Bad Credit Survival Blog

FREE Cash Assistance to Help You Buy Your Own Home

2005-01-07T14:44:00.000-08:00

Before I purchased my townhouse I was paying over $1,200 a month living in my apartment. Today I pay just under $1,000 a month for my mortgage.

Okay that's not so amazing.

What is amazing is how I got the down payment to buy my townhouse.

Basically I was online searching for something totally unrelated when I stumbled upon a program that offered free cash for buying a home, starting a business or for post-secondary education.

For every dollar I saved, I would receive a $3 match. (Yes... you read that correctly!)

Every month I saved $50 and I'd get a $150 match from the program sponsor. By the end of 18 months I had personally saved $900. The program sponsor matched that with an additional $2,700. It was enough for me to put the downpayment on my townhouse.

As I began doing more research I found that this program is run in every state except Wyoming. And yet everytime I looked online for homebuying tips, I'd never saw anything about it.

That's because it's rarely promoted in the mainstream media. I suppose people know about it primarily through word-of-mouth.

Anyway, I've compiled a new report titled Freely Available Cash Assistance to Help You Buy Your Own Home that offers detailed information about this wonderful program, as well as several others.

If you're in the "I-wanna-buy-a-home" mood, I guarantee you'll find it to be a worthwhile investment.

Alexis Dawes
Author, How to Get a Bank Account Even if You're in the ChexSystem
http://www.GetCheckingNow.com

AND

Freely Available Cash Assistance to Help You Buy Your Own Home
http://www.Free-Cash-To-Buy-A-Home.com

DirectChecking.com Chimes In

2005-01-06T15:29:00.000-08:00

Many of you have written to me in the past couple of weeks complaining that you had signed up for a checking account through DirectChecking.com, and hadn't received anything.

I posted several messages on this blog outright questioning their ethics and lack of response, as many of you had privately e-mailed me saying that they weren't answering e-mails even though you had paid the $35 fee.

Well today I received an e-mail from Deborah Piersma, owner of DirectChecking.com.

Deborah relayed to me that they had some problems with a partner who was supposed to be supplying the checking accounts. She told me that she is working hard to contact each person who ordered from them.

I told her that I would send each person who privately contacted me about DirectChecking.com a message on how to contact her. I also told her that I would post her e-mail address here.

Now that Deborah has contacted me I feel a little more comfortable in saying that everything should be okay with readers either getting a refund, or the services that you paid for.

With that said, I've removed all previous posts about DirectChecking.com. This gives them a fresh start, to re-build their credibility in their customers eyes.

You may contact Deborah at (customerservice@directchecking.com). She didn't give me a phone number. But she claims to be making a good faith effort to contact everybody.

Other questions or problems? Please don't hesitate to e-mail me. I really do want to see a happy ending to all of this.

Alexis Dawes
Author, How to Get a Bank Account Even if You're in the ChexSystem
http://www.GetCheckingNow.com

Would You Do THIS to Get Some Credit?

2005-01-05T21:31:00.000-08:00

A reader e-mailed me yesterday in regards to some information she had recently purchased. Here's what she said...

I came across this site that said that I can get a new 9 digit number to use for credit purposes ONLY, but my ss# would be used for everything else. They seem to be on the up and up and I was curious to hear your feed back on this.

Here's my reply...

As far as that 9 digit number you can use for credit purposes - DON'T DO IT!

What they're telling you to do is get a federal tax ID number through the IRS. (It's also a 9 digit number.)

Many years ago it was purported that you could use the tax ID number - (also known as an EIN - Employer Identification Number) - to obtain credit. But nowadays creditors have gotten hip to the game. You can no longer use a tax ID number to obtain credit. If I were you, I wouldn't try it.

And here's what she e-mailed back to me...

Alexis,

I wanted to Thank you so very much for actually replying back to me. That was well appreciated.

To let you know I DID purchase the information on the 9 digit EIN. Once I downloaded it and read through it I could tell that it was something that I did NOT want to do or attempt to do. Plus to top it off, when they tell you to apply for the credit card that you will FOR SURE be accepted through I noticed that the phone number for that credit card company was the same as their office number. So that threw up a RED FLAG with me. And after reading more into it and them telling me that I needed to go to another state to get a new name and drivers license number, that threw another RED FLAG up for me. Also the fact that I have to get another address and phone number and have $500 dollars to do all this from what they tell you was a MAJOR NOT HAPPENING.

Attempting to use an EIN as your SSN is an old scam. But it can be made to sound really desirable to somebody in a bad credit situation.

The bottom line is - don't try it at home!

