After reading (other websites), as well as speaking to many people I am greatly concerned about the lack of knowledge that the average American has on credit related issues. They do not know their rights, heck even the credit card companies and CRAs don't understand the basic issues of credit. The public is being misinformed. I called a large retail store's credit department the other day to inquire about a credit line increase. The lady I spoke with said she would need to pull my report. I asked her if it would a hard inquiry or a short inquiry. She didn't know the difference between them so she couldn't answer my question. I then declined the review. This was the credit department! The people making decisions based on our credit reports and account information and they don't know the difference between a soft and hard inquiry. I believe we need to do something. I am thinking about holding a local consumer credit education class in my area. I will have to do a bit more research on credit repair - so I am able to discuss that option with people, but I believe I can hold my own on the CRAs, the FCRA, scores, mortgage preparation, etc. Is anyone interested in doing something like this? I am so upset by the misinformation that is stemming from people - who supposely know credit and its requirements (brokers, credit depts, etc). I believe if a couple of us got together and share our combine knowledge we could really help out some people - if not at least give them the opportunity to educate themselves. Dani
What part of the country are you in? I'm quite serious. It scares me how much misinformation is circulating. I don't want to do peoples credit repair; I will leave that to Junum, Lexington, or the individual, but I believe we need to tell them their rights. But how do you go about setting it up? Do you get individuals to bring in their own credit reports and field questions? Should there be a cover charge (eg. for location and refreshments)? Should we focus on one important area (eg. the CRAs) or just general information (eg. cover everything)? I was on the phone with my mother the other night answering questions because she didn't understand why two of her credit cards lowered her limit. We went over her report discussing revolving balances, installment loans, laws, etc. And the idea kind of popped into my head then, but after reading MSN's website I even more inclined to do this. Dani
Your idea is praiseworthy,but futile. There are many State,Federal and non-profit consumer education sites on credit,how CRA's work, etc. It is sort of like "health information" People don't care to educate themselves on the subject until they are sick.Your mother would have probably never been interested in the topic unless and until she had a problem. I will bet there is NO ONE reading or posting to this board who hasn't had a credit problem.
The concept has merit. I'd recommend a "Credit Information Seminar" approach with advance mailings and a minimal fee for attendance with advance reservations. Or, you can find a corporate sponsor and try to impress upon the prospective sponsor that you want to educate folks on how important it is to pay their bills. Maybe a local CCCS or a "lower income bracket empowerment" agency would be interested in sponsoring the first free ones. Then you can send out postcards that say "hundreds have attended this seminar" (include testimonials) and begin charging that nominal fee with the approach I mentioned earlier. Good Luck. Dancer
Our local newspaper had something about a credit education class that was held at one of the local grade schools about a month ago. It meets once a month and offers education, both for those in poor financial situations, as well as information on how to get the best loan/credit card deals. I think it would be a great idea, and it would look great as far as community involvement goes.
I've thought about offering my services as a "credit coach" or even teaching a class. BUT, what are the ramification if a person uses my techniques and wakes a sleeping dog who then files suit agaisnt the debtor? Can that debtor then come after me for "giving him/her bad info"? It sounds like too much of a headache.
Could you give me the name of the instructor who taught the class or the newspaper it was in so I could speak to someone there? I would like to get more information on how to establish such a class. Maybe if I spoke to the "higher ups" in the community they would be interested in such a thing. Or maybe they could give a name of someone interested in helping me start one. I appreciate your help. Dani PS My email is enabled.
It was out of the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier, (IA) and the lady's name is Stephanie Briddle. I'll see if I can find a copy of it to get more information. You might be able to find it at the website, waterloocourier.com. Good luck!
Maybe if it was billed as a class on "how to increase your credit line and lower your interest rate," or "how to increase your credit score and live life to the fullest." LOL Since I have to ask people every day if Geico can check their credit report, I have been amazed at the number of people who are interested and informed. People say "no, I have too many inquiries already." or "no, that will affect my score..." instead of just "okay." And some of the people ask how it will be used. Interesting to hear how well educated people are becoming. Invariably, after some conversation, I find that these people have internet access.
Breeze- I called around yesterday for Renter's insurance, the first question out of my mouth was "Do you pull a credit report?", most companies asked if I had bad credit, and I said no. They responded with, oh then it won't matter. I had to inform them how if I let every company pull my report for insurance I would lose 2-7 points per inquiry unless it was a soft inquiry. I did get a very nice rep at a local insurance agent, who was just recently at some national insurance convention and the "keynote speaker" said that pulling a credit report for a potential customer will NOT hurt the consumer, BULLSH!T!!! The ins. rep had a copy of his report, that he pulls every 6 months(thru his ins. co. NOT as a consumer) and he read it to me and sure enough they pull hard inquiries! He was CLUELESS when it came to credit, he said "one of my companies pulls EQUSPERIAN", lmao. He told me there were only 2 CRA's. Long story short, we talked for almost an hour and he thanked me profusely before we hung up, I told him if he was ever hiring to give me a ring (always looking for a better job) Dani- I think it's a great idea, I live in New England, so if you're near by and want some help, I'm with you!
Good for you!! This is the crap the insurance industry is being fed by the credit bureaus. They teach them that insurance inquiries won't hurt your score, don't count, aren't really inquiries, the whole truckload - and they buy it because they don't have any first-hand knowledge. Just typical of the entire "credit industry" - keep everything a secret, and they can do what they please!! Consumers are catching on, IMO, now that scoring is slowly being put out there for public examination.
I understand your concern. I work at a public career center and I would also like to develop a workshop on financial issues. I would probably have to bill it as budgeting because we have a contract with CCCS. I always give people this website and tell them they can do it themselves before I refer them to CCCS. ALOT of people are not informed when it comes to credit. Even my co-worker who also moonlights as a real estate broker & agent doesn't know as much as I do. It's really sad because I deal with alot of people who are low income, on welfare, laid off, unemployed, or etc. and they don't know they have rights. Heck, I didn't before I found this website!
