Review All of Your Options to Get the Best Credit Repair Help in London

There are some companies who are selling costly credit repair services in London that sadly, often leave people struggling to pay more debt than they started with. Based on how much they charge for these services, it’s likely a lot of people would expect to receive a lot more value than what they actually receive. What’s also surprising is that services like this can possibly make someone’s credit worse if they are unable to make all their payments, and their new credit repair loan is sent to collections. Although this may be unnerving, here is some good news: you can repair and improve your credit score in London for free – and even get more one-on-one help and better advice than a good number of credit fixing companies provide. Keep on reading, and we’ll tell you how to get this.

How to Fix & Repair Bad Credit for Less Than Credit Repair Companies, Services, & Agencies

Credit repair services aim to assist people in improving their credit score. In Canada, the main way they do this is by granting credit building loans for a fee. The logic behind this is that a new loan will put positive information on someone’s credit report, demonstrating to the credit scoring system that this person can use credit wisely.

This approach undoubtedly helps a fair number of people improve their score, but we think that it comes at much too steep a cost for many consumers. A credit building loan ensures that a company can charge someone interest and fees every month over many years. But there is a better, cheaper, and more effective option.

Why to Use a Cash Secured Credit Card to Fix, Improve or Restore Your Credit Score

Compared to a credit rebuilding loan, a cash secured credit card is a much quicker – and in our experience – a more effective way to improve, restore, or fix your credit score in Canada. A cash secured card requires you to deposit money as security for a card. The cash security that’s needed can be as little as $225 or $350. This card is then just like a normal credit card.

Cash secured credit cards have a number of advantages over credit rebuilding loans. Here are four of the biggest:

1. As a revolving type of credit, a cash secured card will improve your score faster than a loan as long as you don’t carry balance equal to half of your credit limit or greater.
2. Most credit repair loans have fees and interest that you pay monthly with your payment. A secured credit card only has one yearly fee, and you don’t have to pay any interest if you pay off what you owe every month in full.
3. It’s way more affordable because you don’t have to make room in your budget for a monthly loan payment and/or a credit repair company service fee. Instead you just use your card to pay for something that is already in your budget – like gas or your transit pass – and then pay off the card balance in full at the end of the month. This doesn’t cost you anything extra if you were going to buy the gas or transit pass anyway.
4. If your income drops and you can’t afford to make your loan payments, your loan would be sent to collections, your credit score would be further damaged, and you would have more stress in your life. With a cash secured credit card, if you don’t use it, then you don’t have to pay anything. If you get laid off, you work less hours, you get injured or you become sick, your credit won’t be impacted right away, and there won’t be any additional problems that missing loan payments could cause.

The bottom line, from our perspective, is that a cash secured credit card is a much better way of giving your credit score a boost and rebuilding your credit. The thing to remember with a cash secured credit card is that you always need to make at least your minimum monthly payment. If you miss a few months of payments, the credit card company will take money from your deposit, pay off what you owe, return any money left over, and then cancel the account. This will show up negatively on your credit report.

Most people think that you have to use a credit card a lot for it to help your rating. That’s not true. It’s okay to use it once every few months for a purchase that doesn’t use more than 50% of your credit limit. Then when the bill comes – and it’s important to wait for it – you pay it off in full.

The credit limit on your secured card should be something reasonable that you can afford. If your income is very low, a limit of a few hundred dollars can work. However, if you can afford it, a higher limit of $1,000 to $2,500, will probably help you move your credit score up faster and higher.

Here is a government list with a lot of secured credit cards in Canada. To narrow down the list, choose your province, press the "Apply" button, and compare the cards. Here are some more cards that were missed on the government list.

If you are trying to figure out where you’re going to find the money for a cash secured card, here are some great ideas of where you can possibly get some.

