There is more to credit than the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Most people believe that credit repair begins and ends with the Fair Credit Reporting Act. In fact, there are thick pamphlets and even whole books directed toward consumers whose entire contents dwell upon that singular Federal statute. Amazingly, in many cases, authors simply reprint the entire text of the law verbatim, presumably just to fill half their pages.

And, for that, you pay money.

Well, unlike your experience with those life-wasters, the time you devote to reading these pithy words will be well spent indeed. Even better, by the time you finish this brief article, your credit rating should be set for real improvement.

Reader alert: a personal plug, albeit a roundly enthusiastic and indelibly true one, will follow in the next paragraph before we resume our regularly scheduled lesson.

Just get it done. Despite the author's best efforts, there are those who don't want a master's degree in consumer credit. They don't desire to expand their intellectual horizons today. They're just seeking an extra hundred points added to their credit score so that mortgage brokers, car dealers, and credit card companies won't pillage their financial accounts. If that's your position as well, then consider telephoning the lovable attorneys and paralegals of Lexington Law (1-800-756-9689) or visiting their site at LexingtonLaw.com. Perhaps the largest such firm devoted to helping consumers with credit report issues, Lexington elects not to ignore any of the Federal statutes discussed here when confronting its noble task. (Toward that end, inquire about Lexington's expanded "Concord" levels of service.) With their $39 per month plan, the case simply gets worked under your watchful eye. And as a bonus I'll reluctantly excuse your continued classroom participation. But, heck, continue reading regardless. It's good for you.

Beware lawbreakers. Unfortunately, the credit landscape is littered with lawless debris. Such tactics include booklets and consultants who may suggest identifying someone near your age who died as a child and attempting to establish credit in their name. Others advise simply making up a Social Security number in accordance with some geographically-based numbering scheme, and applying for credit with that. Still others teach how to acquire an IRS Taxpayer Information Number (TIN), which looks like a Social Security Number, and using that. Needless to say, every one of these methods risk loss of freedom, income, and community standing. Anytime you see a seductive advertisement on the net or elsewhere for "NEW CREDIT FILE OVERNIGHT," steer clear.

Fortunately, you won't find that type of credit repair espoused in this document. Instead, Federal statutes should be leveraged in the service of improving your credit standing. Laws must be chased and embraced rather than shunned and avoided.

The truth is that truly legal credit repair is a gradual process that takes time to complete.

Acronym soup. The fact is that any solid credit repair campaign should pay tribute to three, rather than just one, Federal statutes. In addition to the oft-chewed but rarely digested Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), one must also consider the Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA) as well as the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA). Together, these three consumer protection statutes define your civil rights as a consumer. Understanding -- and even better, exercising and enforcing -- those federally guaranteed protections is the absolute best way to transform a poor credit score into a really good one.

Now, make no mistake. Any solid credit repair campaign should begin with the FCRA. However, despite the prevalent groupthink found practically everywhere on the internet and in bookstores, it needn't end there.

Next > Legal basis: the FCRA.


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© 2008 Lexington Law™. All rights reserved. John C. Heath, Attorney at Law, PLLC. *Actual client testimonial. Individual results may vary. The services of Lexington and its affiliates may not be available in all states. Lexington Law™ is a group of law firms that may also be referred to throughout this site as "Lexington," "Lexington Law," "we," "us," or "the firms". "Credit Repair" means all the legal work, strategy and methods that Lexington Law uses to dispute questionable credit listings that are inaccurate, incomplete, misleading, biased, untimely or unverifiable. The number of items deleted represents the combined results of the group. The Terms were last updated on 02/24/2006. The Privacy Policy was last updated on 02/24/2006. // 1.0.1