(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Welcome to the Business Credit and Financing Show.
Each week, we talk about the growth strategies
that matter most to entrepreneurs.
Listen in as we discuss the secrets to
getting credit and money to start and grow
your business.
And enjoy as we talk with seasoned business
owners, coaches, and industry leaders on a variety
of topics from advertising and marketing to the
nuts and bolts of running a highly successful
business.
And now, to introduce the host of our
show, financial expert and award-winning author, Ty
Crandall.
Hello, and thanks for joining us today.
Super excited you could be here because today
we're talking about really one of the most
important components when it comes to getting optimal
financing for your business.
Look, my goal is to not just get
you the most amount of money, but be
able to get you the most amount of
money at the best terms.
And anybody that tells you that a lot
of the funding you're gonna get, the terms
aren't taking into account the consumer credit, is
lying to you.
Like, it's a really big deal.
As a matter of fact, if you want
SBA loans, term loans, the best kind of
loans out there, the best credit cards that
are personally guarantee-driven as well, a credit
card second.
So many things for you to get money
are tied to your consumer credit quality.
But you know, as interesting as it is,
as many episodes as we've done, we never
really dove in and talk about the intricacies
of consumer credit, what you need to do
to improve it.
So that's exactly what we're gonna be talking
about today with Alan Abernathy.
Now, Alan is the CEO and founder of
New FICO, a leading credit repair company that
specializes in powerful, aggressive credit repair and practical
credit file rebuilding as well.
With extensive experience in consumer sales, the automotive
industry, and real estate, Alan is deeply connected
to Southern California's real estate market.
His surgical knowledge of credit analysis and the
FICO system, particularly in addressing the most neglected
files, makes Alan and his team one of
the most sought-after credit repair companies in
SoCal, and they've got a really good reputation
nationwide as well.
His dedication to maximizing the value of clients
ensures that each transaction surpasses their expectations.
Since founding New FICO in 2014, Alan has
transformed the credit profiles of over 2,700
clients, so thousands, helping them restore their credit
to above-average scores.
His meticulous attention to detail and unwavering work
ethic are hallmarks of his success in the
field.
Now, Alan holds a Calgary real estate license
in California, where he focuses on building strong
client relationships.
He is fluent in both English and Spanish,
and beyond his professional endeavors, Alan is passionate
about art, design, classic auto restoration, music production,
fishing, cooking, and supporting the 49ers.
As a Bucks fan, promise not to hold
that against him.
He enjoys spending time with friends and family
as well.
Alan, what's up, man?
Welcome to the show.
Hey, what's going on, Ty?
How you doing?
I'm doing well, man.
I'm doing well.
Life is good here on the East Coast.
It's good connecting with...
I grew up in the consumer credit industry,
so I have just mad respect for someone
as successful as you, because it's not as
easy of an industry to become as successful
as you have, and being around now for
like 10 plus years, so congratulations on your
success.
Yeah, thank you for that.
What an intro.
Appreciate that.
So a lot of people on here, our
audience, they're out there trying to get money,
and I think that you and I both
know how important consumer credit is to that,
to being able to do that, right?
There's a lot of loans out there, credit
lines, credit cards that are based on consumer
credit quality.
So you know a lot about this.
I mean, your company's New FICO, which, by
the way, is N-U-F-I-C
-O, if everybody wants to check them out
at newfico.com.
Give me an idea of how the FICO
score works.
What are the most common factors that are
affecting the FICO score?
Right, yeah, one of the biggest is payment.
We've all seen that wheel that shows up,
if you just Google it, or maybe on
an infographic, and it'll break down 35%
payment history, 30% utilization.
I think those are the two biggest things.
When I dive into someone's file and I
look at it, the first two things that
are gonna pop out, and the first thing
that surprises someone when they say, hey, I'm
confused about why my score jumped up or
why it jumped down, it's gonna be in
those two categories, because everything else is gonna
be smaller.
Everything in succession is 10% inquiries, 10
% what's your credit mix.
But that payment history is really key, and
that's what a lot of people struggle with.
You might find some general written letters online
that you can kind of fill in your
info and take a shot, and if you've
got some derogatories on there, it really does
pull the score down.
When I'm doing a call, I do tell
people, hey, this is your one good baby
account.
If we get a hiccup on here, it
could kind of kick the pile of leaves
that we're raking and really pull us down.