It's now a common practice for creditors to run SSN checks just to make sure the number you're giving is not an EIN. I can't honestly say that you won't get caught. I'm just giving my honest opinion in this situation.

Alexis Dawes
Author, How to Get a Bank Account Even if You're in the ChexSystem
http://www.GetCheckingNow.com

My Experience With a Credit Repair Company

2005-01-02T20:16:00.000-08:00

A reader e-mailed me a few days ago with question.

He wanted to hire a credit repair agency to get some negative entries removed from his credit report. He wanted to know if I could recommend a specific service.

I actually used a credit repair service 6 years ago to clean up some old debt. It was a toss up between the company I used (whose name eludes me at the moment, but who I also think is not in business anymore) and Lexington Law Firm.

I did my due dilligence, and researched both companies.

Lexington had a TON of complaints from previous customers, so I decided to go with the other company.

Besides that, I had somehow signed up to receive more info from Lexington, and to this day I still get e-mail's from them trying to persuade me to use their service. I've tried unsubscribing countless times to no avail. There's no way I would work with a company like that.

Anyway, this particular company did manage to get 2-3 negative entries removed. And as soon as I thought I was home free those same negative's would re-appear, just as fresh as ever, a couple of months later.

I was paying something like $30 for each deleted item, in addition to a $19.95 monthly fee.

In the end I didn't think it was worth it to pay a monthly fee, and a deleted item fee, only to have the negative entry return like Jason from Friday the 13th.

So I decided to cancel the service.

In the end I had to snail-mail the company a letter stating that I wanted to close my account. What a freaking pain in the butt that is! They took my money online, but couldn't close the account online. That was just a ploy to keep milking their customers, if you ask me.

If you should decide to go with a credit repair service just make sure you ask the following questions:

* What is the monthly/quarterly fee?

* When are those fee's requested?

* What do they do for that fee?

* Are there any per item deletion fee's? What happens if that item re-appears on your credit report?

* How long have they been in business? How long have they been offering the service through the Internet? (You can see how long their site has been in existence by doing a Whois search. Simply type in the URL of the site, and you'll be shown all sorts of background information about it.)

* What type of items do they dispute?

* What is the average turnaround for getting items deleted?

* What happens if 4-6 months pass and there are no deleted items? Is there any sort of refund policy?

* What do you do to cancel the service?

Keep an eye on this blog. As I stated before I'll be offering some alternative tips for repairing your credit in the upcoming months.

Alexis Dawes
Author, How to Get a Bank Account Even if You're in the ChexSystem
http://www.GetCheckingNow.com

How to Get Your Free Credit Report From the 3 Major Bureaus

2004-12-30T22:12:00.000-08:00

A recent amendment to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires each of the nationwide consumer reporting companies to provide you with a free copy of your credit report, at your request, once every 12 months.

On December 1, 2004 consumers in the western states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming, were able to begin taking advantage of this new amendment.

If you're in one of these states, you may request your credit report from the 3 major bureaus (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) from https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp.

The Midwestern states — Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin - will be able to theirs starting March 1, 2005.

The Southern states — Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas - on June 1, 2005.

And the Eastern states — Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia — the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and all U.S. territories - will be given the green light on September 1, 2005.

For all the tiny print details about this offer please go to the FTC's web site at
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/freereports.htm.

Even though you only get 1 free report a year from all 3 bureaus, I must say this...

IT'S ABOUT TIME!

Happy Holidays!

Alexis Dawes
Author, "How to Get a Bank Account Even if You're in the ChexSystem"
http://www.GetCheckingNow.com

P.S.- You may now read this blog via your My Yahoo! page.

Simply click on the My Yahoo! button below and follow the directions. Thanks for your support!

Capital One Interest Rate Decrease - PART 2

2004-12-21T22:11:00.000-08:00

I came... I saw... and I DIDN'T conquer.

Capital One told me the interest rate I currently have - 14.9% - is the lowest they could possibly go right now. So I'll have to ride it out at that rate for now.

I figured while I was doing some experimenting that I would also try for a limit increase. No luck on that one either.

But here's something I didn't know... the request for a limit increase involves checking your credit report. I thought they just looked at things like your balance, previous payments, and the such.

So now I unknowingly added an inquiry on to my credit report, which I'm honestly kind of pissed about.

Oh well, you live and you learn.

Until tomorrow,

Alexis Dawes
Author, How to Get a Bank Account Even if You're in the ChexSystem
http://www.GetCheckingNow.com

P.S.- You may now read this blog via your My Yahoo! page.

Simply click on the My Yahoo! button below and follow the directions. Thanks for your support!

