Congressman Lacy Clay and Donna Perkins

Congressman Lacy Clay and Donna Perkins photographed at an event August 5th as a fundraiser for Congressman Clay's reelection.  At this event, Ms Perkins was representing the National Association of Credit Services Organizations (NACSO), the organization that scrutinizes and monitors the best practices of those Credit Restoration firms who voluntarily participate for the good of the industry.

Ms. Perkins serves as a member of the Board of Directors of that organization, and as the chair of Membership.  It is vitally important that the general public understand the kinds of things going on in the industry.  That is why, as a board member, Ms. Perkins supports Congressman Clay who is working with other members of Congress towards a solution.

It is well known, and now documented by 60 minutes, that the three credit reporting agencies:  TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian are attempting to influence Congress to change the consumer protection laws in their favor.  They want us to believe that we would be better off if THEY are the only ones who can solve credit report problems.  But consider this:  if the people who gather the data, decide what information to use, then arbitrarily decide what your credit score will be, then report different information to the lenders – have control over fixing their broken system, how will the public benefit?  Can you say "wolf guarding the hen house"?

Congressman Clay is gathering infomation to take back to committees that he sits on or chairs in order to formulate an answer to this outrageous request by the 3 bureaus.  If they are allowed to have their way, all people in the US will suffer.  The banks who lend money to us rely on the information provided to them by the 3 bureaus.  If it is not accurate, every American will be allowed less and less credit.  The way our banking system sits today, that means that the 3 bureaus will make more and more money selling their data to the banks.  The banks rely on the 3 bureaus for accuracy, and recently on 60 minutes, it was reported that 40 million mistakes are to be found within the 3 credit reporting agencies.  Ms. Perkins and others involved in the credit restoration business, are dedicated to working out a solution to this conundrum.  See 60 minutes video here:  60 minutes:  40 million innacuracies.

Donna Perkins

With 23 years in the business of credit restoration, and more than 110,000 happy customers, KC Credit Services can solve your credit report problems.  Contact us today!

I'll bet you didn't know those collector calls can mean gold for you.  It is probable that one or more collectors are violating your rights.  The only way to prove that and make a case that we can work with is to keep good records.  By keeping accurate records of these calls, and in some cases letters you get, we may be able to sue your creditors and obtain some penalty fees for you.

You can help yourself protect your rights if you keep a record of those calls.  This can be accomplished in one of two ways:

1)  write it down on a log.  Keep this information on the log:  name of caller, company he/she represents, time of the call, start and stop time of the call, what was said during the call, especially if abusive language, threatening language, or untrue/unfair statements are made.  Note the call back number if your phone shows it.

2)  record the call.  Discover whether your phone system or cell phone can record calls, then be sure you hit the record button at the start of the call.  If necessary, have the person repeat what might have been missed at the beginning of the call while you were recording it.

Donna Perkins

3)  be sure to mention you are recording the call, as required by law.

Keep those records in one place.  When it comes time to do something about it, call us and one of our Credit Concierges(tm) will discuss with you the next steps.  When creditors or collectors violate your rights, it is possible that we can obtain some money for you.  It's about time!

Be sure to ask about our Debt Negotiation services, and our debt relief program for total debts over $20,000 and up to $300,000, including business debts that were signed for personally.

When you are single and apply for a credit card, house or car, you are the only one responsible.  You are the one that affects your credit score…nobody else.

When you decide to marry, or team up with someone to apply for joint credit, there are some interesting dynamics you should be aware of.  Everything that occurs, good or bad, affects both of your credit scores.

1)            You are responsible for 100% of the debt incurred when you share a card.  So if your “partner” decides to bail, you will still be responsible for paying the debt, whether you personally spent the money or not. 

2)            When you marry or have joint accounts, the actions that both of you exhibit affect both of your credit scores.  This is especially true in the lives of married couples. 

3)            If you co-sign on someone else’s debt, and the default, YOU will be left with the responsibility of paying the debt, even if you never benefitted from what was purchased. 

4)            For parents who co-sign for a child – say one who is starting college, this is especially troubling.  Parents would be better off making their child an “authorized user”.  This simply means that the child will have the ability to charge expenses on the card up to a certain limit set by the parents.  In this case, the parents can limit their liability.

5)            In the case of a married couple, given the 50%+ divorce rate these days, it may be better to keep most credit separate.  Perhaps only con-join your credit for a big purchase like a house.  In this way, the ownership and responsibility for the debt is never in question.  If you have everything joint, divorce court cannot help you.  Each of you is 100% responsible to repay the debts incurred…regardless of who ends up with the real property purchased. 

Donna Perkins

If your credit score is suffering, you can get help.  Credit restoration specialists are at your service to help you decide some of these troubling questions.  They can assist you in cleaning up your credit history so your score goes up naturally.  Why not call us today for a free consultation?  Your privacy is our utmost concern.  Click here…

At KC Credit Services, our 22 year spotless record speaks for itself.  With more than 110,000 customers served, our Credit Concierges™ know what can and cannot be done.  If you hear it here, you can bank on it.  The BBB gives us an A+ rating…very difficult to come by in the industry.

