MyCRA Specialist Credit Repair Lawyers

Tag: broker

  • New Year, New home? The credit info Australians need to know.

    new years resolution buy homeMany a New Year’s resolution has been declared to take the time to find a home this year, and apply for a loan. If this is you, there are some things you need to know about credit NOW which can help you out massively.

    We look at the three things you need to ask yourself right now, that you may not have considered, but which could stop you from getting your dream home.

    By Graham Doessel, Non-Legal Director of MyCRA Lawyers. www.mycralawyers.com.au.

    Good deposit? Check.

    Good income? Check

    Paid off most of your debts? Check

    Stable job? Check.

    Most people who answer ‘yes’ to all of the above questions would assume they’re ready to go for finance and would be any lender’s favourite customer.

    If this is you, and you are about to talk to your broker or bank branch about getting a mortgage, there are 3 important questions you need to ask yourself before you do…

    1. Have I… disputed a bill with my credit provider/moved/divorced or separated/forgotten a bill/or not received a bill I should have in the last 5 years?

    These are probably the most common reasons people end up with a bad credit rating which sees them refused a home loan. Answering yes to any of these questions may mean you are at risk of having impaired credit show up when a lender does a credit check on you.

    Your credit provider may have issued a default in your name. If you have moved or separated or due to credit provider error, you may or may not have been made aware of your credit listing. These “oversights” whether yours or theirs may not be easy to remove, and many times clients who request their removal are told by their credit provider they are never removed but can be marked as paid if you settle the account. Unfortunately a paid listing is just as detrimental to your home loan as an unpaid one.

    If you fall into the above categories, do yourself a favour and apply to see your credit report before you apply for a home loan (www.freecreditrating.com.au).

     2. Do I have a copy of my credit report?

    Even if you believe you are not at risk of bad credit, and you always pay bills on time, mistakes can and do happen. Don’t let the lender be the one to see them first, order your own credit report and make sure you have the all clear before you apply. If the lender does a credit check they will generate a “credit enquiry” on your file. If you have bad credit, the credit enquiry will only add to the crosses against your name. So it’s best to check your credit file yourself first, which you have the right to do for free annually without generating an enquiry against your name.

    You can order your credit report from Australia’s credit reporting agencies. A free credit report takes around 10 working days to be sent to you by mail. MyCRA Lawyers also offers a credit file analysis service, which includes a credit assessment and same-day copy of your credit file service.

     3. Have I paid my credit card or any loan late in the last 12 months?

    Hopefully you have checked your credit report and it has come back clear…BUT even still, there may be things you are doing right now which are harming your future credit file. If you have been late making repayments to finance providers on accounts such as credit cards or loans you have been monitored (since December 2012). While this information doesn’t show up on your credit file yet, it will from March due to new credit reporting laws which are set to be implemented then. It will stay on your credit file for 2 years.

    If you think you have paid a credit card late, or your personal loan or other finance, then you may be at risk of a late payment notation against your name. If you are a serial late payer, even by a week or so, you are probably at risk of this new type of ‘bad credit’.

    Too many may mean you are refused credit after March. If you think this is you, you may need to apply for that loan before March, and not wait, or potentially risk being refused credit, or being offered a higher interest rate.

    It’s unclear how lenders will look at these notations – how many late payment notations will be too many and mean you’re refused credit, so take heed, and make sure you stop paying your credit accounts late in the future to protect your credit file.

    If you’re not sure where you stand with your credit file, or if there is a ‘black mark’ which will stop you from getting your home loan, talk to us about it. We can assess whether we may be able to help you dispute your credit listing. If successful in proving the credit listing is incorrect or inaccurate, it is required to be removed from your credit file. So you can have the squeaky clean credit file you deserve, and your loan at the interest rates you deserve too. Phone MyCRA Lawyers on 1300 667 218 for more information.

    Image: Danilo Rizzuti/ www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net

     

  • Credit repair ‘test case’ has broker over the moon

    Happy New Year 2014Happy New Year from MyCRA Lawyers. How can we make 2014 better for you? We can recommend our credit dispute and credit file consultancy services!

    A shameless plug perhaps – but here’s why we’re doing it…

    By Graham Doessel, Non-Legal Director of MyCRA Lawyers.

    We want to tell you about one of our broker clients, who has just jumped in with us just before Christmas, and been over the moon with the results.

    Up until now, this broker had been turning clients away who had bad credit. But he’d recently heard about our success from someone he trusted, and decided it was time to give us a go.

    Why didn’t he start earlier?

    Understandably, when you find out you or your clients have bad credit it can be hard to know what to do.

    Many people in the past have been hesitant to consider having their credit file repaired.