What to Watch Out for & Be Aware of with Debt Relief Programs & Solutions in London

Some credit repair agencies will try to promote specific debt relief services and programs to you. Credit repair companies want to earn money, and while there’s technically nothing wrong with a company wanting to earn as much as possible, how they go about doing this is important. If you have bad debts you’re having difficulty paying, a debt relief option might be a good solution for you. So to help you figure out what debt solution in London might be best for you, here are three things to be aware of:

1. There are advantages and disadvantages with all debt relief solutions. If there weren’t, everyone would try to sign up for one. What you need to do is weigh the pros and cons for each option and see what will be best for you to live with in the long run. Also, as someone tells you about a debt relief program, watch out if they spend way too much time talking about its positive aspects. If they don’t take almost as much time to tell you about the negatives, move on and find someone who’s more objective and not trying to sell you something.
2. If the company representative attempting to sell you a program is on commission, or gets a kick back from you signing an agreement or being referred to another business, they could be focusing more on their own financial interests rather than on what’s best for you. This is often true of businesses that only have a few options to offer you.
3. In Canada, there are 5 basic ways to fix, improve, or restore your credit: a debt management program, an orderly payment of debts program, a debt settlement, a consumer proposal, and filing for bankruptcy. Anyone you talk to about getting help with your debts should be explaining all of these options, and what the pros and cons of each would be for you. If you get the feeling that whoever you’re talking to is pushing one particular option on you, it would likely be best to get a second opinion from someone more objective.

Top Credit Score Tips to Improve, Restore, or Fix Your Credit – How to Do It Yourself for Free

It's not necessary to pay anyone on a regular basis just to help you restore or improve your credit score. We have all of the best credit score tips that really work right here – for free. Check them out. We’ll show you how you can repair your credit as quickly as possible along with the most effective methods that take a bit more time. In addition to this, we can also show you what's needed to get an amazingly high credit score. If all of this seems a bit much for you, if you have a complicated situation, or if you’d like some individual help and guidance, there are financial experts located close by you who have expertise in assisting people with bad debt – and they’ll usually help you for free!

Where to Get Free Personal Credit Assistance in London to Fix Your Bad Credit Rating

Free Guidance & Information from Non-Profit Agencies Near You

A lot of people aren't aware of this, but some of the most helpful experts on fixing bad credit situations and totally repairing credit ratings are non-profit Credit Counsellors in London who offer free, confidential appointments (either over the phone or in person). If you have debts you are having trouble paying or are experiencing financial difficulty, they are the best people to go over your situation with you. Anything you discuss with them is completely confidential. Don’t worry if your situation is really bad. They’ve likely seen far worse, and they are non-judgmental in how they help. Follow this link to locate a non-profit credit counselling service near you.

How to Get Free Credit Repair Advice from Your Bank or Credit Union

The lender at your financial institution, or the mortgage broker if you applied for a mortgage, is a good person to talk to about your credit rating. You might have been declined for a loan. Instead of being embarrassed, use it as an opportunity to figure out how you can best get your financial situation back on track. If you get declined for something you’ve applied for, e.g. a loan, line of credit, or mortgage, the lender is allowed to tell you why. And if the explanation doesn’t make sense, get them to explain it again. Finally, ask them what you should do to get a better credit score and overall credit rating so that you’re not declined next time.

How to Get a Copy of Your Credit Report for Free

If you haven’t yet seen a copy of your credit report and are wondering how bad things really are, you can follow these steps to get a free copy of your credit report. If you want to know what your credit score is, you'll have to pay for that, but either Equifax or TransUnion, the two credit reporting agencies in Canada, would be happy to sell you that information (for $24 and $17). You can also use this tool to estimate your credit score for free. The added value of this tool is that you can play with the questions they ask to get an idea of how changing certain things can improve your credit score. You’re unlikely to get this kind of specific feedback from anywhere else – not even from paid credit repair agencies – and it’s available to you for free.

Save Your Money, Fix or Do Your Credit Repair Yourself – That’s What it Comes Down To

If you are in London and really are planning to find a credit repair service to help you improve or repair your credit, we truly believe that you would come out ahead if you do it yourself. To begin with, get a free copy of your credit report (only order your score if you really need it because it changes often). Then speak with your banker or a credit counsellor for information and advice. Seriously consider applying for a cash secured credit card if they believe it would help your situation. Finally, follow the suggestions we explain above, as well as what is in the information provided in the resources we link to. Fixing your credit takes time and care to do the right things. Work through what we explain above; not only will you save a lot of money, your credit rating should be rebuilt as quickly as possible.