Here is state by state limitations:
State(in years)

Oral Agreements Written Contracts Promissory Notes Open Accounts

Alabama 6 6 6 3
Alaska 6 6 6 6
Arizona 3 6 5 3
Arkansas 3 5 6 3
California 2 4 4 4
Colorado 6 6 6 6
Connecticut 3 6 6
Delaware 3 3 6 3
D.C. 3 3 3 3
Florida 4 5 5 4
Georgia 4 6 6 4
Hawaii 6 6 6 6
Idaho 4 5 10 4
Illinois 5 10 6 5
Indiana 6 10 10 6
Iowa 5 10 5 5
Kansas 3 5 5 3
Kentucky 5 15 15 5
Louisiana 10 10 10 3
Maine 6 6 6 6
Maryland 3 3 6 3
Massachusetts 6 6 6
Michigan 6 6 6 6
Minnesota 6 6 6 6
Mississippi 3 3 3 3
Missouri 5 10 10 5
Montana 5 8 8 5
Nebraska 4 5 6 4
Nevada 4 6 3 4
New Hampshire 3 3 6 3
New Jersey 6 6 6 6
New Mexico 4 6 6 4
New York 6 6 6 6
North Carolina 3 3 5 3
North Dakota 6 6 6 6
Ohio 6 15 15 -
Oklahoma 3 5 5 3
Oregon 6 6 6 6
Pennsylvania 4 4 4 4
Rhode Island 15 15 10 10
South Carolina 10 10 3 3
South Dakota 6 6 6 6
Tennessee 6 6 6 6
Texas 4 4 4 4
Utah 4 4 4 4
Vermont 6 6 5 6
Virginia 3 5 6 3
Washington 3 6 6 3
West Virginia 5 10 6 5
Wisconsin 6 6 10 6
Wyoming 8 10 10 8

Armed with this information what do you? Find out what type of contract you entered into and apply the statue using the date of last activity. When the collection agents call listen and let them talk. No matter what they say, say nothing and answer no questions. Why?
1. They could have the wrong person.
2. They could have the wrong account.
3. They could have the wrong account balance.
4. They could have purchased invalid debt.
5. You may admit to the debt through “implied consent.” Doesn’t matter if it is your debt, if you admit to it they will come after you and you could have reset the statue of limitations.

Your response to whatever is said is, “I do not recognize the debt or the creditor.” Never change the script. The Federal Credit Reporting Act (FCRA1987 revised 2004) and The Fair and Accuracy Credit Transaction Act of (FACT2004) are designed to hold the collection agencies accountable.

The established guidelines and statues of the Federal Fair Billing Act (FBCA1974 revised 2002) regulate balances, fees and penalties. If you cannot afford a professional negotiator to advocate for you, arm yourself with the information available and proceed offensively and don’t react defensible when they call.

In debt settlement, the pros are that people can avoid Bankruptcy, the cons are that there are high fees generally paid upfront and that people are told to stop making payments which will greatly affect the credit report and the credit score. And, if you fall out the program you owe more than when you began.

In credit counseling, the pros are that the fees are typically low and some agencies and creditors agree to not harm your credit rating. In some cases the interest rates and fees are reduced or eliminated altogether. The cons are that in a debt management plan the principal amount is not lowered, but paid back in full. The service organization typically is funded by the credit card industry so they are not your best advocates.

Bankruptcy is another alternative. The pros are that you can keep your home and your car. Creditors cannot garnish your wages, turning off your utilities or foreclosing on your home. The cons are unfortunately, the credit card industry was instrumental in the passage of sweeping reform to the bankruptcy laws. These reforms made it harder to meet the “means test” for a chapter 7. In order to qualify you have to show that you can not pay anything back, forcing many into a repayment plan under chapter 13. In chapter 13 you must make the mortgage payment through the trustee and pay the trustee a $200 fee on top of it all. This creates a burden on top of a burden.

