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Credit Repair Testimonial
A Personal Look at Credit Repair
I went to a credit counseling agency when it became very clear to me that I needed help with my debt. Justin, my credit counselor, was a very friendly guy and I quickly found out how knowledgeable he was as well.
First, he took a look at my credit report. I had one account in collections from the furniture store where I’d bought my bedroom suite. I thought that was hurting me most since I hadn’t made a payment on it for two years. I told Justin I thought I could afford to make a pretty large payment to that account right away if it would help. He advised me that my first step should be to clarify my goals. Bringing up my score as much as possible in the short term and improving it over the long term would require different steps.
For instance, if I made a large payment to my collections account, it would reduce my total debt, which would help bring my credit score up over time. “But that will likely reduce your score for a little while,” Justin said, “because right now that account’s most recent activity is from two years ago. If you make a payment on it now, that current activity will bring it up to the top of your credit report and the credit bureaus will put more emphasis on it when they’re calculating your score.”
As I began to understand more and more from Justin, I decided that reducing my overall debt and raising my score over time was the best plan for me. After all, I wasn’t looking to take out a mortgage or apply for a car loan any time soon. In fact, being debt-free was sounding better and better,
even though Justin reminded me that I would need to continue to use credit if I wanted to have a high credit score.
Based on my individual situation and goals, as well as the fact that I was having trouble making all my minimum payments, Justin recommend that I go onto a debt management plan, or DMP, with the credit counseling agency. I would make one payment to the agency each month and it would use that money to pay down my debts over time. He told me some credit card companies might be willing to reduce or eliminate my interest if they knew I was working to pay down my debt. Going on a DMP would be a testament to my commitment. He said he would make the calls to my credit card companies and the collections agency for me.
As my total debt decreased, my credit would eventually be repaired, but Justin reminded me again that some of the first steps might actually reduce my score in the short term.
Going on the DMP was a big relief. I made a single payment to the credit counseling
service each month. Though I thought I’d rather not know my score while I was working to pay down my debt, Justin hadme take a look at it every six months or so to make sure it was accurate.
It took me two years to raise my score to 650, and another two to pay off all my debt. I learned to be very resourceful in that time since I couldn’t use my old credit cards or open any new accounts according to the terms of my DMP. I saved a lot of interest, though, thanks to Justin’s calls to my creditors.
I still haven’t decided if I want to remain debt-free. Justin keeps reminding me that I have to use credit to keep up my good score, but he does acknowledge that the right decision is different for everyone. I’m so grateful to him for all his help that I may just take his advice and open up my first new credit card. Whatever I choose, I know I’ll never let my debt get out of control again. It’s nice to have Justin as a friend, but I don’t want to have to walk in his door as a client ever again.
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