Truth about bad credit
Did you know the average credit score in the United States is only 692?* It is now even more difficult for the average American to obtain the “American Dream” than ever before. If you have been turned away in the past and are looking to start a brighter future, call us and we can help.

Trinity Credit Services Can Help
Trinity Credit Services was formed to help people remove the bumps and bruises on their credit reports so that they can apply for the home mortgage they want at the interest rate they deserve. We can also help you get in touch with lenders who specialize in finding home loans, refinance loans and debt consolidation loans that will help you get back on track. If you make your payments on your mortgage, you credit score will go up!

If you have bad credit and want a mortgage, call Trinity Credit Services at 1-888-669-7372.

*Source nationalscoreindex.com

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After years of getting Americans hooked on credit, card companies are slashing limits and weaning themselves off all but the safest customers

Terry Mazzera has worked to keep her credit score above 730, paying bills on time, sending in more than the minimum credit-card payment each month, and keeping a comfortable gap between her balance and credit limit.

But a couple of weeks ago, the 62-year-old Hercules (Calif.) resident got a letter from a credit-card company saying that her limit had been cut from $9,500 to $6,500—just about $400 above the amount she owed on the card. The primary reason: She was a late on a payment on a separate department store card.

Debt-to-Limit Ratios

Her debt-to-limit ratio on the card suddenly zoomed up from 64% to 94%, and she expects her credit score will be damaged. The ratio is a key component that credit bureaus use to determine creditworthiness. “It’s not right,” said Mazzera, a project assistant at a construction company. “I worked very hard to keep my credit.”

Mazzera is part of a growing number of Americans who are seeing their credit limits slashed. Even people with good jobs, low balances, and solid payment histories could be seeing their credit scores slip through no fault of their own. About 16% of customers had their limits reduced between April 2008 and October 2008, according to a recent study by Minneapolis-based FICO, which developed the Fair Isaac scoring model used by credit bureaus to evaluate default risk.

But only a fraction of those customers would be considered risky. Jittery banks, eager to reduce potential risk, appear to be targeting many borrowers with low-balance or inactive accounts. About 11% of customers who saw their limits cut had no “risk triggers” during that period and generally had very high credit scores. Risk triggers include late payments, excessive cash advances, check bouncing, collecting unemployment, or having a mortgage in an area where property values are plummeting.

Credit Scores at Risk

“This is blindsiding people,” said Evan Hendricks, author of Credit Scores & Credit Reports (Atlas Books). “For a significant portion of people having their credit scores go down, it had nothing to do with what they did. This is the system making credit scores go down. This is a new thing in history.”

There’s no way to know how many good credit scores are being lowered by the credit limit cuts. FICO said its study showed that borrowers whose available credit was cut did not see a change to their median FICO score, which remained at 770. But the survey ended in October 2008, just as the financial crisis was beginning. It’s unclear what has happened since then.

Even a small FICO score drop in today’s environment of tight credit can make the difference in getting a mortgage, a car loan, or another credit card, and it can have an impact on the interest rate a borrower pays. The FICO score ranges from 300 to 850 and the best mortgage rates are generally given to borrowers who have at least about 730.

The credit limit reductions are confusing to customers because many borrowers have credit cards so that “when a rainy day comes along they can use it,” said Linda Sherry, spokeswoman for Consumer Action, a San Francisco-based nonprofit consumer education and advocacy group.

“It’s hard for consumers to understand because before the credit-card companies were almost pushing credit,” Sherry said. “Now they’re taking it back, even for people who were doing nothing wrong.”

Rising Default Rates

Banks are cutting limits in the face of a deteriorating economy. U.S. credit-card default rates reached record highs in May, near or even above 10% for Bank of America, American Express, Citigroup, and Capital One, according to Reuters. The worsening unemployment situation is causing banks to worry that even good customers could quickly become risky customers. As a result, the companies are preemptively slashing credit lines, especially those that aren’t being used.

