Frequently Asked Questions

GENERAL QUESTIONS

​Can I repair my own credit?

You absolutely can. You have the ability to challenge any information on your credit report you see as inaccurate, unverifiable, or incorrect. Many of our clients have tried to do so on their own but find that the process can be too long, frustrating, and full of challenges. However, utilizing our services can eliminate the stress and free up time to do other things while we do the letter tracking and credit improvement support. Nonetheless, this is personal decision and we will never pressure you into using our services over doing it yourself.  

​Are there any startup fees?

We only charge the monthly fee for services that have been performed and completed.  In other-words, you are only charged after services have been completed each month.

​What is included in the free consultation?

​Your free consultation is provided to explain the services we offer, what affects your credit either positively or negatively, and how your credit score is determined.  This is also a great opportunity to ask questions.  If you choose not to use our services after your free consultation you are not liable for any charges.

​Can I still be a client if I'm not located in california?

Yes, we provide Credit Improvement Services for residents nationwide (unless a restriction applies in a specific state).  Many clients have even been deployed overseas and used our services while out of the country.

​IS MY INFORMATION SECURE?

Yes, we adhere to a very strict privacy policy that protects all of your valuable information.  All client information is protected on a secure server and backed up routinely. To ensure documents are not compromised, we shred all paper documents after saving them in our database.  We use secure computer terminals as well as an encrypted database. All UniqueLife Credit Support team member are trained to properly verify client information and never to disclose this information to unauthorized parties.  Please review our privacy policy for further information. Privacy Policy

SECTION 1: POOR CREDIT CAN BE FIXED

What is poor credit?

​Poor credit is a record of negative credit history. It’s typically characterized by negative listings in credit reports and low credit scores generated by those reports. Anything under 600 is generally considered bad. This is based on a credit score range for which 850 ranks the highest and 300 ranks the lowest (for FICO and VantageScore 3.0 models).

What causes poor credit?

Negative listings in credit reports cause bad credit. These include late payments, collections, charge-offs, foreclosures, liens, judgments, and bankruptcies. Identity theft can also cause bad credit when thieves open new credit accounts in your name or make charges to existing accounts. Until you get incorrect, misleading, unverifiable account information and/or identity theft sorted out, you may have bad credit stemming from these unpaid debts for along time.

How does poor credit affect you?

Bad credit can result in:

• New credit being difficult, if not impossible, to be approved for
• Higher interest rates and deposits if you are approved for credit
• Higher deposits on car rentals
• Higher auto insurance premiums
• Difficulty qualifying for a house or apartment rental
• Difficulty qualifying for a job for a which a credit check is required

How Can poor credit affect employment?

Many employers look at credit reports when making hiring decisions. Some run credit checks on all job applicants, but most employers limit their credit checks to certain positions. For example, if the job requires the handling of money or access to personal information, a credit check is likely. Most military jobs require you to maintain good credit to keep your job clearance. In any case, however, your written permission is required first.

When does poor credit go away?

​There are a few circumstances in which bad credit goes away:

1) Negative listings naturally fall off your credit reports – most after 7 years, bankruptcies after 10

2) Negative listings may be removed after disputing errors on your credit reports

3) Collections may be removed via debt validation or the pay for delete method

SECTION 2: CREDIT IMPROVEMENT

Is Credit repair legal?

Yes, credit repair is legal and our credit education and document processing services will help you to use the law in your favor. That law is called "The Fair Credit Reporting Act." The FCRA gives you the right to dispute any item on your credit report. If that item cannot be verified within a reasonable time (usually 30 days) it must be removed. Studies have shown that 79% of all credit reports contain errors. This is nearly 8 out of 10 reports. Therefore most credit reports improve immediately. For items that disputed that are not errors, a creditor or furnisher is often unable to find the records or signed documents within the allotted time and the item gets removed. Sometimes the furnisher will say it has been verified by not offer proof. It is our job to prepare documents that challenge this and we are very skilled at that.

Is Credit Repair and Education worth my time and money?

Contrary to what credit bureaus want you to believe, credit repair does work in most circumstances. But it only works if you are getting the best advice from an experienced professional. Anyone with a credit score below 720 can benefit long-term from the advice and information provided through credit education. However, there are limiting factors that will prevent us from helping you. Two main factors are: (1) your financial situation and/or (2) the time frame in which you need to reach your results. It is possible to remove anything from a credit report, even accurate items. For instance, if the creditor makes mistakes or does not adhere to the specific time frame, the negative item may be removed.

What can I expect when I enroll in Credit Education?

We will guide you through the process from start to finish and prepare all your documents for you. We have a superb knowledge of credit scoring and experience working with creditors and credit bureaus. It may be difficult for an individual to communicate with creditors and bureaus without an adept understanding of their techniques and regulations in place for credit reporting. We have spent a great deal of time learning the laws that will help you to remove negative information on your report, which enables us to offer you a flawless, money back guarantee system.