So the payment history is gonna be top
of the line, and right after that is
utilization.
A person that has a $200 credit card,
if they max that out, they look super
risky.
If someone has $10,000 worth of different
credit card limits, and they max that out
to 9,800, that's gonna look just as
risky.
So it's key to know what your limits
are and keep that usage down and make
sure your payment's 100% on time, at
least the minimum payment.
So I wanna talk about both of these,
because on payment history, it's interesting.
I haven't been in consumer credit for a
long time, as you know, it's been 12
years plus, lots changed.
But the biggest problem I ever saw in
the past is people come in, they hire
you to help them.
You do a phenomenal job, remove a lot
of the negative stuff.
It's not there, it's not timely, it's not
accurate, it's not verifiable, so you get it
removed.
The problem is then they don't have any
positive stuff, right?
And I just tell people, you can't have
positive score without positive credit.
What do you do in those scenarios?
How do you guide your clients to be
able to get new positive payment history?
Because even if you remove their bad, sometimes
there's no good to be able to help
them still boost the score up.
Yeah, super good point.
And actually a great question.
I get asked that sometimes, but I make
sure to touch on that on each call
because I use the analogy of a garden.
If we're walking in your garden and we
see that you have eight flowers and seven
of them are dead, and we're gonna consider
accounts as flowers, right?
If we remove those or get those taken
off, you've got one little flower.
And they say to the thick personal credit
file is five accounts or more.
So what we've done is over the past
nine years, we've gathered little sites online and
they're becoming more readily available, right?
As you can download them on the phone,
their little apps, all types of stuff that
are what we call credit builders.
And we send this email out.
It's in a template.
Every single call I do, if the person
has a thin file, I fire this email
off.
And these are gonna be the ones that
you wanna add in.
A lot of people will scoff at them
and laugh because they seem so small and
minute, but they're very, very, very powerful.
And that score, if you have nothing in
there that's open, the true FICO score will
not have a score.
If you don't have any revolving accounts that
are open and we remove everything and start
over from scratch.
So some people are kind of bummed out
to see zero or nothing.
But as soon as you add one account
that's one month old and it hits on
all three bureaus, you're gonna start with a
680 score.
That's where the FICO system starts if you
have to start from scratch.
So I think a lot of people, they
will either keep, let's say for example, a
Cap One account that's salt and pepper late
and it's just holding them at that middle
score.
So if we can get that corrected or
removed, and if they have a thin file,
they need to be hammering out on that.
We call it an entry level primary account
list.
And it's literally a list of, it was
12 accounts.
We grew it last week to 18.
And anytime something new is coming out that's
working and we're seeing it post on reports,
some of them are $5.
You can start them in about 10 minutes
on the phone or the app and it'll
show up in two to three minutes.
So that's extremely important when you have a
thin file or we almost have to start
over from scratch.
So yeah, those builder accounts.
I love that.
And it's one of the reasons you're the
master here at doing this because I've seen
some companies online, they remove the bad, but
they don't get it.
Like it doesn't help anybody if there's no
positive.
I've never known anybody.
And I've been in the consumer and commercial
credit industry for decades.
Never knew anybody that's got 18 accounts that
can wrap their names.
The fact that you even had 12 and
you're expanding it, I think it's phenomenal.
It's so important.
The second part you talked about was utilization.
The same question applies, right?
Is that a lot of the people that
come to you, their credit limits have already
gotten lower.
They're already down to subprime cards that have
$500 limits or $1,000 limits.
There's just not a lot of money, even
limit there.
Even the slightest balance they put on there
hurts them.
What do you recommend in those scenarios of
how do you help people increase that utilization
aspect of the score?
Because as you said, it's so vital having
a good score to fix that.
Yeah, that's a good one too.
An amazing thing, I always get oohs and
ahs and wows.
I had a couple conferences where we have
home buyers class, right?
And there's 60, 70 people there.
And to me, I didn't think it was
a surprising, I guess a tip or trick,
but really that limit, like you say, if
it's a, you can get down to a
$200 or $100 Walmart limit, which is like,
what do you buy?
And we all heard the rule of the
30% below, you gotta stay below that
marker.
So if you've got a $100 limit, you
can go get 30 bucks worth of groceries
and now you're into the lowering the FICO,
right?