“The single biggest indicator of a person’s ability to repay is whether they have a job, and economists say unemployment could hit 10%,” said Peter Garuccio, spokesman for the American Bankers Assn. “Issuers say their losses track closely with unemployment and they have to minimize exposure.”

Garuccio said some customers who think they’re excellent customers might be riskier than they think. Somebody who just pays the minimum payment each month isn’t the ideal customer, he said. “Somebody who is paying more than the minimum and not carrying a balance is a great customer.”

From Ideal Customer to Liability

Curtis Arnold, founder of Cardratings.com, said the same customers that banks were aggressively soliciting are now making them nervous.

“The irony of this is that somebody who carried a balance was their [the banks’] bread-and-butter customer,” Arnold said. “Now that same customer is a threat.”

The banks might be tightening available credit in reaction to new federal legislation, taking effect in the middle of next year, that will restrict how credit-card companies raise rates. Among the other rules designed to benefit customers, banks will only be able to hike rates on existing balances if a customer is 60 days late on a payment, and it must provide 45 days’ advance notice before increasing rates.

It pays in this environment to keep the balance-to-limit ratio below a third and keep a close eye on any changes to credit reports, experts say. Author Hendricks suggests consumers try to pay down balances or convince lenders to restore limits. Borrowers can access a free credit report once a year from each of the three credit bureaus at http://www.annualcreditreport.com. On Myfico.com, customers can buy their TransUnion and Equifax FICO scores for $15.95 each. Experian sells reports and scores on Experian.com.

Gopal writes about real estate for BusinessWeek in New York.
Copyrighted, Business Week. All rights reserved.

In some occasions there are people who have been responsible with their credit for years and they end up with major problems during a divorce. One of the leading causes of credit problems is a recent divorce.

Married people are often treated as equally responsible for repaying loans like car payments, credit cards and home mortgages. Throughout a divorce, once person is usually assigned liability for the money owed. Even though this is a court decision, it is often overlooked by creditors—especially when the loan goes delinquent.

A divorce decree does not show up on a credit report. If the ex-spouse, who is accountable for the balance due, misses a payment, the creditors can attempt to collect from the other party. Both parties will also have the delinquency reported on their credit reports. In other words, if your ex is supposed to pay off a loan and fails to do so, you will be held responsible.

An added challenge is that often times households split up and one person is living at another residence. In most cases only the responsible party will receive the notice of behind payments, so the other spouse may not even realize there is a problem until the loan is delinquent and is already showing as a negative item on their credit report.

If the responsible party decides to stop paying on the loan and file bankruptcy, the other spouse can be held liable for the full debt and late charges. The court order doesn’t make any differences to the creditors, they will go after the other spouse to try to collect on the loan.

The credit system is unfair to the parties of a divorce. Often the only way to fully conclude a divorce is to declare bankruptcy. This is very unfortunate if there is one party who strives to be responsible and badly needs to keep a clean credit record.

Divorce and the credit problems it can bring are just one of the many reasons why it is so vital that we are able to repair our credit. Any item that shows up on a credit report including a bankruptcy can be disputed if it is alleged to be inaccurate, misleading, incomplete, untimely, ambiguous, biased, unverifiable or unclear.

If you need any help repairing your credit after a divorce, please contact Trinity Credit Services at 1-888-669-7372.

It’s hard to find a group more publicly reviled than credit-card companies. On Apr. 23, President Barack Obama plans to convene executives at the White House to challenge high card rates and predatory practices, while Congress readies legislation that would crack down on the industry.

But most of the crackdown that Congress is contemplating is already in rule changes approved by the Federal Reserve late last year that become effective in July 2010. And the soaring rates are the banking industry’s way of bracing for that more restrictive environment.

Credit-card defaults may be the next hammer to fall on many debt-strapped consumers. Card holders are watching the interest rates skyrocket and seeing their credit lines vanish overnight. Card companies argue that they are simply repricing their accounts for rising risks. Not only do they have to get changes in before the Fed rules take effect, they have to contend with worrying default rates and delinquencies that could cut into profits.