Bad debt is bad for all, especially for consumers trying to what is morally right and financially possible.

USA Today, Tuesday June 6, 2010.

Need information from Chrysler? Choose from one of five menu options on the car company’s phone system – or be trapped in an endlessly repeated loop from which there’s no escape.

Experian, Eureka and Chrysler are among the companies receiving an F grade for their telephone customer service from Gethuman.com, a consumer-advocacy organization. Gethuman has released a new report card rating 500 large American companies on how they serve consumers over the phone. Those three businesses were in good company: Nearly 85 percent of the companies flunked Gethuman’s evaluation.

Nine companies out of 500 earned A’s: Hertz Rent A Car, Commerce Bank, Dillard’s department store, retailers Lands’ End and L.L. Bean, Comfort Inn, Days Inn, Hyatt Corp. and Walt Disney World. “We were disappointed that the companies did as badly as they did,” said Lorna Rankin, Gethuman’s project director.

Many of the country’s most prominent companies – Wal-Mart, Visa, Washington Mutual, Apple, Toys “R” Us among them – are failing their customers on the phone, according to Gethuman. Entire industries flunked Gethuman’s audit, including all TV and satellite companies as well as most insurance, shipping, software and hardware companies. The group, launched by Internet entrepreneur Paul M. English, hopes to empower consumers to do business with customer-friendly companies.

Rankin also hopes that naming names will goad companies to do better by their customers. “If we see companies over time raising their grade, I would view that as a very positive thing,” she said. Each month, three teams of Gethuman volunteers will audit each company’s phone system and rank companies based on how they measure up against 10 standards voted on by visitors to Gethuman’s Web site.

“It’s not just whether you can get to a person, but what happens to you along the way,” Rankin said. Can you ask for a call-back rather than wait? Do you get an estimated wait time? Can you understand the agent when one finally comes on the line? Among the sins companies must avoid to get a good grade: No hiding the zero: Callers should be able to dial 0 or say “operator” for a human.

No repeats: Callers should never have to repeat information already provided to a human or an automated system during a call.
No happy talk: Companies should avoid patronizing, overly cheery computer voices and cliche phrases such as “Your call is important to us.”

At least one F-rated company said it already is working on improvements to its phone system. Electrolux Home Care Products, manufacturer of Eureka vacuums, was reviewing its automated phone system before Gethuman’s rankings were published. At retailer L.L. Bean, the phone hadn’t even started ringing on our end when an agent answered the call. “Providing a human option is critical to our business model,” spokesman Rich Donaldson said.

Customer service representatives employed by L.L. Bean answer calls at four centers in Maine. It is costly to do business that way rather than hiring contractors or relying on automation, but Donaldson said the company views it as a long-term investment. Doing away with the human touch “is something we wouldn’t consider,” he said.

Experian, the credit bureau that won’t even reveal its phone number unless you order your credit report first? We don’t know what it has to say about customer service. No one called us back.

1. No interest rate increases for the first 12 months of your credit card.
You can enjoy your interest rate for at least the first year after opening your new account with two exceptions.
First, your rate could increase in the first year if the creditor disclosed a rate increase when you opened the account. Second, if you don’t make the minimum payment within 30 days of the due date you’ll be subject to a penalty rate increase.
Other than that, credit card issuers can’t increase interest rates on existing balances except in certain situations.
· A promotional interest rate has expired.
· Credit card issuers must have notified you before the start of the promotional rate how long the promotional rate would last and what the interest rate would be when the promotional rate expired.
· Promotional rates must last at least six months.
· Your credit card has a variable interest rate that the credit card issuer doesn’t control and can be easily viewed by the general public.
· You finished a hardship program or had a hardship program cancelled. The increased interest rate can’t be higher than what it was before you started the program. Additionally, you must have been notified before the start of the program what the interest rate would be if the program was completed or cancelled.
· You were more than 60 days late on your minimum credit card payment. If your interest rate increases because of late payments, you should receive a notice when the interest rate increases letting you know why the rate increased. If you make your minimum payment on time for the next six months, your card issuer is required to lower your interest rate.
If you open a new credit card account, your credit card issuer cannot raise your interest rate within the first 12 months of your account, except in the situations described above. Rate Increases Must Be Reviewed Bi-Annually. After an interest rate has been increased, the credit card issuer must review the account every six months to determine whether the rate can be lowered. If the factors that first triggered the interest rate increase have changed, the card issuer must lower the interest rate.

