Starting a new business is an exciting time.
Many people view it as an opportunity to supplement or replace an existing income.
If you have savings then you can afford to fund the early days of your new venture.
Otherwise you may need to seek funding from elsewhere.
The good news is that access to loans is easier now than it has been for many decades.
Banks and other financial institutions will base their decision on your Credit Score.
When you are starting out your business will have no credit history, so it will be a personal loan based on your personal credit score.
Everyone should know their Credit Score on a month-to-month basis.
Plus, it is important to make regular checks on your credit reports.
Make sure that your personal and financial information is accurate.
Credit reports are compiled by credit reference agencies.
The three main agencies covering both the USA and the UK are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
For other countries, check with your local bank or Government Consumer Information agency.
In the USA the law entitles you to a free credit report from each of the three credit reporting agencies every week, through till April 2021.
Go online at AnnualCreditReport.com. You can request all three reports at once, or request them one at a time.
As a general rule, the higher your score, the better your credit rating.
Each credit reporting agency has their one scale. This can be confusing but generally achieving a high score means you have demonstrated good financial conduct.
You will have settled your credit card bills on time, and not missed any repayments on loans.
A high credit score will give you access to a wider range of financial products, and better (lower) interest rates on credit.
If your credit score is low, you need to find out why and take corrective action.
You need to do this before you are in the need of a quick loan to either fund your business venture or for personal use like a car or home improvement.
Repairing your credit score is not a quick and easy task so the sooner you get started the better.
There is plenty of information online about fixing your credit score, and it can involve quite a bit of work.
If you are busy starting your new business, this can be one of those task you choose to outsource to someone else.
A Credit Repair business can definitely help you out in fixing your bad credit record.
They use their knowledge of how credit scoring works, and are often well connected.
They leverage their contacts at credit business, accounting, and finance firms to get your records updated.
While a good credit repair business can be very effective, their services do not come cheap.
But before you actually consider hiring a credit repair service, you need be aware that fraudsters plague the industry.
Here are some signs you need to watch out for:
Fraud Signs #1
Some credit repair business offer a quick fix for your credit rating – in as little as 30 to 60 days.
Don’t be gullible enough to fall for this claim.
In truth, there is no way to fix your credit score within that time frame; it may take months, or even years to get the job done.
What they can do in a short timeframe is a check of your credit reports for possible transaction errors.
Reporting these errors to the responsible agency for correction can give your credit rating a much needed boost.
But if there are no errors found on your report, then it will take quite some time to get it fixed.
Fraud Signs #2
Real experts in credit repair will give you advice during a free introductory call.
Some will even start helping you fix your credit rating without any up-front charges.
Scam credit repair businesses are more interested in getting your money than fixing the problem.
These individuals will ask for up-front or advance payments for their service before they even process your request.
Fraud Signs #3
Some fraudulent credit repair businesses offer to use their contacts in credit agencies to clean your credit history.
It doesn’t matter how many friends they have working in an agency.
It is impossible, even illegal, to erase whole records of credit transactions for a certain individual.
Other frauds will try to get bad transactions removed from your credit report.
They do this by filing false claims.
Buy the transaction will not get erased.
At best it may get suspended while the agency does more detailed research.
If/when there is no error found, the credit agency will place it all back on your credit history.
Fraud Signs #4
Another illegal credit repair practice scammers suggest will clean your credit history is to change your Tax Identification Number .
Many scammers even offer to process your new TIN for a fee.
But, even if you do change your TIN, the new one will still be under your name and contact information, which would still be linked to your old debt.
The fee you paid will be lone gone, and your credit rating will remain unchanged.
When choosing to let experts fix your credit rating for you, it’s best to take time and check on the credibility of their service.
The common fraud signs will help you distinguish the real ones and the fakes.
As with all outsourcing decisions, always ask for references from satisfied customers.
