The Guerrilla Guide to Credit Repair: How to Find out What's Wrong with Your Credit Rating and How to Fix It [Paperback]

Todd Bierman (Author), Nathaniel Wice (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 1994

A bad credit rating can keep you from buying a house, renting a car, or even sending flowers. yet most people don't know how to find out the status of their credit or how to fix it if it's bad.

This book can save you time and money. Written by a journalist and a credit consultant to the mortgage industry, The Guerrilla Guide to Credit Repair tells you how the major credit bureaus compile your credit history, and teaches you how to deal with them if there is a problem. Easy to use, the book shows you:

--How to contact three major credit bureaus and get a copy of your credit report.
--How to decipher and understand the report's complex codes, numbers, and implications.
--Step-by-step, how to correct errors and clean up your credit history.
--How to use your legal rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Fair Billing Act, and the Truth in Lending Act to protect yourself against credit abuse.

Sample credit reports, form letters, and proven techniques for credit repair makes this an invaluable guide for all consumers.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Many Americans, we are told, are loaded with personal debts. While paying them may be burdensome enough, not paying will register you with one of three main (secretive) credit bureaus. Getting your name cleared from these outfits may take some doing if things don't go smoothly. Bierman, a credit consultant, and Wice, a freelance writer, show how to get your credit reports, read them (jargon reigns here too), and repair them. Practical step-by-step routines are outlined and valuable sample letters scattered throughout, with the caveat not to copy them precisely or the credit bureaus will suspect that you are being coached. Appendixes citing all the relevant laws fill a third of the book. Surely this will be both a useful addition to public libraries and probably an item to be kept behind the desk.
- Alex Wenner, Indiana Univ. Libs., Bloomington
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Anyone who has ever been turned down for a loan as well as anyone with an extensive credit history should read this guide. It spells out clearly and succinctly how to obtain copies of your credit report, how to read different bureaus' reports, and how to fix what's wrong. Sample letters are given throughout each stage, from writing credit bureaus for your complimentary annual report to writing a cease-communication letter to collection agencies. A multitude of appendixes give everything from credit-bureau addresses to simple explanations of such complex pieces of legislation as the Consumer Credit Protection Act and the Fair Credit Billing Act. With this guide in hand, reading your credit report and correcting errors will never again seem like impossible tasks. Caroline Andrew

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 1st edition (February 15, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0641779410
• ISBN-13: 978-0312107345
• ASIN: 031210734X
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #194,126 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

125 of 126 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book (but needs updating), August 25, 2000

By 

Sox Fan (Gaithersburg, MD USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Guerrilla Guide to Credit Repair: How to Find out What's Wrong with Your Credit Rating and How to Fix It (Paperback)

DFC is completely off base with his review. You need a book like "guerilla credit" exactly because of people like DFC (a banker - little wonder) who believes that everyone with bad credit is a loser who simply needs to pay his/her bills. Well, I have news for you DFC, this book is extremely helpful for those of us who are the victims of credit reporting agencies who couldn't care less about the accuracy of the information they are reporting.

I am one of the many people who, at 30 years old, had never requested copies of my credit reports, and who thought I had perfect credit prior to inexplicably being turned down for a loan. Much to my horror, I found out that there were more than 40 errors in my credit reports. Dozens of accounts that had been closed for many years were still reflecting as open, students loans erroneously reflecting defaults, credit card accounts erroneously reflecting 30 and 60 day late payments. All false information. Using Todd's book, ALL of this false information has now been removed from my reports. Moreover, this book will teach you how to get results when the reporting agencies play their little games of "verifying" erroneous information. I can't tell you how many times my reports came back with "information verified" even though I had enclosed written documentation that the information being reported was not correct (it really is unbelievable isn't it!) Berman explained how to be persistent, get aggressive, and fight these unethical reporting companies and their shoddy work practices.

Even if you legitimately have creditors knocking on your door, this book will give you some very helpful advise as to negotiating a partial payment in return for a promise not to report the negative information to a credit bureau (DFC doesn't want you to know that). And the book will also tell you how you MAY be able to get some accurate (but old) information removed from your report.

Finally, the credit reporting agencies try very hard to make your report as cryptic as possible in an effort to prevent you from understanding exactly what they are reporting about you. Todd's book shows you how to read your report - a very important first step. However, I must add that because the book is now 6 years old, and because the agencies keep changing the form of their reports (gee, I wonder why?), this is the book's biggest downfall right now (and the ONLY reason I didn't give it 5 stars). PLEASE Todd if you're reading this, revise your book and publish a new edition!

Notwithstanding this one downfall, I still HIGHLY recommend this book.

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars To rebut the negative reviews..., July 10, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Guerrilla Guide to Credit Repair: How to Find out What's Wrong with Your Credit Rating and How to Fix It (Paperback)

First, a disclaimer: I own a copy of this book, but have not looked at any others on the subject, so I don't know what else may be available and perhaps better-suited than this title to meet your needs.

Primarily, I write to rebut the negative reviewers, among them self-described #1 authority in the country (and yet curiously uncredentialed) Bill Bauer, loan officer DFC and JD, who together dismiss this book as 'pap' and 'cloaking strategy.' Yes, the book can be repetitive and some of the advice seems slightly dodgy, but I find merit in the authors' advice to negotiate with creditors to remove negative credit marks in exchange for payment (however long-delayed) of debt. If someone who has had credit problems in the past can eliminate these negative marks immediately in exchange for payment rather than pay the bill and simply wait out the expiration of the negative marks (minimum: 2 years!), WHY WOULDN'T THEY?

This is not 'pap.' This is not 'cloaking strategy.' This, my friends, is 'negotiating.'

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars This book should be $5.00 - its like a good pamphlet, February 4, 2006

By 

BlackLitLover (Miami Beach, FL) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Guerrilla Guide to Credit Repair: How to Find Out What's Wrong with Your Credit Rating--and How to Fix It (Paperback)

This book was disappointing. Buying a book without being able to browse it beforehand makes it difficult to know if its what you want. If I would have been able to skim through this book prior to buying, I would not have bought it. It's not that it's bad, it's just that its not what I needed or the title implied. It is not a comprehensive book at all. The title "guerrilla" makes you think it will offer unique, aggressive, insightful, strategic, or uncommonly known tactics to attack your credit repair. It absolutely fell short of that. But what it does deliver is very detailed, easy to follow understanding of BASIC information (what credit is, how to contact the bureaus, what type of letters to send, etc.) It gives you a decent strategy on how to dispute items on your CR. A huge shortcoming for this book is that 100 pages of the 200 page book was given to printing the FCRA (fair credit reporting act). Helpful but a waste. Instead of giving us some "guerrilla tactics" for 100 pages, they print the act instead. If you are really trying to repair your credit and you need real life information and real "guerrilla" tactics then you MUST prepare yourself mentally (it can get legal, psychological and emotional) and use the vast amounts of FREE information and FREE resources available online. Try joining FREE online communities/forums. Avoid people capitalizing on your despair with over-priced credit repair books, credit repair kits, pay-for services (i.e. now bankrupt AmeriDebt) or other books where gazillionaires bloviate about how rich and debt-free THEY are. Good for you. People with poor financial situations and poor credit do need inspiration but people also need practical aggressive ways to get their backs from against the wall. In conclusion, you'd be better off researching online for a few weeks, seeking FREE professional opinions, or checking out books like this one from the library.