Credit Report Repairs

The three major U.S. credit bureaus are Equifax, Trans Union, and Experian. After reviewing your credit report from each of these three, you should have a better picture of whether there are mistakes that can be fixed. You should remember that judgments will appear on a credit report for periods up to seven years even if the judgment has been fully paid. This is not a “mistake” which can be fixed. It will simply appear until the applicable statute of limitations has expired.

Repairs to credit reports might be needed for two reasons. One is to correct mistakes on a credit report. Another is to simply improve your credit scores by various means. It has become increasingly necessary to take formal legal action to effectively repair mistakes on credit reports. The most appropriate starting point for individuals residing in the United States is to obtain a free copy of your most recent credit report from each of the three major consumer reporting companies. It is unfortunately part of the current antiquated consumer credit system that there is no centralized way to fix a credit record. In other words, if there are errors on credit records at all of the credit reporting companies, you will need to communicate separately with each one.

Other than fixing mistakes caused by financial institutions and credit bureaus, here are three actions which will help to repair your credit report scores:

• Paying any credit card and loan accounts that are delinquent so that they are current will result in substantial improvements to credit scores.
• You should avoid new loan applications during a period of credit repair.
• Eliminating any unneeded lines of credit and credit cards would also be a very smart move.

It is not unusual for one or more of the credit reporting companies to refuse to correct an error even if the other credit bureaus have agreed to do so. This is where legal action might be required. In a striking recent case, a woman was awarded approximately $18 million in damages from Equifax because of their failure to take proper steps to correct their own mistakes. It is likely that many individuals have serious mistakes on their credit reports and are not even aware of it.

Are Social Media Links Worth the Trouble?

More people should be asking an obvious question:

Are Social Media Links Worth It?

Most individuals are spending a substantial amount of time on social media sites thinking that the benefits offset the time and energy consumed in keeping everything up-to-date and accurate. This includes businesses of all sizes who are making a number of big business planning assumptions about the overall value of using social media for business purposes.

In most cases links originating from these sites do not produce the SEO (search engine optimization) benefits that many have assumed was one of the primary reasons to be there in the first place. Perhaps more importantly, many of these “popular” websites are very unpopular among both users and consumers. This growing negative reputation should be understood fully by any companies (especially small businesses) devoting resources to social media in any way.

Small Business Training Plans

Business Training Strategy

Small business training is an activity that often lacks a permanent home in most companies. This creates some problems as well as prevents the use of business strategies that are sorely needed in small businesses. One practical business solution for this potential dilemma is to devote additional time and energy to small business training plans until the process becomes more natural and routine. Business training is one of the most cost-effective business strategies, but cost-effectiveness must still be reviewed in determining which training activities to emphasize.

Using Satire and Parody to Explain Business Finance Problems

Some small business finance problems are especially difficult for many commercial borrowers to understand. Musical parodies and satires can provide a breakthrough by explaining some of the issues with a common sense approach. This has been especially true for Zombie Banks

Musical Parody and Zombie Banks

because many small business owners did not know what a Zombie Bank was or how it impacted their difficulties in obtaining commercial financing from their bank until they were introduced to the concept in this way.

Business Consultant Careers Planning

Career Development and Career Plans

While we are focusing here on the topic of business planning, the subject of career planning is certainly related. Especially in light of the unpredictable economy and generally shaky financial environment, having a Plan B for career development is a wise idea. The previous approach to career plans has been knocked off balance by a series of unforeseen (by some) banking problems that led to a worldwide recession (depression levels in some areas). Nobody knows for sure whether the employment market will ever resume its previous path, but even if it does there is a strong likelihood that is not going to happen for a few years. Regardless of whether an individual is even interested in a business career, it is a prudent strategy for them to manage their own career as if it is their fully-owned business. As such the thought of business planning becomes even more relevant. Like a lot of other things that have changed, the current effective approaches to career planning and career development bear little resemblance to earlier days (that are not so long ago).

Business Planning Expert Help

Because business planning is often overlooked or ignored, small business owners should at least consider whether there are realistic alternatives to make small business planning a higher priority. The possibility of using a small business planning expert to help with at least some of the specialized aspects of a business finance plan should be evaluated. As with any business decision, there will be pros and cons which must be weighed while looking at the cost and problems of not doing anything.

Show Me Your Business Plan

Business Planning Help

When a banker today says “Show me your business plan” to a small business owner, it no longer means the same thing that it did before most banks decided that small business financing did not fit into their own business plan. Until about five years ago, it was common for a small business owner to ask their banker for commercial finance help and to receive funding within a reasonable period of time. The “new normal” for banks is to keep asking for “one more thing” and to delay a final decision rather than just saying “no”. Certainly many other banks are going straight to “no” rather than dragging out the lending process. With these two common commercial lender approaches, “Show me your business plan” is likely to be either a rationale for further delays or for an early business loan rejection.

Small Business Planning Help

Small Business Plan Strategy

The need for small business planning help is not a new one, but there have been many changes impacting what is really needed by small business owners. To complicate matters even more, many small businesses have made business plans a lower priority either because they do not have enough time for the business planning process or because they do not recognize the importance of business planning. As with any other business problem that a small business owner does not realize is a problem, very little attention is paid to the matter until it becomes more critical and noticed.

The need for commercial real estate planning has also emerged as more important to small businesses. The need for commercial real estate plans has become more necessary because of the various complications related to bank financing for commercial mortgages as well as reduced working capital loans.

The commentary presented here is designed to focus on practical and effective business planning solutions. There will be a special focus on contingency business planning because one of the areas providing the most business plan success during the past several years has been contingency small business finance planning.