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How Credit ReScore Can Help You
Close More Loans
Monday, January 03, 2005 - by Gerri
Detweiler
Article originally appeared on Originator
Times.com. Used by permission.
Mistakes on credit reports can take weeks,
if not months, to fix, even when the creditor or credit
bureau acknowledges the error. When you’re under a
deadline to close a mortgage, though, you don’t have
the luxury of time. There is a way to speed up the process,
but it’s not well known, even among many mortgage
professionals.
Credit ReScore is a service offered through
some residential mortgage credit reporting companies. It
allows you to fix mistakes on credit reports in days or
weeks, instead of months. The credit reporting companies
that offer this service have special dedicated access to
the major three credit reporting agencies that allows them
to make changes to credit reports and recalculate the score
within days, instead of the weeks it can take if go through
traditional challenges. Most resellers that supply this
service also offer help in determining which items may help
improve the score.
Credit ReScore rescoring is not designed to be
a credit repair program, although some companies that offer
this service will make suggestions for actions that can
boost the score, such as paying down a credit card that
is close to its limit. It is really designed for situations
where you need to correct information that is wrong on the
consumers’ report. To do this, you’ll need to
get documentation of the correction from furnisher reporting
the mistake, usually in the form of a letter signed by the
furnisher, on its letterhead.
Because it can be very difficult to predict
what effect a particular action will have on the credit
score, it’s best to use this in conjunction with a
service that analyzes the credit score and makes recommendations
for improvements. A case in point: I spoke to a loan officer
today whose client paid off a credit card, thinking it would
boost the score, but it didn’t.
Credit ReScore rescoring isn’t cheap. It
can cost between $30 and $120 to fix a tradeline, and you
cannot pass the cost of this service onto the client, either
directly or indirectly. So make sure you focus on items
that are likely to have the most impact on the score.
Gerri Detweiler :
Gerri Detweiler is the author of
numerous books and articles on credit, including The Ultimate
Credit Handbook (Plume, 3rd edition, 2003). She has been
interviewed in thousands of news stories on credit related
topics, and has testified before Congress on consumer credit
legislation.
gerri@ultimatecredit.com
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