Higher Delinquency Rates

By the end of last year, U.S. card holders already were showing increasing signs of fatigue, and an inability to make even minimum payments. The delinquency rate, which measures how many customers are 30 days or more late on their credit-card bill, hovered at an astronomical 5.56%. According to the Federal Reserve, that’s the highest rate since the agency started recording it in 1991. If unemployment continues to rise and tops 10%, as many economists expect, the delinquency rate will likely rise, as more Americans struggle to stay afloat.

That looming threat was reflected in some of the otherwise rosy bank-earnings reports issued this month. JPMorgan Chase (JPM), for instance, reported during its first-quarter earnings call on Apr. 16 that default rates—the number of accounts the bank considers uncollectible—will likely grow. JPMorgan took on a lot of risk when it agreed to acquire Washington Mutual in a September 2008 shotgun marriage chaperoned by the federal government. WaMu, like so many of its card-company peers, lent vigorously during the credit boom years, and now those loans could sour. JPMorgan said the losses from WaMu’s credit-services division could reach as high as 24%.

JPMorgan isn’t alone in hedging against rising losses on credit cards. On Apr. 21, McLean (Va.)-based Capital One Financial (COF), announced that deteriorating credit conditions led to a $176.2 million first-quarter loss. The company, bracing for more pain to come, said it thought that charge-offs would exceed the $8.6 billion already projected
Rising Consumer Outrage

In the past, the banks managed to fend off credit-card reform efforts with a heaping dose of lobbying dollars. But much has changed: The recession has ratcheted up consumer outrage. Congress convened hearings last spring to scrutinize the industry’s longstanding billing practices. On the campaign trail last year, Obama indicated he would support legislation reforming the credit-card industry. And the billions of federal bailout dollars that were handed out to banks increased the leverage of Obama and other industry critics.

The House of Representatives is mulling a bill called the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights sponsored by Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.). “A credit-card agreement is supposed to be a contract, but in recent years cardholders have lost the ability to say no to unfair interest rate hikes and fees,” Maloney wrote in a press release explaining the bill’s contents. A similar bill by Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), is also wending its way through the Senate.

The House bill looks likely to pass, and if it becomes law it will be the first time in nearly a decade that the federal government has directly reined in credit-card practices.
Fueling a Life of Luxury

The bill would fortify the new Fed rules and include some consumer-protection provisions that are currently absent. As approved last December, the Fed rules mean that banks won’t be able to raise interest rates on existing debts after July 2010—all penalty interest-rate increases would only apply to future purchases.

Another change coming in July 2010: Card companies will have to split any payments evenly between high-interest-rate and low-interest-rate balances. (Right now, if card holders have two different balances on a card, the card company will apply any payment to the balance with the lower interest rate, leaving many customers struggling to make any dent in their higher-priced balances.) Also, the Fed will grant longer grace periods for card holders before they get slammed with late fees.

During the go-go credit years, when card holders relied on a seemingly unlimited supply of cheap plastic to prop up otherwise unsustainable luxury lifestyles, Congress seemed content to let the free market reign. Competition among card companies would ensure low interest rates and generous credit limits, or so the industry’s argument went.

Now, consumer advocates say, the only competition seems to be who can raise rates fastest. Bank of America (BAC) and Citibank (C) earlier this year started sticking customers with an additional 3% fee if they used their card outside of the U.S. Rates on Capital One’s Platinum Card jumped from 7.15% to 11.9%.

Silver-Greenberg is a reporter for BusinessWeek.com.