So one thing that I recommend if you
have a low card or you don't have
much would be to watch the date at
which it posts.
So you can play with this date and
it can hurt you or it can help
you.
If you know that your card is gonna
post on the 15th and you gotta go
spend a hundred bucks and you've got a
$100 limit, make sure that you catch it
two or three days before.
I always give a 72 hour window and
just grab some cash and pay that card
to zero because it's gonna stamp the credit
one time a month.
And if everyone sees that you haven't spent
on that, you're gonna have the best score.
And so it's not like you can't reverse
it.
It is a temporary thing.
You're not getting lates on there.
So it's not that big, but you can
do this at all different levels.
So if somebody has a $5,000 card
and they've got an expense for a vehicle
that broke down or something that they have
to take care of, a family emergency, if
they have to use that card and access
it, if you have the capital to pay
that down, you can move that balance and
make sure that it stamps correctly and at
a lower number before it hits the credit
and shows up that high utilization.
So definitely know what that date is and
pay that down.
And I would say the second tip to
working your limits up would be, we always
hear these little myths and stuff that float
around the personal credit space of pay it
five times a month or double your payment.
Don't do the minimum.
I think what's even more impactful from that,
and you can see it from the big
guys Amex, if you go in and you
slam your stuff to the max and then
pay it off.
And if you do that twice a month
before there's even a payment, they see that.
That goes through their system.
That's not getting ignored.
They're gonna know that you're paying your stuff
not only on time, but twice a month.
And regardless of what's posting, if you pay
that twice, they're gonna wanna give you more
capital.
Because if they're making 5% on five
grand, why would they not wanna give you
15 grand if you're this responsible?
So that's where I see, if you're slamming
it to the max and paying it to
zero, do it responsibly, right?
Don't do it just for no reason.
But if you have something that you can
transfer instead of doing a cash or a
debit card transaction, you can get it through
there, use that.
Use that card, put more money through there
and they will feed you.
They'll give you a bigger limit and you'll
be rewarded.
Really, really powerful tips.
Both really appreciated.
Well, let me ask you this.
What used to frustrate me back in the
consumer credit industry is that the credit bureaus
have done such a good smear campaign that
they've convinced millions of consumers that there is
no hope when it comes to consumer credit.
Now, you and I both know there's a
lot of laws to protect consumers, but that's
not the case.
But tell those, like, if somebody's watching this
right now and listening to this and thinking,
man, I know I have credit problems and
I don't think there's a way to fix
it.
Somebody may be thinking, I did it, right?
I know I had an account I went
late.
They may be thinking they're deserving even what
happened to them, which makes me sad whenever
it comes up.
What do you say to people?
How do you explain why credit repair does
work and how effective it really is?
Yeah, why does it exist and how is
it legal and how are we doing this
and why can people do it or not?
Yeah, so that's a really, really good question
that I try to dive into on Calls
101.
And I think first off, I'll just touch
on kinda when you gave my intro, right?
We like to call ourselves the aggressive.
So how do we keep that compliant and
do the right thing?
If you just think at it from a
standpoint of these three companies have the ability
to give you a score and show other
large companies that wanna lend to you how
responsible you are, they have that law, like
you said, the FCRA to make sure that
they can report correctly.
So some stuff will be incorrect.
Some stuff will be off by $1.
And as me and you both know, if
it is inaccurate and they can't verify, it'll
get pushed off.
So regardless of you actually fell down, and
most of the time, 80% of my
clients, it is something they messed up on,
right?
Not a big deal, not the end of
the world.
It's something that they know they had and
they defaulted or they had some lates.
The best way to explain it is we're
going to the bureaus that hold that record
instead of the creditor.
And we're asking them, hey, you know you're
supposed to have this on file, A, B,
C, D, E, and F paperwork.
Let's see that paperwork.
You've got 30 days to give it to
me, go.
So what we're doing is we're going directly
to the bureaus just to make sure that
they have their ducks in a row.
And if they drop the ball and miss
it, or the creditor can't get that information
into the bureaus, they just missed the buck
and they get blocked and deleted and removed.
So that's really the way to kind of
explain we're not going in any back doors
or breaking any rules.
It's really asking them for what they should
already have on file.
And if they can't provide it or can't
get it there, a lot of times we'll
get the block and deletion and that's how
you can clean up some stuff that might've
actually been yours, but really can come off.