2. No interest rate increases on pre-existing balances.
If and when your interest rate does increase, the credit card issuer can’t retroactively apply the increased rate to existing balances. Only purchases made after the increase goes into effect will be subject to the new interest rate.

3. Rate increases require a 45-day advanced notice, even if it is a penalty rate increases.
Credit card issuers currently get 15 days to notify you of an interest rate increase and they don’t have to notify you at all for penalty rate increases. The increased time for an advanced notice will give you more time to respond to an interest rate increase. Rules regarding interest rate increases take effect August 20, 2009.

4. No more double billing cycle finance charges from credit card issuers.
The double billing cycle method of calculating finance charges allows credit card issuers to charge interest on balances you’ve already paid. The Federal Reserve has outlawed this expensive practice.

5. Limited fees for subprime credit cards.
Subprime credit card issuers can no longer charge up the cardholder’s credit limit with fees. Now, fees are limited to 50% of the credit limit, but only 25% of those can be charged when the account is opened. The remaining fees must be spread over at least five billing cycles.

6. Billing statements from credit card issuers must be sent 21 days before payment due date.
The current rule requires billing statements to be sent within a reasonable time for the consumer to make payment. The new rule puts a time period on that “reasonable time.”

7. Payments received by the credit card issuers before 5:00 pm on the due date are on time.
The Federal Reserve recognizes that credit card issuers must have a cut-off time for accepting payments and sets that time to 5:00 pm. A specify a time zone was not identified, so sending your payment early is still a good idea.

8. Payments received by the credit card issuers the next business day after a weekend or on a holiday are considered on time. If the due date falls on a weekend or holiday and your credit card issuer doesn’t process payments on that day, your payment is still considered on time if it’s received by the next business day. For example, that means the Monday after a weekend or December 26 during the holidays.

9. Credit card issuers must process payments above the minimum to the highest interest rate balances. The minimum payment would go toward your low-rate balance, while the remainder of your payment must be applied to the balance with the highest interest rate. This reduces your interest cost over the life of the credit card versus the alternative of applying the complete payment to the low rate balance.

10. Credit card issuers billing statements must detail the cost of making the minimum payment. Credit card issuers are required to list the number of months it will take to pay off your balance with minimum payments along with the total interest you will pay.

For example, if we use a $100,000 home because it is a round number. Look at the information below that shows the added costs of buying a home with bad credit.

· Closing Costs for a bad credit buyer is 2-4% higher. At 3% this costs $3,000.
· Add 1% to a negotiated purchase price because it is harder to negotiate with a seller if you have bad credit.
· Interest Rate for a bad credit buyer will be approximately 14% vs. 8% with a good credit buyer.
· Interest Rate Monthly payment on $100,000 at 14% = $1172
Interest Rate Monthly payment on $100,000 at 8% = $735.
· That comes to $437 per month!
This adds up to $5244.00 per year and over a 7 year period (the amount of time that negative, derogatory and out dated information will remain on your credit report) Added up you can expected to spend an average of $36,708 over the next few years.
· These are the costs incurred by a bad credit score buyer.

Apply these same calculations to your other “extra interest” accounts on your autos, furniture, credit cards and on and on and on. Is it worth it?