    And for brokers, there is a fair bit of reputation at stake sending someone off to do something you don’t know much about, and the last thing you want to do is threaten that.

    Add to this the criticism that is floating around about credit repair, and some clients and their brokers can be reluctant to test the waters.

    Since MyCRA Lawyer’s inception as an Incorporated Legal Practice focusing on credit disputes, fears have been alleviated for many who were watching credit repair with interest but trepidation, including our new broker client.

    He sent us his first client, which he said after the fact was really just a test to see how we’d go.

    His client had great success – the default on his credit file was removed in less than 2 weeks. His client will now be able to apply for the home loan at interest rates he deserves.

    On top of that, and probably more importantly, the broker was really happy with how he and his client were treated by our staff – including the advice that was given, and the follow up that was provided during the course of the credit repair.

    His great experience meant he will be referring any other clients he comes across who have bad credit to us. He no longer has to turn them away, and he has found a firm whom he trusts, and whom he trusts with his most important asset, his clients.

    If you are also watching with interest, curious to learn about credit repair but afraid to test the waters…jump in and find out whether you or your clients might be suitable for credit repair with our law firm – focused on credit file consultancy and credit disputes.

    The assessment stage is quite rigorous, so you can be sure if we do decide to take the case on, we have a strong reason to go in and fight for that credit listing’s permanent removal from your credit file.

    Call MyCRA Lawyers if you have more questions about what we do. Ph 1300 667 218 and we can talk you through what’s involved as well as give more specific help for your case. MyCRA Lawyers are qualified to perform legal services.

    Image: Idea go/ www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net

  • Churning – who says it’s bad?

    Press Release

    churningChurning – who says it’s bad?

    12 April 2013

    Churning for self interest is without question a highly unethical practice for a broker to perform, but a consumer advocate says when it comes to expensive credit, there can be such a thing as an ethical churn.

    CEO of MyCRA Credit Rating Repair, Graham Doessel says for clients who are currently sitting in a high interest loan, there are potentially tens of thousands of dollars which can be saved by their broker turning their loan over to mainstream credit, and he says it can happen easier than many brokers think.

    “It is often thought that if a client has bad credit, it is meant to be there, when in reality mistakes are extremely prevalent in credit reporting but it has in the past been difficult for individuals to make a case to dispute their credit listing,” Mr Doessel says.

    Traditionally clients with bad credit are steered by brokers towards the non-conforming loan market – but Mr Doessel argues they should first be given the right to have their credit listings assessed for compliance with current law.

    “A professional credit repairer will conduct an audit-like investigation on the client’s credit file – and in most cases there are compliance issues or out and out mistakes which can see the listing proven unlawful and be required to be removed from the credit file,” he says.

    He says this practice has seen his clients save thousands of dollars just in interest alone on a home loan.

    Comparison Table $400,000 loan over 30 years

    Repayment time frame Min. repayment on interest rate 10.5% Min. repayment on interest rate 6% Difference in interest paid.
    Monthly $ 3,658.96 $ 2,398.20 $ 1,260.76 
    Weekly $ 843.97 $ 553.05 $ 290.92 
    Yearly  $43,907.52 $28,778.40 $15,129.12

    Over an average three-year period in a non-conforming home loan a client with a $400,000 loan could be paying over $45,000 extra in interest.

    Mr Doessel says in these instances it is not only ethical for brokers to churn their clients, but they almost have an obligation to do so.

    “When we consider these figures, brokers are almost ethically obligated to ensure that no clients are paying this extra interest unnecessarily – which could involve going back through client databases and uncovering some of the basic circumstances surrounding the bad credit, or even more basically – by sending bad credit clients for a credit repair assessment.”

    “In the past we’ve found clients who are given that option to save themselves so much money are pretty grateful, they’re more likely to give brokers repeat business or to refer – and the advantage to using a broker becomes really evident to them,” Mr Doessel says.

    /ENDS.

    Please contact:

    Graham Doessel – CEO Ph 3124 7133

    Lisa Brewster – Media Relations media@mycra.com.au

    Ph 07 3124 7133 www.mycra.com.au www.mycra.com.au/blog

    MyCRA Credit Repair 246 Stafford Rd, STAFFORD Qld

    MyCRA is Australia’s number one in credit rating repairs. We permanently remove defaults from credit files. CEO of MyCRA Graham Doessel is a frequent consumer spokesperson for credit reporting issues and is a founding member of the Credit Repair Industry Association of Australasia.

