A credit report contains information about you and your credit history that is prepared by for-profit companies known as credit bureaus.  Most lenders will base their decisions to extend you credit or financing based on your report.

A credit report typically includes the following:

1. Identifying Information
1. Name
2. Address
3. Date of Birth
4. Social Security Number
2. Credit History
1. Length of credit
2. Amount of debt
3. Type of credit (i.e., credit cards, mortgages)
4. Credit inquiries
5. Late payments (30 days or longer)
3. Public Records
1. Court records
1. Bankruptcies
2. Judgments
3. Tax liens
4. Credit Inquiries
1. List of everyone who has accessed your credit report. Be aware that multiple inquiries over a short period of time can have a negative impact on your credit scores. Requests made by you to see your own credit file are not recorded or counted.

Anyone who wants information for a business transaction between you and them may obtain your credit report.  This may include a prospective employer or landlord, an insurance company, or a collection bureau.

Negative credit information can remain on your credit report for seven years.  Chapter 7, Chapter 11 and Chapter 13 bankruptcies are reported for ten years from the date filed. Positive information can and should stay on your report forever.

A credit score is a number usually between 350 and 850 that is calculated by a mathematical equation that evaluates many types of information on your credit report. The higher your score the better.  This score helps lenders and others decide how likely you are to repay your debts.  Credit scores do matter.  They affect whether you can get credit, your interest rate or credit limit on a credit card, auto loans, mortgages, and even the types of jobs and rental housing available to you.

Scores under 500 - BAD

Scores 500 to 600 - POOR

• This usually results from late payments, collections and charge- offs. You will most likely be charged the highest interest rate allowed by law in your state or you could be turned down completely.

• You will be able to obtain credit more easily than the poor score category.

• As long as your debt to income ratio is low you will be approved and will likely pay a lower interest rate on your loan.

• You are considered a "prime borrower" and will be able to obtain favorable financing terms.

When lenders talk about "your score" they usually mean the FICO score developed by Fair Isaac Corporation. It is today's most commonly used scoring system. It is an important calculation that can control whether or not you are eligible to receive credit and if eligible, the terms you can receive credit under.

There are five parts to your credit score and here is how they are broken down:

1. Your payment history - about 35% of your score.
1. How bad are the delinquencies?
2. How recent are they?
3. How many times did they occur?


2. How much you owe - about 30% of your score.
1. How much do you owe on all your accounts?
2. How many accounts do you have with balances?
3. How much of your available credit are you using?


3. Length of credit history - about 15% of your score
1. How long have you been using credit?


4. New credit - about 10% of your score.
1. Are you taking on more debt?


5. Types of credit in use - about 10% of your score
1. Do you have a healthy mix of credit?

Credit scoring evaluates all applicants by the same criteria. It eliminates the possibility of discrimination based on age, race or gender.  Scoring helps speed up credit decisions and it helps make more credit available to consumers.

There is no magic to improving a consumer's credit score. However, there are a few things that can help.

1. Pay all your bills on time. If you have missed any payments, get current.
2. Pay down your debt. Keep credit card balances as low as possible (Try to pay down revolving credit card debt to below 30% of the card's maximum available credit.)
3. Don't open new credit card accounts. (Apply and open only when you need them!)
4. Don't close unused credit card accounts. (Your credit history is an important factor.)
5. Don't max out available credit on credit card accounts.

Credit repair companies assist consumers in increasing their credit scores. Using a credit repair company eliminates the time you would spend gaining knowledge of consumer laws. Many individuals simply do not have the time, experience, patience or organizational skills to deal with bureaucracies. Just as people can prepare their own tax returns, many choose to use tax preparation services or accountants.

There is absolutely nothing illegal about disputing items on your credit report! In fact, it is your explicit right to do so as stipulated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Usually, Reliance Credit will explain the process and review your credit history with you. Together, we will verify that the information being reported about you is correct. Reliance Credit will dispute the negative information with the goal of removing or correcting all inaccurate, unverifiable or misleading information from your reports. Cleaning up your credit report of negative information and establishing positive credit information will help to raise your scores. Raising your scores, can lead to big savings on your interest payments as well as the realization of future goals. If after reviewing your credit reports we don't feel confident in our ability to help you, we will not enroll you in our program.

Absolutely not!  We will not contact your employer.  Your credit repair is your own business.  

Soft inquiries occur when you pull your credit report or when one of your existing creditors pulls your credit report. Why do creditors do this? They are checking to see how you are doing credit-wise to see if potential problems exist. Soft inquiries do not have an effect on your credit score.

Hard inquiries occur when your credit report is pulled as a result of your applying for new credit. These inquiries count against you and can lower your credit score.

These negative items are listed in order of descending importance with the first item being the most damaging to your credit.

1. Bankruptcy
2. Foreclosure
3. Repossession
4. Loan Defaults
5. Court Judgments
6. Collections
7. Late Payments

It can, but to a very limited extent.  The best way to improve a person's credit score is to remove the negative item from the credit report

It is possible but the procedures that Reliance Credit uses to dispute inaccurate information, minimizes the possibility.  Should a previously deleted item reappear, we will again work to have it removed.

You will receive all results from creditors and credit bureaus by mail. You will then forward the information to us for our next stage of work. Reliance Credit will email you with a scorecard after every round of disputes.

Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that negative listings to your report will be removed. Only the credit bureau has the right to remove negative information from your report. However, we at Reliance Credit are good at what we do and unless we feel confident about your case, we will not take you on as a client.