So it's not always a sad story.
It's just people kind of need that education
that they can do it.
They can go get some stuff off that
was accurate.
Yeah, and it's like the legal thing that
innocent until proven guilty.
But what I hear you saying is there
are laws that are designed and created to
protect consumers for making sure that their credit
doesn't have a lot of things on there
that shouldn't be on there.
And it is the credit bureaus, and you've
even mentioned the creditor's obligation under these laws
to be able to validate what they're reporting.
And so it sounds to me like what
you're saying is that you're coming in and
holding them accountable for what their obligations are
to validate that.
And just by holding them accountable, they oftentimes
can't do that.
And the result is that negative item gets
removed completely from the credit report.
Is that?
Yeah, absolutely.
That's the best way to describe it.
Customers are surprised at a vehicle they're actually
driving that has a couple late to date.
Now everything's digital.
Unless you can catch the app messing up
at midnight and screenshot that, Wells Fargo is
not gonna agree that that payment didn't come
in right on time.
So it could be something you really did.
And we're just going directly to the bureaus.
Obviously we're not gonna go to the finance
company for the car and say, hey, this
isn't right.
We wanna talk directly to the bureaus and
really hold them accountable because they're the ones
that are governed and watched under that microscope
so closely.
So yeah.
One of the things that drives me crazy,
not crazy, but I find interesting, let me
say, is that I have spent tens and
tens of thousands of hours basically learning business
credit, right?
And I'll still have a YouTuber come in
and say, hey, I saw videos and I
could do it as well as you can,
right, which I think is interesting because there's
a lot of things like I have a
piano behind me, you have a piano behind
you.
I assure you, I cannot play my piano
nearly as well as you could play your
piano, right?
So a lot more experience to be able
to do so.
So, but what do you, do you still
have the same thing on the consumer side?
Do you have people that come to you
that think that they can do this on
their own?
And what barriers or problems do they run
into trying to do it on their own
versus work with somebody like you who's reached
mastery level of your craft in improving consumer
credit?
Yeah, really good question.
A lot of people will ask that.
I think the best way to answer it,
I'm a super transparent guy.
I love to be very direct with my
clients.
And if you look at some of the
fine print, a lot of credit repair stuff
out there is gonna say in the tiny
at the bottom, you can do this on
your own.
We want you to know that.
And you can.
And really the difference between doing it yourself
and coming to someone like us who's kind
of honed that craft is gonna be just
what's involved to do it, right?
And we have different stages.
We have people that come to us to
say, I really wanna learn this myself.
Can you teach me?
We'll do that, right?
Or we have people that say, man, you
know what?
I'm a busy business owner.
My budget's higher and my time is lower.
Can you handle more of this?
And that's where we come in and really
make a play because we're gonna take that
process and all of the small stuff that's
underneath it to handle this dispute, cater it
correctly, make sure it gets delivered.
That's one of the key things is if
it actually gets there and is.
And now a quick break to hear from
our sponsor.
Hey, it's Ty Crandall with CreditSuite.
Many of our subscribers wanna build business credit
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Now, if you're looking to get no-doc,
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forward slash consult.
Correct in what you're asking.
So you can do some small stuff, but
us putting that package together and just the
things we do behind the scenes, it's like
a well-oiled machine.
Everybody's got a part and we take pride
in, hey, this person's on it.
And the next day, this is ready.
It moves to the next step.
So we take that process and put it
into something that's, we like to call it
hands-off.
Once we get your documents and we get
everything in, let us jump on it.
And I've got a team of ninjas that
are gonna jump on there and tackle it
and tear it up.
So let's say I do accidentally make a
mistake or can't pay a bill on time
and I pay it late.
Or let's even say that I have a
collection and I didn't even know about.
One of my doctor's offices the other day,
literally a collection guy would call us and
say, what are you talking about?
It's a doctor I go to regularly.
And like, it was just a weird thing,
right?
So I'm like, why is this even a
collection?
You never even called and told me this
was owed type of thing.
So if that were to appear in my
credit report, how long will this stuff impact
me?
It's like payments, collections, and this stuff shows
in my book.
Yeah, so most of the time, my rule
of thumb, which I always tell clients and
I say, hey, I can't give you legal
advice, but I'm gonna talk to you like
a friend, right?
This is a recorded call.
