Consider Pre-Litigation Credit Repair to Fix Errors on Your Credit Report and Improve Your Score

In a Nutshell: If David Payne gets himself into trouble, he’s going to be the one to get himself out. For example, after Payne experienced a financial setback and declared bankruptcy in 2016, he embarked on extensive research to learn how to repair his credit so he could purchase a car. That led him to create Everything Credit, a holistic credit repair service that empowers people to improve their credit scores through education, advocacy, and proactive measures. Personalized solutions from Everything Credit help consumers protect their rights and regroup for a better financial future.

In 2016, David Payne was a warehouse worker with a money problem bigger than he could solve. He hesitated when his boss and coworkers recommended bankruptcy because of the stigma attached to admitting financial failure.

But gaining a fresh financial start by declaring bankruptcy turned out to be one of the best things Payne ever did. In the short term, it meant the frequent badgering he received from creditors while at work ceased immediately.

In the long term, it put him on the road to leaving his warehouse job behind and founding Everything Credit, which provides comprehensive credit repair solutions tailored to unique financial situations like Payne’s.

That’s because Everything Credit doesn’t just dispute inaccuracies on your credit report. Along the way, it empowers you with the knowledge and tools you need for a sustainable financial future.

“It makes no sense to try to fix your credit just by mailing letters and hoping and praying they remove the stuff,” Payne said. “We dispute every single item that’s inaccurate or incomplete on every single account.”

Payne’s post-bankruptcy journey from a warehouse job to credit repair entrepreneurship began when he realized he needed a new car to get to work. As his lender turned him down, they advised him to dispute items on his credit report to improve his score.

He considered hiring a company to handle it but decided to tackle the problem himself. He immersed himself in internet research, including Google searches and YouTube videos, and wound up fixing his credit and getting that car.

One thing led to another. Soon, Payne was advising coworkers and family members. Eventually, his mother convinced him to start Everything Credit to confirm the legalities and approach to what he was doing.

Just as he learned about credit repair through YouTube, customers were now contacting him after watching his YouTube videos.

“I just started researching consumer laws for factual credit report disputing,” Payne said. “I was like, dang, that wasn’t as hard as a lot of people make it out to be.”

Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion are the three major U.S. credit bureaus responsible for compiling consumer transaction and loan data into credit reports and calculating credit scores.

The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act ensures the accuracy, fairness, and privacy of information in consumer credit reports by regulating how credit bureaus and data furnishers manage and report consumer data.

As Payne sees it, the problem with that arrangement is that the credit bureaus and the rest of the financial system have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo for consumers with low credit scores. After all, subprime borrowers with higher-interest loans earn financial providers more revenue than those with higher scores who qualify for lower rates, Payne said.

“Trust me — they don’t have the consumer’s best interests at heart,” Payne said. “They say they do, but I promise you they don’t.”

It’s a pretty sweet system as long as your credit report is pristine. But errors and inaccuracies arise intentionally and unintentionally for many reasons, from clerical errors and other simple mistakes to account hijacking and identity theft. Every situation is different, but all consumers receive the same protections under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

By pointing out every inaccuracy and incomplete item in your credit report, Everything Credit’s pre-litigation credit repair service aims to trigger a violation of the law that enables the firm to sue the bureaus or your creditors for violating your rights.

“The reason we do that is because the chances of the bureaus fixing every single one of your inaccuracies is slim to none,” Payne said. “So when they come back and say they verified, I send the case straight to my attorneys. You can’t verify something as accurate if it’s not.”

One advantage of Everything Credit’s creative pre-litigation approach is that Fair Credit Reporting Act violations sometimes lead to the courts waiving the entire debt. What’s more, Everything Credit will sue again and again if the errors or inaccuracies reappear during the time the customer is paying for the service.

“It’s worth it,” Payne said. “Why not sue them and get the consumer paid at the same time?”

Everything Credit works nationwide. All American consumers who feel taken advantage of by the credit or financial system may contact the firm via email or chat to start a conversation.

Consumers need all the help they can get in today’s economy of high prices and a national credit card debt of more than $1 trillion and counting. Everything Credit takes the bull by the horns with creative approaches to subdue the bureaus and your creditors.

The model fits consumers who have never tried credit repair — or who at least have never instigated an unscrupulous credit sweep by claiming identity theft on all the negative items on their reports. Payne frowns mightily on that sort of sketchy behavior.

“I tell customers from the get-go, if you’ve done that, we can help you, but we can’t take your case to litigation,” Payne said. “And if you lie to me, they’re going to find out — because when it goes to court, they’ve got copies of everything that runs through the system.”

Everything Credit is part of a regulatory environment that requires Payne to secure outside legal services to carry out his personalized strategies in court. A California-based attorney specializes in identity theft cases, and a Florida firm handles identity theft and other cases from instigation to resolution.

That suits Payne just fine because it means more time for him to deploy legal services on behalf of more consumers.

“Once I look at the customer’s credit report, I can tell if I need to go to them,” Payne said. Or, sometimes, we’ll just use consumer laws if that’s what they want to do to save money.”

Payne argues that the better bet is almost invariably pre-litigation credit repair. He said consumers are more likely to get paid in return for their investment in Everything Credit if they go that route.

That’s because, he said, your creditors and the credit bureaus are unsympathetic to the financial challenges of individual consumers. Their goal is to keep the negative information on your report, maintain your status, and reap the rewards.

“It’s nice to know I’ve got attorneys in Florida and California licensed to work in all 50 states,” Payne said.

Everything Credit handles all disputes via certified mail rather than online because it confers authority and provides protection.

“The problem with disputing online is if you read the fine print, you’re giving up certain rights,” Payne said. “You’re literally telling them you can’t come back and sue them for any type of violation.”

Certified correspondence is expensive and one of the justifications for Everything Credit’s nominal processing fee. Payne considers it highly important. 

“It’s much cheaper to throw a stamp on there or just to do it online, but it’s not as effective,” he said.

All the customer needs to do through Everything Credit is point out the inaccuracies. In return, Payne hopes the bureaus treat the matter with the seriousness it deserves.

Unfortunately, he said he has witnessed many instances where that has not been the case.

Payne is in it for the long haul. It may take significant time to complete a case, with Everything Credit working with customers for six to eight months on average. Naturally, litigation requires more time — as much as a few years in some cases.

Everything Credit offers a DIY Credit Repair Course to those interested in replicating Payne’s original approach to solving his bankruptcy problem. It also offers Pay Per Deletion Credit Repair, where the customer pays a processing fee up front and then a fee for each credit report item removed.

Either way, Payne said you’re better off than you would be if you were working with a credit counselor, which he considers “a waste of time.” Instead, put your eggs in the credit repair basket to take lasting control of your financial future.

“What a consumer wants is for you to go over their credit report and say you can help,” Payne said. “The only way I can determine whether I can help a consumer is for them to sign up so we can start sending out dispute letters. That’s the only way I know.”