So…is credit repair a scam?  According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you have the RIGHT to dispute inaccuracies on your credit reports.  The bureaus have an OBLIGATION to assist you in removing inaccurate information.  However, getting to do that can sometimes be difficult.

Companies like ours excel at getting these inequities taken care of.  While we will not guarantee any specific results, we do guarantee credit improvement.  And we guarantee that an item removed by us will not come back later to haunt you, or we will work on it for free.

Credit repair is a delicate balance between what you say happened, the creditor says happened, and what the bureaus say happened.  This is why you need a professional company with loads of experience to assist you.  Without the finite knowledge that we have, a consumer has little chance of achieving their score goals.

As we practice the craft, credit repair is NOT a scam.  Be sure that you thoroughly check out any company that you are considering using for this purpose.  Use www.ripoffreport.com to check out the company as well as the representative before making a decision to move forward.  You can also check through www.creditboards.com and www.debtbords.com to see if your choice for credit repair has any kind of negative press about them.

Donna Perkins

Now is the time to work on your credit profile…before you NEED it to qualify for a loan, whether it be for a home, car, or other large purchase…even a credit card.  If you want to pay the lowest possible interest, your score needs to be above 740 in today’s environment.  If you credit score is not at that number, you may need a firm like ours to help you get there.  Click here for more information.

Well, did you know that now there is an additional new fee?  If you try to access funds in excess of what you have in your bank, some banks are now charging you for doing that?  And this includes this type of scenario:  You have $100 in your bank account.  $30 is “on hold” for another transaction.  You try to withdraw $80 and the transaction is rejected because you do not have enough available balance.  You get charged a fee, even though you did not get any money out. Outrageous!

Many consumers do not know that they are going to get charged, or how much, unless the screen tells them they will be charged a certain fee.  In the past, bank ATMs have been required to post a “sticker” that says there will be a fee, but recently that has been relaxed. 

Through the efforts of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB), banks will now be required to post on the screen the amount of the charge to use the ATM.  However, consumers are on their own to be aware of their own bank charges.  If you are using an ATM at one bank in order to withdraw funds from your own bank, there will usually be an ATM fee associated with the bank upon which you are withdrawing funds, AND a fee at your own bank for using a competing ATM machine.  The CFPB now requires banks to show the fee for the transaction within the bank upon which the funds are being accessed.

Donna Perkins

There are a few lenders who do not charge this fee, and they include Capital One, USAA and Ally Bank.

Our federal student loan consolidation program can fix that.  After enrollment, the Company pulls information on all your loans, then negotiates with your creditors for 3-4 months forbearance so you don't have to make payments while they are working on your accounts.  They negotiate with all your lenders to pay off the loans, and create a new loan for you under the Federal government.  This new loan is designed to lower interest rates, shorten the term of the payback period, and provide you with one lower monthly payment.  Contact us today to obtain a free quote that will help you decide if this program is right for your situation.  Click Here.

Under certain circumstances, if you have been paying your loans consistently over time, and you are in public service, you may qualify for forgiveness of the debt.  Wow! 

What do we mean by public service?  Federal, state, local, or Tribal government organization, agency, or entity (includes most public schools, colleges and universities);

• A public child or family service agency;
• A non-profit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code that is exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code (includes most not-for-profit private schools, colleges, and universities); A Tribal college or university; or A private organization that is not a for-profit business, a labor union, a partisan political organization, or an organization engaged in religious activities (unless the qualifying activities are unrelated to religious instruction, worship services, or any form of proselytizing) and that provides the following public services:
• Emergency management
• Military
• Public safety
• Law enforcement
• Public interest law services
• Early childhood education (including licensed or regulated health care, Head Start, and state-funded pre-kindergarten);
• Public service for individuals with disabilities and the elderly;
• Public health (including nurses, nurse practitioners, nurses in a clinical setting, and full-time professionals engaged in health care practitioner occupations and health care support occupations);
• Public education
• Public library services; and School library or other school-based services.
  

  Donna Perkins

Why not contact us today to learn more about how we can help you?  Click Here.

For instance, In Georgia recently, there was a husband and wife who were indicted for allegedly defrauding an elderly veteran with dementia.  They got about $182,000 from him before someone figured out what was happening.  The wife of the couple was a former in-home caregiver, with access to records, checkbook and more.  As the police look into this situation more fully, they estimate that more charges are coming because there is $500,000 missing.

A handyman convinced an elderly woman to give him power of attorney.  He then took out a reverse mortgage on her home, which she almost lost before she got help.  She had owned it since the 1950's, so you can imagine how much money he took.

A California investment firm's CEO and CFO were charged with 66 counts of felony elder abuse, securities fraud, and conspiracy for bilking older investors out of more than $2.3 million over an eight year period. 

These cases are especially heart wrenching, and difficult to prosecute for the social services, criminial justice and consumer protection agencies.  These practices also indicate that a family member needs to have a role in spotting and preventing this abuse.  But often the victims do not have relatives that will help.