Capital One Interest Rate Decrease - PART 1

2004-12-20T23:14:00.000-08:00

I was reading an article today about raising the sales conversion on a web site. The author wrote that improving a sites conversion by 1%-2% could conceivably double your sales.

That got me thinking about the interest rate on my Capital One card. If I could get my interest rate a few points lower I could save $10-$60+ a year in fee's.

I doesn't seem like a lot. But every little bit helps.

So tomorrow I'll be calling Capital One to ask for a lower interest rate. Heck, I've been a good customer. I faithfully pay more than the monthly minimum.

I've been late once. But I figure it's worth a try.

The worst that could happen is that I'll have to continue paying a bill that I'm used to paying anyway. However I could get a few bucks knocked off every month, which is better than nothing.

Tune in tomorrow to see what happens.

Alexis Dawes
Author, How To Get a Bank Account Even if You're in the ChexSystem
http://www.GetCheckingNow.com

P.S.- You may now read this blog via your My Yahoo! page.

Simply click on the My Yahoo! button below and follow the directions. Thanks for your support!

Some Credit Beats No Credit When Repairing Bad Credit

2004-12-19T21:23:00.000-08:00

I've had a Capital One credit card for approximately 4-5 years, and have only been late making payments one time. (A year ago.)

I had 2-3 other cards through First Consumers National Bank, but they closed down that program a couple of years ago. So even though I'm paying the bill, it's not an active line of credit.

That's why when I got a pre-approved offer through First Premier Bank, I decided to take it.

Granted, it's not one of the greatest offers around. Actually the Issuance Fee's are outrageous. $95 one time fee, $29 account set-up fee (one time), $48 annual fee, $72 annual participation fee (billed at $6 a month). Ouch!

But the bottom line is that I need to accumulate some open credit lines and maintain them to improve my credit situation.

Creditors want to see that you can responsibly handle existing credit. That's how you move up the line to bigger and better credit offers.

And as of right now my credit report is littered with far more negative info, than positive. So I'm gonna have to bite the bullet and see if I can get this card. I only plan on using it for one purchase a month, then pay it off in full.

I'll keep you posted if and when I get it. I'm tracking my credit score to see the difference it makes if I should get it.

Alexis Dawes
Author, How To Get a Bank Account Even if You're in the ChexSystem
http://www.GetCheckingNow.com

P.S.- You may now read this blog via your My Yahoo! page.

Simply click on the My Yahoo! button below and follow the directions. Thanks for your support!

How a Nice Girl From New York Turned Into the Bad Credit Vixen

2004-12-18T22:38:00.000-08:00

I have a 2.5 year old daughter.

When she gets older and we're having all those talks about boys, sex, drugs, peer pressure, and the such, I'm gonna make sure I have a special speech pre-planned about the importance of maintaining good credit. I surely wish my parents would have told me.

Now I'm 30, single, a mom AND I have awful credit. (Actually the first 3 aren't bad at all!) But that bad credit bug is one heck of a beast to slay.

I started accumulating bad credit when I was 19. I had a major allergic reaction to some pizza and had to call an ambulance. The entire emergency room experience cost over $1,000.

I didn't have the money to pay for it, so I let it slide.

Over the years hospital bills piled up. (I have asthma and was using the emergency room like a regular doctors visit. Sucks when you don't have insurance, and can't afford it.)

Periodically other little bills were sent to collections. I paid what I could. And the others? Well I just let them slide.

A couple of years ago a new client of mine gave me a check for $1,200 that turned out to be counterfeit. This little snafu put me in the ChexSystem, which was REALLY the icing on the cake. (By the way, if you're in the ChexSystem I've written a report titled How to Get a Bank Account Even if You're in the ChexSystem. It can be found at http://www.GetCheckingNow.com.)

Now I sit here 11 years later with judgements, charge-off's and a credit score that makes me want to shoot myself in the foot. It's a tough road to walk. But I used my years to pave it with quicksand, so what can I expect.

This blog will basically document my experiences in rebuilding my credit from the ground up. I won't be using one technique in particular. I have a variety of ideas that I've picked up over the years which I intend to try out.

While you're here you'll also find other interesting credit-related tid-bit's I'll be stumbling across.

Hopefully my journey will inspire you to work on your rebuilding your credit. At the very least you'll have a point a reference to explore when you're ready to do so.

I hope the water's not too cold!

Alexis "Bad-Credit-Survivor" Dawes
Author, How to Get a Bank Account Even if You're in the ChexSystem
http://www.GetCheckingNow.com

P.S.- You may now read this blog via your My Yahoo! page.

Simply click on the My Yahoo! button below and follow the directions. Thanks for your support!