Timing is an essential part of life… ⏰
Whether you’re a comedian telling a joke… 🤣
Or a young family trying to buy a home… 🏠
It’s all about… … … … timing!
So, in this week's podcast, we’re gonna talk about timing, how it affects your credit repair business, the Statute of Limitations, and how to remove negative items from credit reports.
But I’m doing more than just talking…
I’m also giving you a FREE guide to show you the maximum amount of time that items are allowed to appear on your credit report. It’s called the Credit Time Clock!
It’s an amazing tool that will help you track and remove negative items from credit reports.
Now, if you’re a Credit Hero, you already know how important timing is for your business.
But if you’re new to credit repair, you need to know that timing is everything!
For example, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) gives the credit bureaus 30 days to correct or delete incomplete or inaccurate items from the moment they receive your dispute letter.
And the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) gives debt collectors 5 days from the moment of first contact with a consumer, to send them a letter with the basic information on a debt (the amount, the original creditor's name, and a summary of the consumer's rights).
If ANY of these timelines are violated, then that can put your clients in a better position to have the negative items REMOVED!
Do you see why timing is so important?!
That’s why today I’m going to share with you the Credit Time Clock which is essentially the Statute of Limitations for credit reporting.
Ok, let’s get into this…
The Statute of Limitations (SOL) is simply a set period of time for bringing certain kinds of legal action.
But even though the definition is simple, they can be very complicated.
So I'm going to simplify this for you…
There are Statutes of Limitations at both the State and Federal levels.
And depending on the situation, it’s possible, for example, that a credit card company might file a suit in any of these state jurisdictions:
So, today we will be focusing on timeframes instead of on locations.
There are also two different types of Statutes of Limitations: Debt Collection and Credit Reporting.
Today we’re focusing on the Credit Reporting side.
Now, the FCRA has determined how long items can remain on credit reports and when they must be removed.
For a long time, it was a common belief that everything on credit reports had a 7-year lifespan...
But that is actually false!
In some situations, the Statutes of Limitations can be shorter, or longer, or they can even allow items to remain INDEFINITELY.
Okay, here’s how it works…
The credit bureaus keep personal credit history for each item, for a specific amount of time, based on the date of FIRST DELINQUENCY - which isn’t the day they made the original charge, no...
It’s the day that your client officially STOPPED paying.
To put it another way, if the Credit Time Clock is a stopwatch, the date of First Delinquency is when you click the START button.
Each item on that report has its own lifespan and it needs to be tracked until it’s resolved.
You also might expect items to automatically “fall off” your client's credit report when the time clock is over…
But this isn’t always the case!
If your client has an unpaid Tax Lien, it can stay on their credit report INDEFINITELY!
There’s also the issue of ERRORS in the credit reports.
Sometimes honest errors happen but sometimes creditors or debt collectors will PURPOSELY report false “status” dates in the hopes of keeping items on your report longer.
That’s why I created the Credit Time Clock…
To help you stay informed on the current regulations and limitations.
The Credit Time Clock is quick guide to remind you that…
FORECLOSUREs stay on credit reports for 7 years after the date of First Delinquency.
CHARGE-OFFs stay on credit reports for 7 years and 180 days after the date of First Delinquency.
COLLECTION ACCOUNTS stay on credit reports for 7 years and 180 days after the date of First Delinquency on the original account.
CHAPTER 7 BANKRUPTCY’s stay on credit reports for 10 years after the filing date.
HARD CREDIT INQUIRIES stay on credit reports for 2 years after the inquiry was authorized.
PRIVATE DEFAULTED STUDENT LOANs stay on credit reports 7 years after the date of First Delinquency.
FEDERAL DEFAULTED STUDENT LOANs stay on credit reports 7 years after the date of First Delinquency OR until you bring the loan current. BUT Perkins loans remain until they’re paid in full.
And there’s plenty more where that came from!
Remember, each item has its own lifespan.
If the lifespan has ended, and the item is still on your report, you can write to the credit bureau and demand that the item be removed based on it being past the Statute of Limitations.
And it will be removed immediately!
If you’d like your FREE download of the Credit Time Clock, the guide to all the Statutes of Limitations on Credit Reporting, plus the Debt Collection Clock for all states…Click on the image below…
These guides and others are available in the Credit Repair Cloud Basic Disputing Course, which is a part of our Credit Hero Challenge!
And if you’re just dabbling in the credit repair industry and would like me to hold you by the hand as you launch your very own credit repair business over just a couple of weeks - I wanna invite you to join our upcoming Credit Hero Challenge!
It’s an amazing program where you’ll learn the processes that have made millionaires, and it costs less than you'll spend taking your family to McDonald’s for dinner.
We’ve got another challenge starting in a few days so grab your spot right now at CreditHeroChallenge.com!
Until then, keep your eye on the clock…and keep changing lives!