But I tell them, I say, the collections,
it's already been sold from the original creditor,
right?
So somebody else bought it for pennies on
the dollar.
They're bugging you to see if you'll break
and try to spook you, right?
I always say, if you can get on
the phone and ask for pay for deletion,
you can get it off.
But if not, most people hear the rule
of seven years to 10 years before something
falls off.
I've honestly seen many cases where it's still
hanging out there.
And it's not only that seven to 10
year rule, the first time it pops up,
it can get sold to multiple collection companies,
right?
So it can definitely move over and people
are surprised, very careful when I have a
client message us and say, hey, you removed
this collection, it came up.
We go, man, let's get on a call
and take a look because what we find
out 99% of the time, we did
get it removed because it was Spectrum and
it was under Jefferson Collections.
But now it's under Franklin Collections and it's
got a new account number and a new
dollar amount and it's resurfaced.
So that's how it sneaked back in.
First one got taken away.
And just to touch on the example that
you gave me, the medical collection is at
the weakest and the lowest point.
So they have the least amount of leverage.
Those are my favorite.
I always tell people, we do those in
our sleep with our eyes closed.
So if you come to us and you've
got some collections that are medical or even
just collections, our failure rate is almost non
-existent with removing that.
So yeah, definitely something that you wanna ask
about or looking to don't pay that.
I don't recommend paying it right off.
Sometimes there is an exit where it is
best to pay it off.
If you really wanna continue doing business with
this certain creditor, sometimes you'll pay a very
small balance.
I always use the rule of thumb of
a thousand or less.
And if it's in your budget, maybe ask
them for what's called a pay for deletion.
We don't mind giving clients that advice to
go do it themselves.
Maybe they can save a couple bucks, get
on the phone and make sure that it
says pay for deletion and get it off.
Because paying a collection just brings it to
zero.
That doesn't increase the FICO score at all.
Still got the derogatory mark.
It's just satisfied to zero, not good.
As one of the kings of credit, and
especially I think it's interesting because you're in
the real estate side, right?
So you have a real estate license or
have had a real estate license.
So it's interesting because I see companies online
that may charge very little money and they
just string somebody along.
And they just, I mean, I hear from
these people all the time.
I've been working with X company for all
this time and they've not really seen very
much results.
You seem to be on the opposite side
of that spectrum where you understand the importance
of getting the scores up quickly and substantially
for somebody to get into buying something.
And you have automotive experience, typically real estate,
things like that.
So where do your strategies differ from that
where you're such a master at getting things
repaired quick and scores up substantially and fast?
Like what do you do that's so different
to accomplish this kind of result?
Yeah, if I had a nickel every time
I got asked that, there's everywhere we look
on the internet, there's gonna be $27 a
month credit repair, $99 a month credit repair.
And you have to look at it from
that business's standpoint.
How can their business model bring you in
at 99 bucks and just knock it out
of the park, right?
Especially if it's a difficult file, it just
doesn't make sense.
I think their whole goal is that retention.
And how long will a customer stay there
while they send out normal generalized letters that
get marked off as, hey, this is a
template and they're not as effective.
So they'll string you along and kind of
have you there for months.
I've rarely seen big impact from those that
have the monthly business model.
And so the way that we do it
and how we differ, one analogy I like
to make is, I like to say they're
Kool-Aid and we're champagne and there's nothing
wrong with Kool-Aid, I love Kool-Aid,
but sometimes you just really wanna get to
the end result faster and you need that.
So especially a home buyer who's more serious,
they maybe have some capital saved and they
really need to get their family in a
home, their family's growing or whatever it can
be, right?
Job relocation.
So the key with what we do and
the way we do our pricing, I like
to say we're one third of the price
of the guys who charge a lot, but
really don't get done what they say.
And so I'll take an example and I
hate to throw dollars out here, but it
does make sense.
In a three payment of 500 breakdown, we
take a $500 down payment to start processing
and consulting and then our second payment is
due when we reach 50% deletion and
that third payment comes in when we reach
75% deletion.
So not only are we earning our payment
and showing the deletions and getting you to
the end result, but we wanna move you
through the system as fast as possible.
The best thing we can have is a
phone call to a client that goes, hey,
good news, your file's done, bad news, you
owe us the rest of the payment because
that's what they wanted in the first place
is a credit repair company that does what
they say and that dollar amount really speaks
volumes to why we move you through faster.