Ever heard of the Welcome Wagon? If you’re old not old enough to know what the welcome wagon was, the welcome wagon was typically women of the neighborhood that would welcome someone when they moved in. They would visit to bring a basket full of cakes and cookies. They would talk about local merchants, where the best place is to shop, the best gas station, church, butcher and grocer and ask you about where you used to live. They would also look around the house, looking at furniture, decorations, children, and everything else you could imagine.

The true reason for the old time ‘Welcome Wagon” was not to introduce you to the local merchants and those in the neighborhood. Their true job is reporting the information that they discovered from their visits. They would report everything that they saw and were told to the local credit an agency, which is how they originally gathered information. Since they would also learn where you came from it was easy to order your file and then to add what they had learned.

Reviewing all the information in an office and making lending decisions became an unmanageable task, especially with the automobile revolution, people began to move around and the “invention” of the suburb when the GI’s came home after World War II. They found it easy buying houses in the suburbs, moving out of the big cities because they were reluctant to return and wanted to raise their families far from what they had left behind when they left for war. Soon, with technological limitations even the largest credit agencies were restricted to only a few cities.

Experian, formally known as TRW, a defense contractor realizing the future importance of credit, absorbed the local credit agencies to monopolize the business, with the one important advent being the use of computers. And so the industry moved towards electronic files. The use of computers gave TRW, the advantage. As a defense contractor with the computer storage capabilities that no other company now had an advantage in housing all of the credit file information.

Equifax in the business of insurance reporting realized that the business model could be applied to credit. Soon Equifax was forced to lease computer storage from TRW in order to meet growing demand and survive. TRW eventually raised the cost so much that Equifax made the decision to engineer their own system and servers.

Trans Unions, a medical record reporting company also realized the future of credit, but was slow to enter into credit reporting. Trans Union, applied their business model and struggled with a failing system for years that earned them a reputation of misinformation and of being untrustworthy. Faced with many complaints and advertises they were ordered by The Federal Trade Commission, FTC, to dismantle the existing system and to come to the same technological level as Equifax and Experian or to get out of the business of credit reporting. Trans Union complied and gave away credit reports for 3 years to gain market value.

New technological advances allow credit bureaus to maintain files on millions of people. Now, instead of having a person review each file the computer does it. The entire credit reporting system is now automated and lenders make credit decisions in minutes compared to what once took days or weeks.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) 1987 was passed to add accountability to the credit reporting process. Unfortunately, the FCRA did not fix credit reporting system’s problems, nor did the Fair Accuracy and Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) 2004.

In addition to credit reporting we now have a mathematical model that instantaneously assigns a number known as a credit score.

Find out today how to gain equal leverage, assert your rights and seize control of your credit.

Develop a Credit Strategy that you employ by learning Credit Strategies that work!

ENROLL TODAY!!!!

Credit Strategy for Debt Settlement
Credit Strategy for Foreclosure
Credit Strategy for Short Sale
Credit Strategy for Divorce
Credit Strategy for Taxes
Credit Strategy for Judgments
Credit Strategy for Bankruptcy
Credit Strategy for late pay history
Credit Strategy for building Credit and Credit Scoring

A positive up-to-date credit report is something you create not something that just happens

Creditfixed.com.is the champion of individual rights and personal freedom. This company serves as a liaison between the existing credit system and the individual consumer. Our Consultants provide vital information, advice, products and services designed to protect its clients from ex-spouses, frivolous litigant lawsuits, con artists, and the government bureaucracy, creditors and collection agencies.

We assist clients in developing a comprehensive privacy and protection plan, and have developed a proven strategy for obtaining information, auditing and correcting information in credit files, credit reports and Social Security accounts. With the use of the proven methods of correction and verification, Creditfixed.com programs can eliminate derogatory information that plagues 50% of all consumers, derogatory information reported incorrectly. The misinformation being reported plagues literally millions of consumers, many without the time, training or tenacity needed to confront the credit reporting industry as it is. With the limited dispute process available to the consumer offered by the credit bureaus, consumers are challenged in an arena unfamiliar, and by design, guaranteed to result in failure. Many consumers are purposely led to believe that the processes offered by the credit bureaus are the only alternatives. To the inexperienced consumer these alternatives might seems to address an individual concern, but by the generality of the process it will not succeed with the desired results 90% of the time.

