Journal
Working notes, mostly about things this industry sells badly.
Not a content marketing programme. These get written when a client asks the same question three times in a month and the honest answer is longer than a phone call.
- 01
Why we will not promise you pay-for-delete
It is not illegal, it is not reliable, and the version of it people are sold is usually neither.
Read it - 02
Credit repair is not debt settlement
They are sold in the same ads and they do opposite things to your file. One of them is designed to damage it.
Read it - 03
The 30-day window is a deadline for the bureau, not a promise to you
What §611 actually obliges a consumer reporting agency to do, what happens at day 31, and the 45-day exception nobody mentions.
Read it
Longer form
If you are here to learn rather than to read opinions.
The four guides are the substantial material. These journal notes assume you have read them.
- How credit scores actually workFICO and VantageScore, why they disagree, the five factors and what each one is really measuring.9 min read
- Utilisation: the 30% rule of thumb, and what it gets wrongWhere the number comes from, why the statement date matters more than the due date, and the per-card trap.8 min read
- Hard and soft inquiriesWhich pulls are scored, how rate-shopping windows work, and the two-year versus one-year distinction.6 min read
- Collections, charge-offs and the seven-year clockWhen the clock starts, why re-ageing is illegal, and why paying a collection may not remove it.10 min read