We're not here to string you along.
We don't want you to be in the
system forever waiting on updates.
So we just, we work it different and
we wanna earn our results.
Makes it easier on the client's pocket as
well.
Which is something I don't think I've ever
seen where somebody's payment model is based on,
hey, we don't need these results, like you
don't pay the payment.
I mean, I think it's just astonishing that
you're that, not astonishing, but I think it's
cool that you're that confident in what you
do, that you tie your payments to your
results.
Yeah, really key, makes it easier for the
client.
I joke around and say, hey, you gotta
think about my side.
I am looking at a file of where
you had some hiccups and you weren't able
to pay.
So how does my company get killer results
and entrust you to make the payment?
And the fairest way to do that is
to break it up by deliverability.
What do you do, and not as much
for your services, but if I am somebody
that I know I'm not gonna be able
to pay something, what advice do you give
to somebody like that to prevent the damage
from even occurring?
Yeah, so it's gonna depend on the dollar
amount, right?
We've all had that where it's like, man,
I gotta ask family to catch rent, right?
This is my roof over my head.
One thing I will say that is just
a key piece of knowledge, we've all got
those credit cards where the minimum's maybe only
25 bucks, right?
You're building your credit and you've got a
couple good cards.
If you know that the damage is coming
in, you can prepare yourself and brace for
the storm.
Honestly, sometimes if you've got maybe a checking
account that you don't use as much, maybe
direct the payment over there.
And as soon as that minimum payment goes
through, slide down to the bank and go
put that, you might get hit with a
fee.
Maybe don't do that on a business bank
account because we know they have records of
how much balance you keep and stuff like
that.
But if it's an account that's less used,
some of us will have a backup bank
account we don't go to because it's not
in the area.
Put that minimum credit card payment over there,
let the credit card payment minimum go through
so you don't default.
And remember, you've got that 30 day window,
right?
So there's a due date and then there's
a, oh, we're getting close.
So 29, 28 days, you gotta get something
in.
So put that minimum payment in.
And if you gotta grab some cash and
go to the bank and satisfy that negative
balance, I recommend doing that.
I just wanna be clear, maybe don't do
that on a bank account that's evaluated for
doing some funding later on the business side.
But if we're talking personal credit, make sure
that minimum payment comes in.
And don't, if you have five credit cards
and you know that rough times are coming,
don't spread out the cancer.
I would make sure to take one.
If you're gonna take a hit, we've all
had it, we've fallen down.
And I think that's what makes the people
who get back good credit scores really appreciate
it.
But if that's gonna happen, collateralize that damage
into one account, and then later we can
address that and tackle that one.
Instead of getting one late on all five
accounts, I think that's the worst way to
spread around the damage and the hardship, so.
If I'm trying to figure out what my
scores are, trying to figure out what's on
my report that may be positive or negative,
what do you do, what's your advice with
where I should go to get a copy
of my credit reports?
Yeah, so I have a, I kinda have
a step guide, right?
So my favorite, and I hate to plug,
but it's gonna be Experian.
We all know that they're the most accurate,
their reps are in the United States.
You can talk to somebody who really dives
into your file and looks at it.
And they're also gonna give you the reports
for Equifax and TransUnion.
Be careful, they do have some little stuff
in there where if you try to refresh,
it'll start your 2499 membership, and if you're
not wanting to do that, you wanna watch
that.
But you can go to Experian right now
for free and start that up, and daily
you can see your actual FICO score.
The reason that Credit Karma gets such a
bad rap, they use Advantage 3.0. And
as we know, most major lenders are not
gonna be looking at that score.
And it can give you a false score
and kinda have you going in the dealership
thinking you're a lot higher than you are.
It's just on a different scoring model.
It goes from 300 to 900, and it
can even evaluate accounts that are closed.
If you have no open accounts, it'll show
you a FICO score.
And that's not true.
So I say that Experian is gonna be
the top.
And then really, if you wanna go that
extra mile, if you're trying to do some
business funding and just nail it in, or
you've got this property and you're in escrow
and you don't wanna lose this house, and
you need to know exactly what FICO score,
FICO.com, myfico.com, M-Y-F-I
-C-O.com.
It's gonna be a $40 report.
They're a lot higher, but this is really
where you can go get each version of
the FICO if you're trying to dive in.
