthiness, but it has been warped and twisted by big-business The credit system is set up to make sure your credit score is lower than it should be. lobbyists to a system that makes the most money for the lenders - at the expense of you, the consumer.
The credit system is set up to make sure your credit score is lower than it should be. This way, lenders can get away with charging you interest rates in excess of what is actually necessary to insure them against you defaulting on your loans. These excessive interest payments force you to purchase a smaller home or pay ridiculous payments to the credit card companies while lenders rake in the profits.
Repairing your credit reports is the only way you have to ensure you do not get taken advantage of because of your credit score. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) gives you the right to a fair and accurate credit report but you still have to do your part.
It may be more than simple coincidence that the system rewards behaviors that maximize the profits of banks and credit card companies.Consider some of the things we accept as truths when talking about credit. There are so many misconceptions about our credit that become obvious when we take the time to think about them.
For example we are told and believe that multiple creditor inquiries listed on your credit reports tell lenders you may be overextending yourself and taking on more credit than you can handle. As a consequence, our credit risk increases and our credit score gets lowered. A more plausible explanation is that multiple inquiries show you are shopping around for credit and lenders may be able to make more money by lowering your credit score a few points.
Common sense also tells us that doing the honorable thing and making good on your past debts is a worthy goal deserving of positive recognition. The credit system, however, does not work that way. Whether a charge off is unpaid or marked as "paid in full" on your credit reports does not affect your credit score. In fact, paying off old debts can actually lower your credit score.
Also consider the advice given by financial experts from years ago who told us to close unused credit cards and voluntarily lower unnecessary credit limits. Today we know not to follow this advice because instead of rewarding you for being responsible, the credit scoring models of today reward you for having multiple open account and large lines of credit. It may be more than simple coincidence that the system rewards behaviors that maximize the profits of banks and credit card companies.
"When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time, a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it"
- Frederic Bastiat
Finally, everyone from the FTC to the individual lender insists that bad credit has to remain on your credit reports for seven to ten years. But studies have shown that negative credit more than two years old is not an accurate predictor of credit worthiness. In fact, it turns out the seven year credit limit has nothing to so with the relevance of negative listings on predicting your credit risk. Instead, it is merely the arbitrary credit limit created by the FCRA to stop bad credit from being included on your credit reports forever. In today's credit system, the only reason negative credit remains on your credit reports for seven years is so creditors can charge you higher interest rates and increase their profits.
Unfairness in the credit system goes far beyond the examples above. In fact, these two examples are just a tip of the iceberg when it comes to the injustices of the credit reporting system.
The credit system is unfair in its black and white simplicity. Suppose you have a series of late payments on your credit reports. The way your credit score is calculated, it does not matter why the late payments are on your credit report. Your credit score will suffer regardless of the story behind them.
even the most responsible consumer who through circumstances beyond their control had a few late payments show up on their credit reports will be punished the same as the compulsive gamblerThis is unfair because it leads to a credit score that may not be an accurate representation of your true credit worthiness. Whether the payments were recorded as late because you never received the bill, because your payment was lost in the mail, because of a bookkeeping error, because you were disputing the charge, because you were dealing with a medical emergency, because you lost your job, or because you were unable to pay the bill because you gambled away all your savings does not matter when calculating your credit score.
As a result, even the most responsible consumer who through circumstances beyond their control had a few late payments show up on their credit reports will be punished the same as the compulsive gambler. While the credit worthiness of each of these people is obviously very different, the credit system judges them equally, and sentences them to a low credit score.
The injustices in the way your credit scores are calculated are infuriating, but there is yet another fundamental flaw in the credit reporting system that always works against you.
In the credit reporting system, negative items are added to your credit reports as soon as they are reported by your creditors. There are no requirements of proof placed on the lenders and the credit bureaus do not perform any sort of investigation to determine whether or not the negative items belong on your credit reports. In the credit reporting system, you are found guilty and punished immediately based solely on an accusation made by your creditors.
"It is well that the people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning"
- Henry Ford
At this point, it is up to you to prove your innocence. If you do not take action, anything your creditors accuse you of will be used against you when calculating your credit score.
Fortunately, you do have the right to do something about unfair credit reporting. When it comes to the creation of your credit reports and your credit score, the when it comes to repairing your credit reports, there are a number of very powerful consumer protection laws you can make work for you deck is stacked against you. But when it comes to repairing your credit reports, there are a number of very powerful consumer protection laws you can make work for you.
By taking advantage of your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and other consumer protection statutes, you can force your creditors and the credit bureaus to report your credit in a way that is more indicative of your true credit worthiness.
You simply do not have to live with questionable unfair credit for 7 to 10 years.
Lexington Law helps clients get fair representation in a credit system where the rights of the individual are secondary to the profits of the creditors and credit Lexington Law has helped clients remove millions of negative credit listings that were giving lenders and others an unfair impression of their credit worthiness bureaus. Lexington Law does this by providing credit bureau disputes, creditor interventions, debt validation services, credit report monitoring, and credit coaching services specifically designed to help clients increase their credit scores.
By legally disputing the questionable negative items in their credit reports, Lexington Law has helped clients remove millions of negative credit listings that were giving lenders and others an unfair impression of their credit worthiness. After successfully completing Lexington Law's services, clients have been able to get approved for the loans and interest rates they truly deserve - not just the ones they were forced into accepting with their old credit score.
Right now you are being considered 100% guilty of every accusation in your credit reports and may be serving an unfair sentence. Let Lexington Law help you take control of your credit. Get started today by enrolling online or over the phone with the help of a Lexington Law representative.
