Protecting Yourself from Identity Theft
Part 4
by Michelle Black

According to Wikipedia, “Identity theft is a form of fraud or cheating of another person’s identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person’s identity, typically in order to access resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person’s name.”  As you know, identity theft can utterly destroy a person’s credit scores.  That’s why it is so important to protect yourself from this new and constantly growing form of fraud.  Today’s tip for protecting yourself from becoming a victim of identity theft is:

#4: Don’t Give Personal Information on the Phone Unless YOU Initiated the Call!
Scam artists and identity thieves would love to steal your credit card numbers, passwords, mother’s maiden names, and social security numbers.  Thieves often pretend to be bank representatives, collection agents, government officials, and even police officers in order to steal from the unsuspecting.  To give you an example, a HOPE member recently had a member of a collection agency call her and pose as a detective. The collection agent tried to get the member’s credit card number over the phone in order to “verify” her identity. Luckily the HOPE member stopped right there and hung up and called one of our HOPE Credit Experts. We were able to help her report the attempted fraud and avoid being subjected to unauthorized charges.

Feel free to stop back by our website all this week for more tips and hints on how you can protect yourself from identity fraud.  Educating yourself to the danger of identity fraud is the first step.  Don’t forget to share these articles with your online friends and family too by using our easy “share” buttons below.  Knowledge is power! We would love for you to help empower someone else today.

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Another HOPE member is excited (and so are we!) about some really fabulous results this week.  Joe saw nearly $5,500 ($5,451 to be exact) in unverifiable and inaccurate collection accounts deleted from his credit report in a span of just 3 and 1/2 months! Not only that, but his credit scores have also risen an average of 424 points per credit bureau during that same span of time! Joe’s has gone from having a middle credit score of 0 to having a middle score of 607 already.  With a little more work we anticipate that Joe will achieve the completely clean credit report he desires and even higher credit scores with which he can be very happy.

Remember, bad credit happens to good people all the time. The good news is that every single American legally has the right to turn their credit situation around! You have the right to work on your credit alone or with professionally guided assistance (which typically makes the process much faster, cheaper, and more effective). If you are interested in learning more about the great services offered by HOPE, please give us a call at 704-499-9696. Our credit experts would love to talk to you and answer your questions today.  We hope to hear from you soon!

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HOPE would like to wish a big congratulations to Mr. Howard and family for their successful home closing!  We are so excited to see you achieve your goal of homeownership and a healthier credit report.  Mr. Howard has seen some great results during his HOPE Program membership like:

*A credit score increase of over 50 points per credit bureau in less than 90 days!
*A credit report clean and healthy enough to qualify for a mortgage loan!
*A healthy balance of new, on time accounts showing on his credit report!

There is nothing in the world we love more than seeing another happy HOPE graduate and homeowner.  For more information on how you can deal with credit problems that are currently holding you back please give us a call at 704-499-9696 or email us today.  Our HOPE credit specialists cannot wait to hear from you and show you how a healthier credit report could be just around the corner for you too!

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Authorized User – the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly!
By Michelle Black

There has been a major debate going on for sometime about the legality of authorized user accounts and how those authorized user accounts affect your credit report.  Let’s start with the basics.  What exactly is an authorized user account?  For the purposes of this article, we will only be discussing credit card authorized user accounts.  You are considered an A/U (authorized user) on a credit card when the primary credit card holder requests for you to be added to their existing account.  You do not have to sign anything to be added as an A/U to an account because you are not legally responsible for the debt.  However, the payment history for the account will usually show up on your credit report – good or bad.

Being added as an A/U to a credit card will almost certainly affect your credit scores, one way or the other.  For example, if your boyfriend adds you to his VISA card and then maxes out the credit card balance and makes a few late payments your credit scores will drop – hard!  Negative account history, late payments, and high credit card balances will drop your credit scores too since you are an A/U on the account.

