I came under fire recently as I was speaking with some real estate investors regarding credit repair. They more or less blamed the state of the economy on "people like me" who they believe helped borrowers qualify for loans for which they should never have been approved. It was their contention that "people like me" fooled the banks into lending to otherwise unqualified borrowers and that my actions now are only propagating our current economic crisis.
Interesting. It seems to me they think your poor credit is all your fault and that I should let you "dead beats" suffer for your intentional crimes against our honest and trusting government and lenders.
I disagree.
Here's my position. We live in a country where we receive no financial education. Our education system was developed during the industrial revolution, by men like Rockefeller, who needed employees to build his empire. We were brain washed to believe we needed to go to school to get a good job. (It's not your parents fault for drilling that into your brain. They were brain washed too.)
We were educated just enough to be good employees and we were intentionally left in the dark about credit and finance. Why? For the same reason slaves weren't permitted to learn to read. If you educate your workers too well, they might start dreaming of having more, being more, deserving more...then they'll get the courage up to compete with you. Instead they told us to leave all that complicated money stuff to them.
In fact, the rich even managed to convince us to reinvest our income back into their companies. They convinced us they knew more about money and investing than we did. They even used their influence over our government to create little tax havens like 401K plans, so we could invest more of our money in their companies with the promise that we would be taken care of as we grew old and retired. It was a very smart strategy.
Fast forward a few decades...
I think we can all agree that the circumstances have changed. There's no such thing as job security. 5 Million plus unemployed U.S. citizens can attest to that. We can't trust our corporations to look out for our best interests either (i.e. Enron, WorldCom, etc.).
We are ill prepared for this new world. We find ourselves stumbling along through life, learning as we go.
By the time we get to college, if we make it that far, we're ambushed with credit offers. I recently walked through a campus where kiosks were set up in the middle of the quad. "Sign up for this Capital One card and get this free duffel bag!" they shouted. It's no wonder that the average student is drowning in credit card and student loan debt by the time they graduate. It's a rough way to start your new independent life, but your employer is happy since you're now dependent on your job to make your payments.
I don't blame the public for abusing credit any more than I'd blame a bratty kid for being bratty. His parents are to blame, as is our government and the wealthy who pull their strings are to blame for our current predicament.
I'm not saying education alone is the salvation, but it certainly helps. I'm sure there are doctors that smoke, but far fewer than the general public because their education has enlightened them.
What I do, dear friends, is level the playing field.
It's a fact that a majority of credit reports have errors. Those errors may have unjustly sped you on your way to default. There would be far less people in the world in default today had the credit bureaus implemented Metro II and eliminated those errors entirely. They don't because they make too much money being wrong.
I give you a second chance. I do it legally, enforcing the laws the government itself provided, to hold creditors and the mighty credit bureaus accountable for the items they report.
I don't intentionally remove accurate items, but it's possible that some of what I do remove is accurate. Whose fault is that? Is it mine for requesting they verify and validate the accuracy of the items they report, as provided by the Fair Credit Reporting Act, or is it the creditors for failing to keep accurate records?
If you can be audited by the IRS and fined simply because their numbers don't match with your accountant's findings, shouldn't the credit bureaus be held to the same standards?
Sorry to cut into your profits Mr. Lender who's getting billions of dollars in bail out money, and Mr. Credit Bureau with your millions in profit earned by misleading consumers and selling them fake scores and B.S. identity theft protection, but people are struggling here and they sure don't need your antiquated system adding to their pain.
To summarize, I don't believe your poor credit is entirely your fault. I believe most of the blame rests with our government and the wealthy few who control it. Since your eyes have been opened to the importance of credit and finance, you're right to do your best to fix your mess before it consumes you. If you had the time to learn to do what I do, then you'd be within your rights to do it, and the results would be the same. Just because I do it for you (and do it well), it doesn't mean I, or people like me, are responsible for the credit crisis we're in today. We may just be a step towards the solution.
What are your thoughts?
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