    Image: suphakit73/ www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net

  • How to help more clients… A former award winning broker shows why the millions of Aussies with bad credit are not lost

    Those brokers who are just in it for the money are few and far between in this market.  Those that have hung around despite all the market conditions thrust upon them must have a passion for the job, and a drive to see people realise their dreams of home or business ownership. We show you why more of the people you come across every day could end up being your biggest fans and clients for life.

    By Graham Doessel, Founder and CEO of MyCRA Credit Rating Repairs and www.fixmybadcredit.com.au.

    As brokers, you are restrained by so many conditions which are simply out of your control in the current market.

    Left over from the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) are tighter lending conditions and nervous borrowers. Put this together with regulations for National Consumer Credit Protection (NCCP) compliance, and the result is unfortunately a diminished client base.

    Let’s face it – in this market, if you have to pick between a client with a perfect application or one which is slightly tarnished or impaired with bad credit (paid or unpaid), then it’s likely that you’ll choose the squeaky clean one…no headaches, no worries…and no extra indemnity insurance on a non-conforming loan.

    But most brokers do not know there is another way.

    In more than 9 out of 10 cases, bad credit history can actually be repaired. Engaging credit rating repair for a bad credit client gives the client the home at the best possible interest rates, and you the commission – and trail.

    Everyone wins.

    Plus, all parties are doing their part to help improve consistency in credit reporting through ensuring creditors enter listings fairly and accurately.

    For those who don’t know, here is how credit rating repair works…

    Bad credit can occur for a number of reasons:
    • Due to a dispute on a bill, such as a telephone or power bill;
    • Because of a change of address;
    • A major sudden upheaval such as illness or death;
    • Identity theft or fraud; or
    • Simple human error by the creditor

    The creditor defaults the consumer on one or more of their credit records held by the three (soon to be four) Credit Reporting Agencies in Australia.

    Defaults and other negative listing entries are strictly controlled by several pieces of legislation and several more codes of conduct. This aspect itself creates many grey areas and of course, is subject to interpretation.

    Consumers are blessed in Australia to live in a place where they are highly protected. Some of these protections are spelled out throughout the several thousand pages of legislation that works with and around Credit Reporting Law.

    Because the legislation is lengthy and involved, it gives those that are informed quite a lot of power. This knowledge is sometimes weighted heavily on the side of the creditor and leaves consumers with little ability to effect change in their own circumstances.

    For this reason, credit rating repairers have grown in popularity, as we are often the only people on the side of the consumer with the knowledge needed to fight the case on their behalf.

    As credit rating repairers we know this legislation. We review and consult it on a daily basis, looking to discover new and interesting methods to have bad credit set aside.

    During the process of discovery, we receive mountains of paperwork from your client’s creditors – which often include account statements, invoices, contracts and file notes.

    We review this documentation, constantly referring back to the legislation to formulate a case for your client. Once we are aware of any errors in the way the listing was added to your client’s credit report, we alert the creditor that the listing may be unlawful and request its immediate removal.

    At this stage it can sometimes get interesting, as many creditors genuinely believe that what they have done has been lawful and it’s up to us to educate them on where they have made errors.

    Occasionally, this can be a lengthy process and sometimes it may require the assistance and rulings of external governmental bodies.

    In more than 9 out of 10 cases, your client will be victorious. They can then go back to you to have their mortgage approved, their home loan settled, and their family can move into their very own home.

    I’m imagining a blue, round kiddie pool in the backyard, with a little sandy coloured puppy chasing the kids as they run up the slide to the cubby house, laughing and giggling all the way. That was my backyard a few years ago. My kids are all grown up now – one is about to get married. But those fond memories of us as a young family in our own home still remain.

    That is the power you have in your hands right now – to make someone’s dreams come true.

    Contact MyCRA Credit Rating Repairs tollfree on 1300 667 218 to speak with a consultant about our broker referral system.

     

    About Graham Doessel and MyCRA Credit Rating Repairs.

    Graham Doessel is the founder and CEO of MyCRA Credit Rating Repairs – Australia and New Zealand’s leading credit rating repair specialists.

    Graham’s origins are in finance, and he formed/owned the award-winning non-conforming brokerage “Mortgage Now.”
    Graham is a consistent spokesperson in the media for credit reporting issues in Australia and New Zealand.

    MyCRA Credit Rating Repairs, now in its fourth year of operation, has recorded an impressive track record of up to 91.7% rate of removal of inconsistent or inaccurate negative data from the Australian and New Zealand credit reports of both consumers and commercial entities.

    Graham and MyCRA Credit Rating Repairs are proud to be a part of developing a self-regulating framework for the credit rating repair industry through the lead role in the formation of a credit rating repair industry body.

    MyCRA Credit Rating Repairs is nominated for the 2012 Telstra Small Business Awards and the 2012 Start-Up Smart Awards.