What affects your Credit Score?

35% - Payment History
30% - Debt Ratio
15% - Length of Credit History
10% - Types of Credit
10% - Number of Credit Inquiries

We will help you to dispute negative items in your payment history.

• We will show you how to maximize your debt ratio score, even if paying off credit cards is not an option.
• We can also help you to removing credit inquiries from your credit report. Most people are aware of the three credit reporting bureaus, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. The average difference in scores between the highest and lowest of your credit scores, from the three bureaus, is 60 points. This is the result of the credit bureaus having different items on their report, which may be correct, incorrect or are not reported in full compliance with credit law. According to a recent study, nearly 80% of all credit reports have serious errors on them and this does not even include the even smaller errors for which we look.

after starting my credit improvement plan what can I do to help raise my credit score?

• Pay all of your bills on time, every time. This includes your utility bills, mortgage and auto payments, and all of your revolving lines of credit like credit cards. Check your credit report at least once a year. You can find out how to challenge bad information on your credit report here.
• Never charge more than 25% of the available balance on any of your credit cards. Banks like to see a nice record of on-time payments, and several credit cards that are not maxed-out. If you are carrying high balances on your credit cards, then make paying them down below 25% a priority. Do use your credit cards – Many people who make mistakes with their credit believe that the best way to fix things is to never use credit again. If you are afraid that you cannot handle your credit cards correctly then the best policy is probably this one: Run only your utility bills on your credit cards each month, and then pay the balance in full by the due date. This ensures that your utility bills get paid on time automatically, and as long as you keep the habit of paying off your credit card balance each month your score will continue to go up. Leave the credit cards locked in a safe or drawer at home.
• Keep your accounts open as long as possible – Even if you are no longer charging on the card. The best policy is to keep those unused accounts open, blow the dust off your card every few months to make a small purchase, then pay it off. How long each of your accounts have been active is a major factor in your credit score.
• Remember that this all takes time – Following the above steps consistently over a long period of time will increase your credit score and allow you to qualify for better loans and lower interest rates. Repairing your credit score does not happen overnight, so if you do these things for a few months and do not see a large increase in your score, do not give up. They are all habits that you will want to maintain throughout your life, as they will help you to keep your finances and lines of credit under control.

How long will certain items remain on my credit file?

• Delinquencies (30- 180 days): A delinquency may remain on file for seven years; from the date of the initial missed payment.
• Collection Accounts: May remain seven years from the date of the initial missed payment that led to the collection (the original delinquency date). When a collection account is paid in full, it will be marked as a "paid collection" on the credit report.
• Charge-off Accounts: When a delinquent account is sent to a collections company. This will remain for seven years from the date of the initial missed payment that led to the charge-off (the original delinquency date), even if payments are later made on the charge-off account.
• Closed Accounts: Closed accounts are no longer available for further use and may or may not have a zero balance. Closed accounts with delinquencies remain for seven years from the date they are reported closed, whether closed by the creditor or by the consumer. However, the delinquency notation will be removed seven years after the delinquency occurred when pertaining to late payments. Positive closed accounts continue to be reported for ten years from the closing date.
• Lost Credit Card: If there are no delinquencies, credit cards reported as lost will continue to be listed for two years from the date the creditor is contacted. Delinquent payments that occurred before the card was lost are reported for seven years.
• Bankruptcy: Chapters 7, 11, and 12 will remain on one's credit report for ten years from the filing date. A Chapter 13 bankruptcy is reported for seven years from the filing date. Accounts included in a bankruptcy will remain for seven years from the date reported as included in the bankruptcy
• Judgments: Remain seven years from the date filed.
• City, County, State, and Federal Tax Liens: Unpaid tax liens remain for fifteen years from the filing date. A paid tax lien will remain on one's score for 10 years from the date of payment.
• Inquiries: Most inquiries listed on one's credit report will remain for two years. All inquiries must remain for a minimum of one year from the date the inquiry was made. Some inquiries, such as employment or pre-approved offers of credit, will show only on a personal credit report pulled by you.

Information that cannot be in a credit report:

• Medical information (unless you provide consent)
• Notice of bankruptcy (Chapter 11) more than ten years old
• Debts (including delinquent child support payments) more than seven years old
• Age, marital status, or race (if requested from a current or prospective employer)

What is an authorized user account?

Being an authorized user means you can use someone else's credit card in your name. You can make purchases and use the card as if it were your own, but you're not the primary account holder. As an authorized user, you're not legally responsible to pay the credit card bill or any debts that build up.

Learn More:

• Authorized User Accounts​

what does the correspondence letters look like from the credit bureaus?

