5 Best Credit Reporting Agencies in Boca Raton, FL

The debt management industry and the services within can be easily confused. While some consumers think debt management programs hurt credit there are some plans that can actually improve credit while enrolled. Primarily, it depends on the status of your accounts upon entering a program and selecting the program that best suits your current financial situation and long term credit goals. A debt consolidation plan makes payments each month as received from the client, helping improve the score over time. A debt settlement plan, often confused for consolidation, places accounts in a charged off status to enable balance negotiations. The only problem with a settlement plan is that the accounts have to first charge off before negotiating a lower balance pay off. Once an account charges off though, it remains as a negative on your credit for 7 years- paid in full or not. That's only 3 years less bad credit than filing bankrupt. Debt consolidation- not debt settlement- can help improve your credit score over time while paying back the debt. Accounts may be reported to the credit bureau as ‘being paid by a third party'. This notation does not affect your actual numeric credit score negatively or positively. It doesn't hurt your credit rating in any way, shape, or form. At the end of the day, creditors and the credit bureau do not care who or how your payments are made, long as they're made on time and consecutively each and every billing cycle. A debt consolidation plan makes the payments to creditors every month as payments are received from their clients. The due dates are renegotiated along with the other terms to ensure payments are considered timely and report positively, improving the score. Making payments on time is the biggest factor in what affects your credit rating on a regular basis. 35% of your score is made up of timely monthly payments each billing cycle. In a consolidation plan, the due date is changed to coincide with a time that better fits your other monthly obligations and pay schedule and ensures timely payments right from the start of enrollment. Did you know? Spending more than 30% of your available balance lowers your credit score? That means if you have a credit line of $5k, keeping a balance of more than $1500 is negatively impacting your credit. 30% of your credit score accounts for how much total outstanding debt you owe. These accounts may be being paid on time every month but if the balance is above 30% of the credit line the payments aren't helping as much as they could. Standard minimum monthly payments are designed to pay off 1% of the balance with every minimum monthly payment. That means if you stop spending on your account it could take around 100 minimum monthly payments to pay back your total debt at the standard rates, or 8.3 years. In a debt consolidation plan the interest rates are reduced to lower fixed rates, usually in the single digits. This allows the consumer to have the majority of the payment apply to the balance instead of the interest, bringing the balances down much faster- lowering your overall debt amount at an accelerated rate. Standard rates and terms issued by big banks direct to consumers are set at a rate that would take over 8 years to payback with minimum monthly payments. In a debt consolidation plan, the minimum monthly payment requirement coincides with the interest reductions in an effort to get the consumer out of debt in 5 years or less, applying the majority of your minimum monthly payment to the principle balance not the interest fees. You can still obtain new lines of credit while consolidating you debt. It's not ideal….as the point is to get OUT of debt not incur more- but you can nonetheless. Not every account has to be consolidated either. Dent consolidation is not an all or nothing deal. Pick and choose which creditors are charging you too much in interest and only consolidate those accounts. You can always add or remove accounts from a consolidation plan at a later time without being charged anything additional. One lower monthly payment. Lower fixed interest rates. No late fees. No creditor calls. Improving credit on a monthly basis. Debt free in 5 years or less. For more free information or a free financial consultation contact a certified credit counselor at a nonprofit debt consolidation organization accredited by the Better Business Bureau. Call 800-905-1563 or visit our website freedomdm.org and complete our contact request form or LIVE CHAT with a counselor during business hours. Freedom Debt Management is a BBB accredited A+ nonprofit organization helping people become debt free one household at a time. You can be debt free, Freedom Debt Management can help.

By Freedom Debt Management, Inc.

