3. Obtaining Excellent Credit: Old Way vs. New Way

Hello, and welcome to this particular module. This is Kenney Conwell. Obtaining Excellent Credit: Old way versus the New way. So there’s a lot of stuff I’m going to cover in this and when it comes to just getting your credit right, there’s a lot of myths. There’s a lot of information out there about what you should do and everything that we teach and everything that we educate on is within compliance. Everything is legal, everything is ethical, and you’re putting yourself in the best position to ensure that the information that you’re going to be challenging and is putting on your credit file, won’t come back to bite you. There’s a lot of misinformation on the internet. There’s a lot of scam people. So I’m going to cover this right now in module number three, because as you’re going through this process, you may be tempted to speak, to soap some person that has a quick fix, or they’re going to say, hey, look, do this, or do this, or blah, blah, blah.

I’m going to do my best to help you circumvent that type of philosophy. So as you’re going through this, you won’t end up in that trap. So here’s what we’re going to cover in this particular module: number one, what are credit quick fixes, and essentially how you can avoid them because you don’t want this information to come back and bite you. Another thing I’m going to cover is the online disputing myths. So if you’re in this course and you’re going through this process, you may have already done this before, and I’m going to break down why you should not do that. Then I’m going to break down how you can stop being an emotional score watcher because this is just really big. This happens a lot and it disempowers you as you’re going through this process and really I’m going to help you just address it.

And then the last thing is the only three things that matter, really four things that matter when it comes to your credit report. And I’m going to break that down because you need to understand what these things are. So as you’re going through this journey, you will put yourself in a really good position to be successful. So again, if you’re score isn’t where it needs to be, the whole goal with this academy is to transform you from a bad score to having a 700 credit score or FICO score amongst all three bureaus. And again, it’s the behaviors is what we’re most concerned with, which we’re most focused on. Like I said, in the previous module. It’s all about the compound effect. All about being consistent. All about those daily decisions. All about understanding the mindset capabilities. So that way we can behave ourselves while at the same time specifically address getting those negatives removed and then building a great credit score.

So what are credit quick fixes? So I’m going to spend some time on this slide. So you may have heard this before something called CPNs and really what that stands for is credit profile numbers and essentially these are nine-digit numbers that look like a social security number and people say, Hey, look, I can get you a CPN number or a credit profile number, and you can use this to apply for credit and just don’t have it associated with your existing social security number. Well, essentially what they’re doing is applying for either EIN number from the IRS, which is a legitimate number, or a tax identification number that the IRS issues to people who are in business or they’re using a stolen social security number from a child or a dead person. So this is a scam do not do this. There are a number of reasons why you don’t want to do this.

And I actually looked this up just so you can be aware of this kind of stuff. And I’m going to provide this link right below this video. But essentially if I pull this link-up really quickly, let me get in there. Give me one second. Here it is. So it’s really going into why this is illegal? Because it’s on the FTC website and why you should not be doing this? People who are doing this, you’re defrauding the financial institutions and you’re defrauding other people and you can get in trouble for this, right? So you don’t want to misrepresent information. So this article kind of goes into more detail about this, so you don’t want to do it. That’s really the moral of the story. If somebody is saying, I can get you a new credit identity run, there’s no such thing as this.

And if you are going to do this, it’s not going to turn out well in your favor because it is a scam and they are scamming the government because of your lack of information, your lack of knowledge. If you’ve previously purchased one of these before, I highly recommend you get away from it and you just disassociate yourself with it and whatever money you pay, just Chuck it up as a loss towards your education. And it is what it is. Now getting back over to everything that we’re covering here. The next thing that’s a really big credit fix is identity theft and this one is huge because I’ve seen, seen this multiple times where people will illegally claim or illegally claiming you’re a victim of identity theft in order to file, number one, go file a fake police report at the police station.

That’s bad. Then number two, you are not only following a fake police report, you’re sending this information to the credit bureaus because again, all the credit bureaus are doing is just reporting data about you. They don’t necessarily have this information. They just go to all of these specific places. And they report said data as the big three, and then they’re paid to have others report data to them. So they’re essentially the authority. So I say that to say, you can do this, but I don’t recommend you do this because it’s illegal because when the paper trail comes out, that you pretentiously filed a police report when you knew and know that you opened up that account and you used a credit, this can come back to bite you, right? And in certain scenarios, you can be punished with like a fine, jail time, or even both depending upon the state.