We know that there's others like Smart Credit,
there's Identity IQ, there's a bunch of others
that I would just consider them a lesser.
We're also partners with those, and sometimes that
works for us getting the right report or
someone can't access their Experian.
But I would put my FICO at the
very top if you have the budget and
you wanna get laser focused like a surgeon,
you can find the version of FICO that
anyone's gonna pull if you know which one
they're going for.
Powerful stuff.
Alan, what should I have asked you that
I didn't ask you that you think is
an important tip to help anybody out there
that is looking to improve their credit?
I would say just having people take the
first step.
I noticed that when someone's trying to buy
a home, and when you were mentioning my
real estate experience, I do hold a license,
I kinda do it a little bit for
investing on my part and I help out
a few family members throughout the year.
But what I really notice is if you're
trying to buy a home, a lot of
people wait till the last moment to go
speak to a lender or sit down with
them.
You gotta remember, they're on the side of
helping us, right?
They're almost in that, not a free service
business, but they're gonna be taken care of
on their state controlled commissions that are already
incorporated in the purchase of the sale.
So go sit with someone, they'll give you
the time of day and they'll give you
a list of what you need to tackle.
So maybe you need to know six months
in advance that you need an account where
you can put some money in there and
have the deposit go through for your home.
You need some season money, or maybe you
need to know that there needs to be
some changes on your taxes that are coming
up.
If you wait till the last moment, I
think that's the biggest slap in the face
or surprise is that, man, I wish I
would have talked to the lender before I
could have prepared myself.
And the same thing goes for the personal
credit side.
A lot of people really, there's just a
bad taste in their mouth from companies that
are just not doing what they say.
So when you find a good credit repair
company, people save that number, they refer people.
We've been 99% referral for the past
six years.
And so just talking with a company that
actually does what they say, go look them
up.
There's nothing wrong with doing the research and
making sure that they're valid and that they're
gonna stick around.
We've been here for nine years and a
client who was with us eight years ago,
if they have a question from something we
did, we're here to answer that.
We didn't pop up and take off.
And I think sitting down and finding out
what's on your credit and starting from the
day that you're ready to change it, instead
of kind of wanting and hoping and not
sticking your toe in the pool, that's really
key.
So that would probably be the only thing
maybe that we didn't discuss that I would
wanna get out there and have people know.
Just start to take a look at it,
start to investigate what you can do.
If you find out it's too big of
a task, there's companies like us that can
help.
And there's also a bunch of tools out
there you can get to look at as
well.
But just starting that process and looking into
it, I think is the biggest thing I
would say for people to change, it'll really
help them.
Yeah, love it.
Alan, where can everybody go to connect with
you, learn more, maybe even take a next
step with you to be able to improve
their credit?
Yeah, so obviously our website's just newfico.com.
And again, that's spelled N as in Nancy,
U as in umbrella, F-I-C-O
.com.
And we are actually on all socials.
So if you go to YouTube, you can
look up our channel there.
And as well, we're on Instagram at newfico2020.
And we've even got a Pinterest and a
Twitter.
So you can find us everywhere.
We're present, we're doing our thing, and we're
showing off real results for real clients.
Alan, thanks for coming on with us today.
Thanks, man.
All right, so listen, it's important.
Consumer credit's one of the most important things.
If you ever wanna get the best kind
of financing, the term loans, the SBA loans,
credit card stacking, the stuff that gives you
the most money, the lowest rates, you have
to fix your consumer credit.
And by the way, it's okay if you've
got damaged personal credit.
My credit's been bad more than it's been
good.
And you know why that is?
It's because I'm an entrepreneur, I'm a risk
taker.
And you probably are too if you're watching
this.
So if we take risks, sometimes it pays
off, sometimes it doesn't.
And unfortunately, sometimes that comes over and adversely
affects our consumer credit.
So if that's you, you're not alone.
I've been there, and a lot of us
have been, but you don't wanna stay there.
You have to fix that because it takes
a little bit of time to do it,
and you don't wanna be meeting your consumer
credit and then starting a process.
You should start it right now because you
and I both know it's essential to you
getting the most money at the best terms.
So go to NewFICO.com right now.
That's N-U-F-I-C-O, New
FICO, N-U-F-I-C-O.
If you go to New FICO, you can
actually see real results there.
They have an ebook that you're able to
access.