Nonprofit Credit Counseling Services

Since its opening debut in 1950 credit card debt has been an ongoing problem as consumers began going into debt at an alarming rate. Trapped into unbearable terms and fees the cycle hasn't changed much since inception. 85% of consumers in America have a household credit debt of $8k or higher, sources say. Dreams aren't much different today either. Like days before, the American dream to be debt free still sleeps on as we continue creating more and more debt with little hope to an end nearing of this vicious cycle. Unlike 1950 though, there are many different options available today to consumers who are genuinely tired of economic enslavement and are ready to get out of debt and stay out. Education, patience, and a relearning of behavior are key to success once one becomes debt free, to ensure they stay debt free. Credit counseling, created by the federal government, was implemented to provide financial counseling services and assistance to consumers interested in exploring alternatives to becoming debt free. More affordable payback plans are established that cater to the consumers ability to pay and a goal of becoming debt free in 5 years or less. Agencies that are nonprofit, have established strong relations with creditors to provide clients lower interest reductions, lower payments, and freedom from debt in 5 years. The consensus is, a true nonprofit is geared toward assisting consumers in paying back their debt without impaling the consumer with exorbitant fees for services. Nonprofit credit counseling organizations do charge nominal fees to cover administrative costs but most of the counseling service fees are paid by the lender themselves. A certified credit counselor working for a nonprofit credit counseling agency will first assess your situation in a free financial analysis, outlining your debt to income ratio, assets and liabilities. Once your assessment is complete the counselor can then quote an affordable monthly payback plan that coincides with the creditor guidelines for debt consolidation. As the minimum monthly payment terms are agreed upon creditors then instill program benefits such as the stopping of fees and reduction to interest to lower fixed rates- usually in the single digits. This enables the consumer to payback the debt at a reasonable rate and within a reasonable time frame. When Do You Need Credit Counseling? You can't pay the minimums on your credit cards. The interest rates are too high and balances aren't going down. You want to improve your credit score by lowering your outstanding balances faster. You're consistently late paying one or more of your regular bills. You're being harassed by creditors and collection calls. Your efforts to work out reasonable repayment plans with your creditors have failed. Your accounts have gone more than 6 months past due and legal pursuit has been executed. Speaking with a certified credit counselor and receiving a free financial analysis of your household budget and credit debt will give you a better idea of what options are available to you that are within your fiscal means. Working with nonprofit credit counseling services can improve credit while eliminating debt in 5 years or less. For more information or a free financial analysis call and speak to a certified credit counselor today. BBB rated A+ nonprofit budget and credit counseling, call 800.905.1563 or visit our website freedomdm.org and LIVE CHAT or complete our contact request form and see what options are available to you. You can be debt free, freedom debt can help.

By Freedom Debt Management, Inc.

FDCPA Consumer Rights

Collection calls can become unruly and unprofessional but they do not have to. Most calls that entail such are usually in violation of your rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. What you don't know can hurt you. Take an accounting of these common unlawful tactics that are in direct violation of your consumer rights under the FDCPA. 1. Ask you to pay more than you owe The collector cannot misrepresent the amount you owe. 2. Ask you to pay interest, fees, or expenses that are not allowed by law The collector can't add on any extra fees that your original credit or loan agreement doesn't allow. 3. Call repeatedly or continuously The FDCPA considers repeat calls as harassment. 4. Use obscene, profane, or abusive language Using this kind of language is considered harassment. 5. Call before 8:00 am or after 9:00 pm Calls during these times are considered harassment. 6. Call at times the collector knew or should know are inconvenient Calls at these times are considered harassment. 7. Use or threaten to use violence if you don't pay the debt Collectors can't threaten violence against you. 8. Threaten action they cannot or will not take Collectors can't threaten to sue or file charges against you, garnish wages, take property, cause job loss, or ruin your credit when the collector cannot or does not intend to take the action. 9. Illegally inform a third party about your alleged debt Unless you have expressly given permission, collectors are not allowed to inform anyone about your debt except: Your attorney |The creditor | The creditor's attorney |A credit reporting agency your | spouse | Your parent (if you are a minor) 10. Contact you at work knowing your employer doesn't approve A collector is not allowed to contact you at work if you've let them know your employer doesn't approve of these calls. 11. Fail to send a written debt validation notice Within five days of the collector's initial communication, it must send you a notice include the amount of the debt, name of the creditor, and notice of your right to dispute the debt within 30 days. 12. Ignore your written request to verify the debt and continue to collect A collector can't continue to collect on a debt after you've made a written request to verify the debt as long as the request was made within 30 days of the collector's written notice. 13. Continue to collect on the debt before providing verification After receiving your written dispute, the collector must stop collecting on the debt until you have received verification. 14. Continue collection attempts after receiving a cease communication notice If you make a written request for the collector to cease communication, it can only contact you one more time, via mail to let you know one of the following: that further efforts to collect the debt are terminated, that certain actions may be taken by the collector, or that the collector is definitely going to take certain actions. Repeated violations should be recorded and reported immediately. If you feel you have been a victim of collection harassment call a certified credit counselor for a free financial counseling session and see what options are available for you. You have rights and there are nonprofits out there who will work for you to eliminate collection calls and unscrupulous finance charges and fees. Call 800.905.1563 or visit our website freedomdm.org and LIVE CHAT with a certified credit counselor. You can also complete a contact request form and a certified credit counselor will get back to you within 24 business hours. Our BBB Rated A+ nonprofit counseling services have helped thousands of consumers like you stop collection calls and end creditor harassment. You can be debt free, Freedom Debt can help.

By Freedom Debt Management, Inc.

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