So here’s another link that I provided. So there’re two types of identity theft here and what I’m really specifically referencing is the fact that you are fraudulently saying that you were a victim of identity theft to remove debts that you actually had in order to get that stuff removed from your credit report. So I do not recommend that you do that yourself because you are literally saying that you, you’re creating fraud. And then the other type of identity theft is you taking somebody else’s information and then going out and applying, send information to obtain credit and any type of financial instrument and transaction. And again, that’s something else you don’t want to do. So what I’ve done is I’ve taken the liberty to go and get this link and this website right here talks about what each state is going to do, depending upon where you live, when it comes to following these types of things.

So in Alabama, if you do a consumer identity theft, if you violate a Consumer Identity Theft Protection Act in Alabama, it’s a Class B felony. Trafficking in stolen identities: Class B felony, which kind of goes into the whole CPN thing. Obstructing justice, using a false identity: Class C felony, and then you’re talking about restitution. This is just the state of Alabama, and then dealing in false identification documents, vital records identity theft fraud. So basically what you’re saying is you’re making this stuff up. So dealing in false identification documents is a class C felony. Vital records identity fraud is a class C felony. So that’s Alabama, but each state has their own specific penalty. So it looks like California is really, really, really into it. So they’ve got something about elders. So again, I’m not going to go through all of this because your state is different, but just be aware of what’s going on and how this works.

Because again, there are two sides of this. Do not do this. This is not a quick credit fix. You will get caught because there is a paper trail, especially if you’re filing a police report. And especially if you went out and you obtained that credit. All of this information is on paper. Come on, guys. That’s stink. So, you know, here’s the state of Georgia talking about this. And again, you know, we’re in the state of Georgia, which is why we just don’t recommend this. But what they’re saying is, Hey, look, 10 years in jail or or $100,000 fine, or both. If you identity fraud. It’s right there, straight up. It’s not worth it. Just, just don’t do it right. You can’t get the 10 years back. And why would you want to give up $100,000?

Even if you don’t go to jail. And again, I’m gonna provide this link, just so you know, you can go and look at your state statutes and see what the law is in your specific state. The moral of the story, don’t do this and don’t encourage other people to do this. And if you’re currently doing this because you purchased this program because you currently fix credit, stop, just stop doing it. Because you’re going to put yourself out of business or you’re going to hurt other individuals who don’t know what’s going on because of your ignorance. Right? So just don’t even do it. Now, the other thing, that’s a quick fix that people do, and it’s not as, it’s not as illegal, but it’s purchasing authorized or primary user tradelines without removing the negatives from your credit reports. So this is another quick fix.

And actually, this is a strategy that I suggest, but I suggest this once you have a clean glass, i.e. you’ve gotten the negatives removed and you’ve established some own, some primary tradelines in your own name. But what people do is they’ll go out and specifically purchase authorized user tradelines, because that will potentially give you a boost on the score based off where you are and how old the trade line is and all this stuff. However, the problem with doing this before you get the credit fixed is you still have that negative, those negative items that you need to address. So it’s almost like your glass is still dirty. Let me pour some clean water in this glass with the hopes that this clean water is going to eventually clean, but no, you still got the dirt. You still got the dirt in the glass, so you don’t want to do this.

You don’t want to go out and purchase trade lines. Number one, without you doing the due diligence of getting the glass clean or getting those negatives removed. And the number two, you don’t want to do this because typically when you purchase tradelines, it’s only going to be available for 60 days. So, or 90 days, depending upon when you purchase the tradeline, you could become an authorized user for free. That’s a whole another strategy that we’re going to cover in this course, and then this particular program. But you don’t want to do this as a quick credit fix because you’re in a jam and you’re in a bind, you know, y’all need to get a hundred points. No, right? No, your credit score is not as important as your credit report, which is something I’m going to cover. But again, just don’t do this, right?

So there’s a number of credit fixes, but these are the common ones that you really want to avoid, like the plague, because it’s not going to get you anywhere. The stuff that we’re covering in this program or principles that are time tested, will get you results, right? There’s no, there’s no such thing as a quick fix. It’s just applying the appropriate actions over time. And then what that action applied over time will put you in a different reality in the future, hopefully. And when applying the correct actions, it’d be a good reality with consistency and commitment, which is something that we cover. So stay away from these quick fixes. Now, the other thing is the online disputing myth. So in this particular slide, I’m going to kind of go into a little bit more detail about why you shouldn’t be doing this. The very, very first reason why you don’t want to dispute online is you eliminate the paper trail, right?

