When you speak with credit grantors, collection agencies, or credit bureaus, their typically under-educated staff may tell you all manner of pseudo-legal nonsense, like all credit items must appear on your report for seven years. The truth is that negative listings cannot appear on your credit report for longer than seven years (10 years for bankruptcies), but the credit grantor or the credit bureau can choose to delete the negative credit listing whenever they see fit.

The bureaus boldly deny that information can be removed from a credit report, when the truth is that it happens tens of thousands of times a day. Don't believe the propaganda!

It used to be that attorneys were forbidden from advertising their services because it was considered unprofessional. When that law was repealed, lawyers found dozens of new industries in which they could promote their services. Credit repair companies often employ attorneys to legitimize their efforts and to justify their high fees.

All these services do is send out a series of letters on your behalf to the credit bureaus. They charge monthly for this service because federal law forbids them from charging an upfront fee. But by charging monthly, they have zero incentive to speed up the process. Therefore, they actually take more time than necessary in order to rack up the fees. It's not unusual for it to take several years before you see results from these companies. By that time, you've paid thousands of dollars for results you could have acheived with Credit Repair Magic in a fraction of the time.

Also, because you have to fill out so many forms and continually send the attorneys your credit reports every time they come in, it actually takes more of your personal time than it will with Credit Repair Magic's self-directed approach.

Many people think that paying off a collection or making a late payment current will magically fix their credit report. The truth is that simply paying off a debt will not improve your credit rating much, if at all.

Negative credit is allowed to stay on the credit report for a maximum of seven and one half years, except for bankruptcy which may remain on the credit report for ten years. Under the old Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the seven year clock began ticking on "the date of last activity" or, in other words, when the last action took place on the account. Under the revised FCRA, the credit bureaus must start the seven year clock on the first payment that you missed that led to the collection or charge off status. Now, creditors and collection agencies aren't allowed to extend the reporting period by passing the account back and forth between collection agencies.

However, by paying an outstanding, delinquent debt you will change the account status to "paid collection," "paid was late," or "paid was charged off" - which will still stand out as a very negative listing.

Credit Repair Magic contains instructions on how to properly pay off collections and past due accounts. Using our simple method, you can actually get your account updated to positive status as a condition of accepting your payment.

Any amount of bad credit is devastating to your chances of being approved by a credit grantor. Most credit grantors never actually look at your credit report. A computer pulls your credit report, rates your credit standing, income, indebtedness, and stability, generates a number (your credit score,) then spits out an acceptance or denial.

Even one or two slow payments will usually trigger a credit card or personal loan denial. The slightest amount of negative credit will cause the interest on an auto loan to skyrocket. You will probably find that even a little bad credit, regardless of how much good credit you have, is an unacceptable barrier to credit approval.

Creditors such as mortgage companies, automobile lenders and credit card companies reserve their best rates for those customers with very high credit scores. The rates and terms get worse as the credit score goes down.

Going from a 580 to a 640 credit score can be the difference between qualifying for a home loan or being turned down flat. Even one negative item can bring your score down enough to cost you a bundle of money.

According to the latest figures, the average American has a credit score of 677. If that same individual increased her score to just 720, she would save on average $421 per month, or $5,052 per year. Wow!

The fewer negative items on your credit report, the higher your credit score. The higher your credit score, the more money you will save. Period.

Consumer Credit Counseling Service or CCCS is a nonprofit debt counseling service that assists consumers who are over their heads in debt. It's important to know that CCCS (and companies like them) are funded and controlled by the credit grantors and the credit bureaus.

There are countless other companies that call themselves debt counselors, credit counselors, or debt consolidators. Many of these companies are officially non-profit, but don't let that fool you. Some of the wealthiest people we've met in this industry run non-profit debt consolidation companies.

Debt consolidators can provide a beneficial service to the consumer. They can freeze late penalties, lower the interest rate, and consolidate all your credit card payments into one monthly bill. If you make your payments as scheduled, you can pay off all your debt in a few years, saving thousands of dollars.

But these companies make money from you (often, your first monthly payment goes to them, as well as a monthly payment) AND they make money from the creditors, who pay them to "manage" the collection of your account.

Because of the obvious allegiance these companies have with the credit bureaus, you cannot reasonably expect them to do anything that the credit bureaus would frown upon, such as help you repair your credit.

In fact, if you decide to leave a debt consolidation program before you have finished it, they can list your failure to complete the process as a negative listing on your credit report.

Also, when you are participating in the debt consolidation, your creditors will often note it on your credit report. If you have perfect credit, and wish to keep it, you may not want to use a credit counseling/debt consolidation service. These services usually create negative listings because their process will generally make you late on your bills at least 30 days.

The fact that you resorted to a debt counseling program alone is a red flag for prospective credit grantors. Remember, paying off your debts is a step in the right direction, but it does not repair your credit.

The credit bureaus have cleverly spread this myth through the news media and government agencies to discourage credit repair.

Under the new Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the credit bureaus must follow strict procedures to notify you if they decide to re-report an entry on your credit report. These new procedures have reduced the frequency of the re-reporting of listings, and they have increased the risk of lawsuit for the credit bureaus when they do it.