Things to look out for before hiring a credit repair organization:

• They offer to create a new identity for you (this is illegal!)
• They are not up front about what you can do legally on your own
• They claim outrageous guarantees about how quickly they can remove items on your report
• They claim to know what outcome they will achieve before looking at your file
• They charge monthly fees to prolong the process

What makes Trinity Credit Services different?:

• We can remove undocumented and unverifiable information on your credit report
• We provide comprehensive credit education for our customers
• We have established relationships with creditors and the big three credit bureaus
• We are up front about the cost, and only require a relatively small start up fee, and offer our services risk free
• The start up cost follows state mandated “right of rescission” periods in which we do not actually charge your credit card until after the period has ended
• We have served over 20,000 clients with only a handful of complaints from customers
• We will never guarantee that we can “clean up your credit” and we are up front about the fact that credit repair is typically a 3-6 month process
• We are transparent about what we do and how you can actually repair your own credit without our services
• We are not on the FTC watch list or in their database of credit repair scams

While we strive to be compliant, transparent, and offer industry leading services, there are times when a customer’s situation is beyond our ability to help them. Because there are still a lot of credit organizations that are making false claims, it is common that a customer may have inaccurate notions of what can legally be done to help them. If we cannot help a customer, we will always give advice and never sign them up for services they do not need.

Credit repair is legal but there are plenty of organizations that are bending and even breaking the rules. Keep in mind that if you take part in any illegal scam, you too could be punished for your involvement which can include mail fraud and wire fraud. It is also a federal crime to falsely report information to the IRS and to loan or credit organizations.

1- Negotiate!
Sometimes lowering your bills is just a phone call away. It doesn’t take any kind of special skill or secrets. Just tell the company that you want to cancel their services. In most cases, they will do anything to keep you as their customer. You will be surprised who may be willing to give you discounted rate. It doesn’t hurt to try, and you could save hundreds of dollars each year!

2- Lower Phone Bills
Research your options and look for specials that various providers offer. Then call your current provider and ask what the cancellation fee is, and state that it would be worth it to pay the cancellation fee for the great deal offered by their competition. It may take some persistence, but most companies don’t want to lose customers to their competition. Another option is to look into internet based phone services.

3- Lower Electricity Bills
There is a lot you can do to save a great deal of money on your electric bill, even though you often can’t re-negotiate the rate. First and foremost, make sure your house is well insulated and sealed. Energy-efficient appliances and light bulbs are also great options. When you aren’t using the appliance or electronic, unplug it. Don’t just turn off the TV–unplug it. Even when these items are turned off, they are draining energy and can increase your energy bill by as much as 15%.

4- Consolidate Debt and Refinance Monthly Bills
Last but most certainly not least, the best way to save big right away is to pay off your credit related bills by putting all of them into one “simple interest” payment. You want a simple interest payment because the interest is calculated every time you make a payment, instead of once a month on the due date like a scheduled loan. This can save you several thousand dollars if you just split up the amount you pay each month into two payments – thus causing the interest to re-calculate based on the new, lower principal more often. For example, a $100,000 scheduled loan at 7% interest will cost you roughly $39,500 in interest, and won’t be paid off for 360 months. However, the same loan at the same rate but as a simple interest loan paid bi-weekly will cost just over $5,000 in interest, and will be totally paid in 284 months. Tough choice, isn’t it?

If you need to clean up your credit report, contact Trinity Credit Services at 1-888-669-7372 for your FREE Credit Report Evaluation.

1) Keep your credit to debt ratio in check. If you spend more than 50% of your credit limit each month, this sends a red flag to the credit bureaus that you are a high credit risk and your score may go down by 60-70 points overnight.

2) Don’t miss any credit card payments. Even if you only miss 1 payment, your interest rates could skyrocket to 27%-30%!

3) If you find yourself falling behind, contact a reputable credit counselor right away. They may be able to set up a payment plan that you can afford so your accounts don’t become delinquent.

Visit our website Trinity Credit Services for more information about how you can be smart with your credit.

1. When I pay off a past-due account, such as a charge-off or a collection account, it will show “paid” and will no longer negatively affect my credit report. (Unfortunately, paying off a charge-off won’t remove it from your report. In fact, it will likely stay on your report for 7 years after your payment.)