I’m big on this documentation beats a conversation. So by law, the credit bureaus have 30 days you know, within the receipt of your dispute to properly investigate your claim. However, this is waived if you dispute online due to a small revision under section 611a(8) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. So number one, even without me getting into the weeds of what that means, you’re eliminating the paper trail. So again, when we’re challenging things and disputing things that the credit bureau does not mean, number one, that you no longer owe the money. Okay? That’s something that you really need to understand, especially if it’s a collection, that’s still with the original creditor. Really what you’re doing is you’re challenging the reportability, not necessarily the owing offset debt on your credit file or creditworthiness. And you’re saying, Hey, look, maybe this should or should not be reporting on my file.

You’re not necessarily saying that I’m doing away with that debt. So anyways, what I’m saying here specifically is based off what the law says, you are waiving the right for them to respond with the information that either says you do or don’t have that particular obligation from a reportability standpoint, right? That’s really what we’re referencing. So what it goes into the say is this next bullet point, expedited dispute resolution, because this was a revision made to the Fair Credit Reporting Act and what it really says is if a dispute regarding an item of information in a consumer’s credit file, at a consumer reporting agency, i.e. Equifax , TransUnion, Experian and Innovis is resolved in accordance with paragraph (5)(A) by the deletion of disputed information by no later than 3 business days after the date on which the agency receives notice of disputed information of consumer in accordance with paragraph (1)(A), the agency shall not be required to comply with paragraph (2), (6), (7) with respect to the dispute agency.

And I had this link right here to go into the weeds of it. Essentially, what all that means in layman’s terms is online disputes aren’t handled the same way as a normal physical paper dispute. In another module or another week, we’re going to cover E-Oscar and why all this stuff matters, but I’m prepping you for this. So that way you understand, essentially the Fair Credit Reporting Act was developed to protect us, you and me as consumers from error, unfair reporting practices. So that’s what I’m saying. They are just reporting data about you. They are paid by banks and creditors businesses to report that data. And they’re paid to be the most accurate data. However stuff happens, things change and inaccurate information happens. So that’s why they have this Fair Credit Reporting Act in place because they know that information is going to be inaccurate and unverifiable.

So that’s why this was put in place. However, due to the revision of section 611a(8), the credit reporting agency, when you dispute online, this is why we don’t do this, when you dispute online, the credit reporting agency does not have to forward the dispute to the reporting creditor, ding, ding, ding. That’s a huge red flag. You mean to tell them if I dispute online, they don’t have to go try to verify that stuff with the creditor? Number two, the credit reporting agency does not have to send written results from the investigation. They don’t have to do it because of the revision to the law. And the number three, the reporting agency does not have to show the method of verification, which is another huge thing. So that’s what that means about the expedited dispute resolution. You’re essentially waiving all of these things because of that small clause in the law.

So don’t dispute online. That’s the moral of the story. I wanted to get into the weeds of it. To kind of give you some justification as to why, but just don’t do it. If you’ve done it previously, then it is what it is. Follow this particular process. And I’m breaking down in the course and in the Academy and you’ll be good to go, but don’t try to circumvent the process by saying, Kenney, I’m just going to go disputes and stuff online on Credit Karma because it’s easy. Don’t do that. That is stupid. It is stupid at this point because I just broke it down to you. Right. And I’m not calling you stupid. I’m calling that behavior stupid. If you choose to do that after me breaking this down, sir, or ma’am okay. So I’m off my soapbox. Don’t dispute online. It’s a myth. Now.

And there’s a myth that is not necessarily a myth, it’s information. It is a myth. It’s a myth. However, it’s information that’s not in your favor. Right? So next thing, how do we stop being an emotional score watcher? The very first thing I want you to understand, stop looking at Credit Karma. Credit Karma is going to fluctuate is going to go up and it’s gonna go down specifically Credit Karma updates every seven days. That information is always being updated with the credit bureaus. So number one, if you’re going to the rebuilding process outside of the accounts and suggestions that we recommend in this course, you shouldn’t be going out and applying for new credit. Right? But also your Credit Karma is going to fluctuate, right? It just is what it is. So stop looking at Credit Karma as the end that’d be all, right?

Cause that’s what you’re doing. You’re looking at your Credit Karma and you’re looking at your notifications and if you don’t look at Credit Karma, you’re going to Experian. You got all of these different sites and it’s telling you this and it’s telling you that. Stop. Just stop. Right? This is a process, right? It’s a 6-10 month process. Heck. Most people don’t know and I said this before, it took me 13 months just to get myself up to where I needed to be with that 747. Right? It took me 13 months. So if I was score watching that entire time, I’d have been let down, right? Your scores, they’re just going to fluctuate during this process. And that’s totally fine. That is totally normal right now. Typically, your score will decrease for the following reasons, especially as you’re going through this process, you may have trade lines that are being removed.