Creditfixed.com avoids the negative associated processes by emphasizing personal and financial privacy as the focus of the services being provided. Proven consumer report auditing and verification processing ensures success. The concepts within the context of consumer rights are the cornerstone to building and maintaining an up to date positive credit file. Clients are assisted in resolving debts, taxes, judgments, liens and other claims through confidential negotiations and counseling.

Using powerful techniques for negotiating with creditors and dynamic legal maneuvers for eliminating debt and derogatory information are what set Creditfixed.com apart from any other service available. The unparalleled commitment to consumer advocacy makes the difference between a negative credit report and a positive credit report.

Hold the creditors accountable.

The higher your balances on your credit cards are as in relationship to your available credit limit, termed “Proportion of balance to high credit limit”, the lower your credit score will be. The credit score calculation allows for 35% of your credit score to be based on your revolving credit accounts, with how you pay being second. Credit experts say, keep your balances between 20 and 30%, the acceptable range. When you exceed 30% of your credit limit you will begin to lose more and more credit score points. If you are one of those who pay off your balances every month, keep in mind may not reflect the credit report because the creditors do not report uniformly to all 3 credit reporting bureaus.

To maximize your credit score don’t use the credit card for 30 to 60 days before applying for a loan, unless you know the reporting and closing dates on your credit accounts. If you do not know the cycles, an account can be paid off or down and using a credit scoring tool, “Rapid Rescore”, one can correct the credit card account to reflect the new balance and the credit score will adjust accordingly.

2. How do you pay your revolving credit cards?

Paying any loan or credit card late is the second most influencing factor to your credit score. When you’re 30 days past due, meaning your balance is still unpaid, your credit score will decrease anywhere between 30 and 60 points. Late payments from your past will have less and less of a negative effect on your credit score as you rebuild a consistent positive payment history with the creditor.

Setting up automatic online bill payments so you’ll never be late will help to avoid forgetting to pay an account on time. If you are late one month, be sure to pay off any past due amounts and become current so as to avoid “rolling 30 day lates.” This happens when consumers pay between cycles not knowing that they are still paying late every month.

3. How do you manage the number of credit accounts?

When it comes to your credit report and credit score calculation your credit score won’t be as high as it could be if you have just one credit account. Even if you pay on time and in full every month.
Why? Your creditors and lenders ideally like to see a potential borrower responsibly managing a mix of revolving debt (such as credit cards, where you can reuse the credit after paying it back) and installment debt (such as a car loan or most mortgages, where you pay the same amount every month for a certain period). The perfect mix is 3 to 5 accounts managed wisely, paid on time with revolving credit cards balances within the accepted range.

4. How do you manage the length of your history?

Older credit accounts count more than young ones in your credit score. The older the account the more it is a reliable indicator of creditworthiness verses a new account a few months of history that goes unrated.

Accounts open less than six months will reduce your credit score because the inquiry used to determine approval and interst rate was a deduction and the account is unrated for it payment history, but if you use it will be rated for it’s proportion of balance to the high credit limit. This is a catch 21, but a necessary evil in building a solid credit score.

While it may sound like a good idea to close out a credit card account when you transfer the balance to a lower-rate card, it is not, this practice will affect your score in a negative way, because your total balance stays the same but your credit limit goes down when you close an account. And, if you close an older account you have lost that long history with the creditor that is so important.

5. How do you check your credit report?

There are errors in your credit report, that you can be sure of. Studies by the credit bureaus themselves show that there is a greater than 50% of credit reports has information that belongs to someone else and as high as 70% that the information is unverifiable. You may have someone else’s accounts amd delinquencies reporting on your credit report.