2. If I succeed in deleting a negative item, it will just come right back on my credit report. (All of our results are guaranteed permanent.)

3. There are negative listings, such as bankruptcies and foreclosures, that are impossible to remove from the credit report. (Call TCS, we may be able to get those items removed.)

4. Disputing the credit report is easy and any consumer can do it himself for the price of a few postage stamps. (Not always the case. Any items you get removed will likely return.)

5. If I declare bankruptcy, I can begin my credit report all over with a clean slate.

6. If you are not satisfied with the results of your credit bureau challenge, you may file a “100-word statement” on your credit report explaining your side of the story.

7. By changing numbers in my social security number or by using an EIN tax number, I can fool the credit bureaus into creating a completely clean, new credit file under my name. (This is NOT legal!)

8. If I build enough good credit, it will offset my bad credit and make me credit worthy.

9. I can improve my credit score by closing down some credit cards. (You want to keep the credit cards with a long, positive credit history.)

10. It is illegal for creditors to take a negative, accurate listing off my credit report.

If you have derogatory items on your credit report, call TCS at 1-888-669-7372 and we can help!

• 29% of credit reports contain serious errors, false delinquencies, or accounts that did not belong to the consumer.
• 41% of credit reports contain demographic information that was misspelled, outdated or incorrect.
• 20% of credit reports were missing major credit, loan, mortgage or other information to demonstrate the credit worthiness of the consumer.
• 26% of credit reports contain accounts that were closed by the consumer but incorrectly listed as open (or) “closed by credit grantor”.
• Altogether, 70% of credit reports contain errors or mistakes.

It makes sense to ensure that all information on your report is current and completely accurate. The big three credit report companies (TransUnion, Equifax and Experion) don’t care if the information is correct because it costs them money to make corrections. It is in your best interest to be proactive and verify the information on your reports.

To learn more about how you can fix your credit, or if you need help getting inaccurate and unverifiable items removed from your reports, call Trinity Credit Services today at 1-888-669-7372 and we can help.

Many people may not realize that their credit score may affect other aspects of their life. Here are 3 lesser known benefits of having a clean credit report:

1) Credit Card Companies Care about Your Credit Reports
You probably already realize that credit card companies will check your credit reports when you apply for a card, but did you know they may continue to monitor your reports after you become a card-holder? Many credit card agreements include a provision in which credit card companies periodically check your credit file and if you are late paying ANY other bills, not just theirs, they can increase your interest rates. Even if you have a perfect payment history with your credit card provider, they can still increase interest rates if they find blemishes on your credit reports. The Credit Card Bill of Rights should help to stop some of these at will interest increases, but it better if you take your financial future into your own hands.

2) Your Good Credit Score Could Help Land You a Job
If an employer is considering a handful of equally qualified prospects, your credit score may be the deciding factor that gets you in the door. Employers tend to equate your good credit score with being a trustworthy employee so, everything else being equal, if it is you versus another candidate, you may get the position if your credit report is healthier.

Of course, if your credit score needs work, employers may not even bother considering you for a position. With a low credit score, you may not even get the chance at an interview. If you have some blemishes on your credit report, we can help. Sign up today for your FREE Credit Report Evaluation.

3) Good Driver Discount? How About Good Credit Discount
The Insurance Information Institute has found that drivers with bad credit file 40% more insurance claims. This means if you have a low credit score, you are more likely to be a bad driver. If you have a good credit rating, this works in your favor. Insurance companies are able to offer you lower auto insurance premiums to people who they deem are a lesser risk. This may also apply to your homeowner’s policy. After you finish with our credit restoration program, you may wish to call your insurance companies to see if you qualify for reduced insurance premiums.

If you would like to clean up your credit so you could take advantage of these benefits, contact Trinity Credit Services at 1-888-669-7372 today!