You may have things that are being added, which is why I’m saying you shouldn’t be applying for credit while you are going through this process, unless you are applying with the recommended building credit accounts that we suggest. But typically your score is going to decrease for the following reasons. Number one, you’re going to have some something to deal with your current credit card utilization. So you may have a line of credit, which is something I’ll get into later on. But a line of credit is just a particular extension of credit at the bank or whatever financial institution you’re using. And your utilization may go up past a certain limit, right? So in the next module, I’m going to break down the score algorithm, how that works. But again, this is going to be a reason why your score can decrease. Another reason why this would be a huge reason why your score can decrease is missed or late payments.

So you can have a 30-day, 60-day, 90-day late, which tells me that you aren’t following a cashflow program and maybe something happened at work. Maybe whatever the case happened, you’re just at a place where you’re in a financial bind, but this could, that’s another reason why your scores are going to fluctuate. The next thing, or the third reason why typically your scores are going to fluctuate is because you have a collection or charge off that happened, or just appear maybe on Equifax or Experian or TransUnion. And your score is always going to be different between those three, because depending upon who that creditor reports to that may or may not be on your file, but these are the reasons why your score will decrease. Now, sometimes, in certain scenarios, you may have a closed account that was closed less than let’s just say seven years ago.

And it was adding some really good age and history to your file. But on that seventh year, if that accounts no longer reporting and adding that age and that goes away, that could decrease your score. That’s a rare one, but that’s another reason why. So the moral of the story is don’t be a score watcher because again, what you’re doing is strategically attacking those negatives from reporting on your credit file so that you could get those negatives removed while at the same time, giving you the current accounts that you have, the ability to show your creditworthiness, right? So your score really at the end of the day, it’s not going to hold as much weight as a content inside of your credit report, all the information about you. And that’s really what we’re focused on. So the four things that matter with this process is number one is removing the negatives.

We have to make sure we’re cleaning our glass. Like I was saying early on, it doesn’t make any sense to go out and go out and put clean water in a dirty glass. Just don’t do that. Right? You wouldn’t do that. And if you did do that, you’re going to put yourself in position where you’re disadvantaging yourself. Number two, you want to be paying current bills on time, right? That’s what you want to do. So now that you’re on the journey of excellent credit and putting yourself in position to have excellent credit, now we need to change our behaviors, right? We need to start making sure we can, we’re going to be putting ourselves as to where we’re keeping an excellent track record. Consistency and a track record, track, record, track record. That’s what we want to do.

Number three, we want to start building and applying for new credit. So this is going to be the bedrock because again, it’s not just about getting the knives clean. We also want to start building and applying for new credit specifically using the accounts that we suggest and recommending this program, right? Don’t go out and start applying for all these random accounts and get declined. Don’t go to Credit Karma and say, Credit Karma recommended this account, or recommend you get this account and you apply then you get declined, right? Credit Karma gets paid for that. Okay, don’t do it. If you’ve got a question about a specific type of account, bring it up on a Q&A, we’ll take a peek at it. And we’ll suggest that if Credit Karma says recommend, don’t do that. Tell him Kenney said it. Okay.

Don’t do it. Only the accounts that we suggest because Credit Karma may recommend an account that they’re kind of maybe, and you get declined. Then the fourth thing is you want to follow, you want to be following a cash flow system, right? So you want to make smart decisions with your cash to prevent bad financial decisions in the future. So in this course, we’re going to break down exactly how to put together a cash flow program. But these are the four things. These are the only things that matter, right? And when you’re going through this process. So I’ll end with this as we’re wrapping up this particular module, in module three, right? To know, and not to do is not to know, let your results prove your knowledge. All right. So I want you guys to prove to yourselves that you know this information and the only way you’re going prove it is by having the results in your own actual life.

And I’m probably going to repeat this over and over and over again because this is a quote that I live by all. Right? To know and not to do is not to know; let your results prove your knowledge. So apply the information that you are getting in this program. Get the results and that’s going to prove to yourself that you know what you’re talking about, right? Don’t go out and be this expert because you went through a video and now you don’t have any results. Right? Apply this information. All right. So I’m so, so grateful that you’re here and I will see you in the next video. Talk to you soon.