Knowing what is on your credit report gives you the opportunity to improve your score, by correcting the mis-information. Order a free credit report once a year from each of the three major credit bureaus and make sure they’re accurate. If you can’t do it yourself, consider hiring a professional firm to help you though this complex, yet seemingly simple, as the credit reporting bureaus purport, process of investigation and correction. Be prepared for opposition, as it is not in the best interest of the bureaus for you to have a good credit score.

Two annoying but true facts: Credit scores aren’t free, and the credit bureaus don’t share information on you, so your credit reports and the scores based on them will vary. So if you’re planning on applying for a mortgage or other loan, “know before you go.” Contact Experian (experian.com), Equifax (equifax.com) and Trans Union (transunion.com) and order you credit reports individually or visit www.annualcreditreport.com and get your reports from all 3 credit bureaus in one stop. Reports are free once a year though credit scores are not.

Talk to a credit professional and review your credit report with us, it is free. And remember, a credit score is not something that you buy, it doesn’t come in a can or a box or at any store or website.
A positive up to date credit report and credit score is something that you create.

It is amazing that all of the Debt settlement companies we now see and hear of, with their 50 years of experience are just now on TV, on the radio and in the phone books, weren’t around until last year. We never heard of them or Debt settlement, with their names designed to comfort us and make us feel that we are able to repay our debt for 50 %. Why? Because of the current economy people are apt to fall prey to these bad credit counseling companies in a quest to repay their obligations. In Debt settlement there is a fee involved that could be as high as 20% of the overall debt. Already sounding like a bad credit counseling strategy. We are trying to get out of debt and we are adding to it. Do the math on $100,000.00 in debt at 50%. Let’s give Debt settlement the benefit of the doubt and say the fee is 15% . We have a total of 1/2 of $100,000.00 is $50,000.00 plus the 15 %, which is $15,000.00. We now have a subtotal of $65,000.00. Most Debt settlement companies promise you a “trust account” of your own. Trust accounts come with management fees. Usually about $40.00 a month. If your program is 36 months or 48 month, add $1,440.00 or $1,920.00 to the total. So now we are fairly close to 70 to 72 cents on the dollar.

In Debt settlement,they don’t tell you that settling your debts is harmful to your credit and if reported to the Credit Bureaus, will make it harder, if not impossible to get a real estate loan in the future. This is certainly bad credit counseling, or lack thereof.

In Debt settlement, they don’t tell you that your monthly payments first are applied to you fees. Typically the first 12 to 15 months go to the “broker” you contacted and the company with the 50 years experience. The broker gets his fee out the first 3 payments you make and the 50 years of experience get theirs from payment 4 through potentially payment 15. And, it goes something like this:

* The broker fee is $8,272.14 paid out over the first 3 months. ($2,416.38 for 3 months)
* The 50 years of experience fee is $7,750.62 paid out over the next 12 months. ($645.89 for 12 months)
* At the end of 15 months you have approximately paid $43,000.00 into your fund. (The fee is $15,000.00 plus $1,500. in banking fees. Your total fees are $15,1500.00, leaving you with $28,000.00 left to settle your accounts in the first 18 months.

In Debt settlement, the hook is…… your monthly payment is lower and you will become debt free should you complete the program. Ask yourself, if this is you, is this bad credit counseling or good credit counseling.

* Programming note: Average and ratio says, in debt settlement you will not make it all the way through and most make it 18 months.

In Debt settlement they don’t tell you the fee breakdown at all. On $100,000.00 of debt at revolving credit terms the payment is around $5,000.00 to $7,500.00 per month.

In Debt settlement they do tell you is that with the 50 years of experience you can become debt free and the payment monthly will be $2,428.96 per month for 48 months.

Debt settlement isn’t always the best option of dealing with debt and it certainly isn’t the only one. There are other ways……..