​See sample correspondence letters from the credit bureau. You will want to forward back to your dispute manager ASAP. ​

When was the Credit Repair Organizations Act enacted?

The Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA) was signed into law in 1996. The CROA prohibits credit repair companies from:

• Making untrue or misleading statements
• Advising consumers to make untrue or misleading statements
• Advising consumers to change their identity or lie about their credit history
• Demanding upfront payment for services that have yet to be completed

How Will the Results of My Dispute Impact My Credit Scores?

Filing a dispute has no impact on your score, however, if information on your credit report changes after your dispute is processed, your credit scores could change. How it changes—whether it goes up, down or stays the same—is dependent on what you are disputing and the outcome of the dispute. Usually, your score fluctuate while in credit repair. However, your score (Vantage Score and/or FICO score) will level off towards the end of the credit improvement process. Even during the rebuilding process your scores will consistently move.

Vantage scores vs. fico scores

VantageScores
​A VantageScore is a credit score jointly developed by the three major credit bureaus to predict how likely you are to repay borrowed money. It is used by lenders, landlords and financial institutions to evaluate creditworthiness. Credit bureaus Experian, TransUnion and Equifax came up with the algorithm to produce VantageScore in 2006, competing against the better-known FICO scores. Initially, VantageScore was on a different scale than FICO, but the most recent revisions have a 300 to 850 scale, just like FICO’s.

FICO Scores
FICO scores are used by lenders and credit card issuers to help decide whether to approve your credit application. FICO scores were introduced by the Fair Isaac Corp. more than 25 years ago, and they are the most widely known credit scoring brand. The terms “credit score” and “FICO score” are often used interchangeably, but FICO is only one type of credit score.

Most FICO scores are on a range of 300 to 850, and the higher the better benefits.

​Nonetheless, we use a monthly third party credit monitoring service (that operates through VantageScores, and generally cost less to maintain on a monthly basis) to update your profile with us. All updates will be refreshed every 30 days for file review purposes. However, we also suggest using FREE monitoring services like Credit Karma in addition to our recommended credit monitoring service to get active updates throughout the month. Just like Credit Karma we use Vantage Scores during the credit improvement process. Please note: All vantage scores are typically 40+/- points difference in comparison to true FICO scores. We suggest using MYFICO.com if you're ready to leverage your credit for major purchases. Simply because, at least 90% of top lenders use FICO® Scores to pre-qualify your purchase(s).

SECTION 3: THE PROCESS

WHEN DISPUTING AN ACC., HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO GET A RESPONSE BACK FROM THE CREDIT BUREAUS?

When disputing the credit bureaus they each have at least 30 days to complete your validation and/or dispute requests. We allow 5 days for our certified letter to reach the bureaus and 5 additional days for you to get correspondence back from them in the mail (40 days approx. before the next file reviews. Keep in mind, improving your credit takes time and patience.

Is credit monitoring required?

All active credit improvement clients must maintain our suggested credit monitoring services.

• It is also important that you do not refresh your active credit monitoring as we will complete this manually each month of active service with us.

WHAT IS THE KEY TO BETTER CREDIT?

ACTIVELY REPAIRING AND BUILDING/REBUILDING CREDIT SIMULTANEOUSLY

It has been proven that when you go after the negatively impacting accounts and actively add new good credit history onto your credit profile can aid in seeing improvement fairly quickly. However, both take discipline, patience and big credit goals. 

Better credit requires many people to re-evaluate their money mindset, the habits that drive their emotional spending, savings goals, etc.

With the right strategy and mentor in place the entire process becomes much each easier over time. The main point is credit is forgiving. Once you know better you tend to do better in all areas financially.

what is the client tracking portal used for?

​As an active client you will have the ability to check updates and status changes 24/7 online for convenience. At log in you'll have access to credit repair status, notes, dispute history, attachments, agreements, and more.

why did my credit score go down?

Actually, there can be a number of factors that cause your credit scores to move. High credit card utilization, late payments and hard inquiries are just a few issues that can impact your credit health. 

A few other factors to consider:

• A derogatory mark was added to your report
• You closed an old credit account
• You paid off your student or car loan
• You recently applied for a new loan or credit card

Now, do keep in mind, while in active credit repair, you may see your credit scores fluctuate more often than not. The fluctuation typically comes from an account pending dispute verification by the credit bureaus. This normally tapers off as you move through the repair and rebuild process. If an account is temporarily/permanently removed from your credit report, for example, the credit bureaus' have launched their investigation on an account in question.

​For future reference, updating your credit report (through the natural process of credit building) could affect your credit score both positive and/or negatively through general credit utilization, account history, etc. so continue to monitor your credit, manage your active lines of credit and allow the credit score algorithms work in your favor.

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