In 2002 I was a sales rep for Bellsouth earning quite a nice salary. While working as a rep at Bellsouth I earned anywhere from $35-$40 an hour plus bonuses. In 2003 our sales center was closed and many reps were laid off. I was among the last of the reps to be laid off.
Fortunately I had saved a lot of my money but I had recently bought a new home. We were a family that home schooled so my wife did not work.
For 3 months I was unable to find a decent paying job. Eventually we got further and further behind on our mortgage and it is hard to catch up on $1700 a month payments when you get behind. I started not paying on my bills such as ATT cell phone, Comcast cable and other things.
I went from a great credit rating to a poor one in a matter of 1 year. My poor credit rating affected everything. I had to pay cash for everything. Now I realize that was not so bad but everyone needs some kind of credit.
I was told by a friend to try a credit repair company and I researched many of them. Eventually after a few weeks of checking them out through the BBB and through online reviews I found one I was comfortable with. This company I began working taught me the ins and out of what is needed to get your credit back on track in order to get loan.
Most people think that repairing credit is a major process. Usually the hardest part is just getting starting by receiving you credit reports. It is amazing how many people go year to year without knowing what is on their credit report. Each year the credit bureaus will allow you to receive 1 free credit report.
You will need to contact the 3 major credit bureaus: Trans Union, Equifax and Experian. All you need to do is just Google each company, look them up and call them during their normal hours to speak to a customer service rep. Just let the rep know that you have not received a credit report this year and you would like to receive one. Usually the reps are very helpful and will make sure you get the needed info to get your credit report.
Once you have your reports in hard, go over them to make sure the information on them is accurate. My father is a Senior and I am a Junior and immediately I had found a couple of his items that were negative on my report. I contacted those creditors to let them know to check the social security number of the debt and they realized it was my fathers and it removed immediately.
I also realized I had a few small debts for less than $100 on my report that was affecting my score. I immediately contacted those creditors and made an arrangement and the companies settled both debts for about $70 total for both.
Over time I began to learn the business of credit repair myself. Eventually all my creditors were contracted and we renegotiated payment settlements at a smaller percentage of what was originally owed and in some cases there were issues on my report that did not belong to me that I got deleted.
Eventually I found steady employment and used a percentage of my salary to slowly pay my debts in small increments focusing on one at a time, paying it off, then rolling the money over to another bill and so on. After about 8 months my credit is now respectable and I can get loans whenever I need them.
If you need similar help with bad credit please get and locate a good credit repair counselor. It really works! Some companies allow you to get a Loan, Debt Consolidation Loan, Bad Credit Loan, Credit Repair, Mortgage and Refinancing once your credit has been cleared up.