Because of these problems, the CFPB's Office for Older Americans is developing guides for family members and others with legal authority to handle money for older relatives or friends.  The guides will help people understand proper record keeping, and creating good frameworks.  The guide will also make it easier to spot and respond to financial exploitation.

A guide is also being produced to help people who operate group living centers dedicated to serving older adults, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and other organizations who currently oversee such things.

Donna Perkins

If you need this help, you can access information on this website:  http://www.consumerfinance.gov/askcfpb/search?q=&selected_facets=audience_exact%3AOlder%20Americans

If you have a story to report, go here.  https://help.consumerfinance.gov/app/tellyourstoryhttps://help.consumerfinance.gov/app/tellyourstory

The place to start is at this website:  http://www.consumerfinance.gov/paying-for-college  On this website you will find questions and answers to better help you make informed decisions about the various student loan products out there. 

Should you opt for federal student loans, or go to a private source?  Find out on this next website:  http://www.consumerfinance.gov/paying-for-college/repay-student-debt/#Question-1

Choosing a loan that is right for you and your ability to repay it is crucial to your decision making process.  On this website, you will go through three steps that can help you pick the right one for you.  http://www.consumerfinance.gov/paying-for-college/choose-a-student-loan/#o1

So now you have the money, now what?  How do you manage that loan successfully?  Most of us never learned simple financial rules during our high school years, so how do we learn?  This website will provide those answers.  http://www.consumerfinance.gov/paying-for-college/manage-your-college-money/#o1

Donna Perkins

Keep the information on these websites.  Soon, the CFPB will have a financial tool that will allow you to compare loan offers!  Check back frequently to see when it is available.

1)     Consumers have access to their credit reports for free once per year through www.annualcreditreport.com.  Previously, only the report was available, and not the scores.  This legislation proposes that when a consumer pulls their free report, they get scores as well.

2)     Consumers attempting to purchase a home or refinance a loan are affected sometimes negatively by the credit reports purchased by their creditors from the three major bureaus, Experian, CSC/Equifax and TransUnion.  The bureaus sell a different type of report to them than those available to the general public.  Therefore, a consumer can be blindsided by a report that is quite different from the one they can get for free or purchase.  This legislation proposes to make the bureaus have one consistent report available to both creditors and consumers.

3)     This legislation will strengthen current prohibitions against deceptive marketing of free or low-cost credit reports and credit scores.

4)     At this time, consumers are barred from suing to enforce their rights regarding the use and disclosure of their credit information.  This legislation proposes to fix an error in the current law so consumers have that right once again.

Donna Perkins

The furor over the Federal Trade Commission's recent disclosure that up to 5% of credit reports contain errors serious enough to negatively affect their ability to borrow at the best interest rates is behind this legislation.  To read more about this story, click here.

If you feel you have errors on your credit report, why not contact us today for a free evaluation.  Click here.

The Federal Trade Commission[1], who along with the help of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, has long been the watchdog of the credit repair industry.  In the past five years, the number of complaints by consumers about unfair dealings with credit repair companies has diminished each year.  In 2012, there were about 2,000,000 complaints across all sectors of business.  There were less than 2,000 complaints against companies engaged in this work, with 999 out of 1,000 related to something other than credit repair work. 

In the past, many of the companies who advertise these services have, in their zeal to get their message out there, promised things that are not possible or unlawful.  Guaranteeing that a specific item or a specific type of item can be removed from a consumers reports, charging for their work up front, and suggesting alternative identities are the kinds of practices that have pretty much been stopped by the top firms.

One of the ways this has occurred is that companies like KC Credit Services, who is one of the oldest firms in this field at 22 years and counting, have joined forces with other like-minded companies to create a voluntary oversight organization called the National Association of Credit Services Organizations[2] (NACSO).  Companies who want to do business the right way join this organization and abide by its guidelines and compliance requirements.

NACSO President, Randall Chesnutt, recently said “Credit repair has never been more important for consumers, especially in this economy, where identity theft and errors in credit reporting are rampant.  NACSO has maintained this view and recent Federal Trade Commission reports affirm the same with data.”

Identity theft is the number one complaint by consumers received by the Federal Trade Commission in 

2012.  The top offenders across all categories on their list include debt collection agencies, banks and lenders, shop-at-home and catalog sales. 

According to Donna Perkins, President of KC Credit Services and Secretary of the current NACSO Board of Directors “identity theft is widespread and growing, so consumers should check their credit reports frequently.  If consumers find they have erroneous, outdated or unverifiable listings on their credit reports, they should act immediately.”

Ms. Perkins continued “mistakes on the credit reports are costing consumers thousands of dollars in higher interest rates on credit cards, car loans and mortgages.”  If you suspect there are errors on your reports, you should contact an experienced credit restoration firm.  Contact us today!  Click Here.

Donna Perkins

 

 

 

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[1] Federal Trade Commission.  www.ftc.gov

 

 

 

[2] National Association of Credit Services Organizations.  www.nacso.org