However, if your mother adds you as an A/U to her 20 year old Master Card (which has a zero balance and has never had a single late payment) then your credit scores could be affected very positively.  All of the good payment history from that account could potentially show up on your credit report, driving your credit scores upward – fast!  Obviously this is a very appealing prospect for people looking to raise their credit scores.  Still, before being added to another person’s credit card account as an A/U there are a few things to consider very carefully:

1.) Avoid loan fraud like the plague!
There are some very shady companies out there offering to add you as an A/U to a stranger’s credit card account.  First, you pay a fee to the third-party company and then they give your information (name, date of birth, social security number) to a complete stranger in exchange for the stranger adding you as an A/U to their existing credit card account.  The stranger receives a fee for adding you to their card and the third-party company keeps the rest of the money you paid them as profit.  In truth, this practice can potentially raise your credit scores quickly.  The problem with this scenario is that if you apply for a loan after being added as an A/U to a stranger’s account it may be considered loan fraud. Ouch!  While is it perfectly legal to have a friend or family member add you as an A/U to their account, you should definitely avoid being added to a stranger’s account.

2. ) Authorized user accounts can hurt your credit too!
If you are considering asking a friend or family member to add you as an A/U to an existing credit card account be sure that you are asking someone who is a very responsible bill payer.  Grandma (with her 40 year history of never making a late payment) may be a better choice than your college roommate (with his 2 year total credit history).  Also, if you are being added to an account, it is better to be added to an account with a low balance than to one with a high balance.  Don’t forget, a credit card that is charged to over 50% of it’s credit limit will hurt the card holder’s credit scores even if they make every payment on time! (Click here for more info.)  If you are added as an authorized user to a card with a high balance it will likely hurt your credit scores instead of helping them.

If you have found today’s article insightful or helpful, please feel free to share the link with your friends and family.  Please feel free to contact us directly if you have any questions about authorized user accounts or other credit related issues you may be facing.  Our HOPE Credit Specialists would love to assist you!

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The question that you are faced with when deciding to work towards a healthier credit report is, “should I try to fix my credit report on my own or should I get some professional help?”  First of all, please allow us to give you a big congratulations! The first step towards achieving clean credit is the decision to try.  You have already made the most important step!  Now, it’s time to figure out the logistics.

You should know that it is 100% legal for you to work on your credit report alone, with no professional assistance.  If you come across a “credit repair” company that does not inform you of this fact, be sure to run the other way as fast as you can!  ”Credit repair” has a very bad name, for a good reason.  There is a ton of scam within the “credit repair” industry.

However, just because you can work on your credit report alone does not necessarily mean that you should.   Remember, it is your legal right to represent yourself in a court of law but most people would rather have an attorney in their corner, especially if faced with a serious charge.  Another example that comes to mind, in light of the recent series of storms in the southeast, is that you legally have the right to replace your own roof if it was damaged by the elements.  Unfortunately, if you are not professionally trained and do not have experience in the roofing business then you will probably just make a bigger mess of things if you try to work on the project alone.  The same is true of credit restoration.  Do-it-yourself credit repair is often a disaster.  In the 10+ years since HOPE has been in business we have seen many people actually make their credit scores worse rather than better by trying to clean up their credit alone, without an experienced professional to guide them.

HOPE has designed a unique, one of a kind, credit education program to help our members achieve healthier credit and to learn how to maintain that healthy credit for a lifetime!  Active HOPE members receive the following benefits for no additional fees:  personalized budgeting assistance, negotiations with creditors, individual credit report analysis, and much, much more! Over 80 HOPE members have graduated our program with credit scores healthy enough to buy a home in the last 4 months alone!

We would love to invite you to schedule a personal credit analysis appointment with us (in person or over the phone) today to see what it will take for you to achieve the healthy credit you desire to have.  Analysis appointments are completely pressure-free and there is NO obligation to join the HOPE Program after speaking with a HOPE Credit Specialist.  Please give us a call today at 704-499-9696 to reserve a time for your one on one credit analysis.  We would love to hear from you!

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