Do you know if what is included in your Credit Report? How do you fix any errors that impact your score? It is a question that many of us don’t have an answer to. Why? The reason is harsh but simple.
Many Americans often lack the necessary understanding of credit management including how to read our credit reports, interpret the information, reconcile it, and get incorrect information removed from the Bureau Reports. Manually reading through a credit report every month and looking for errors is time-consuming and an exhausting process.
Within the Credit Management world, the Credit Repair industry has received a lot of negative publicity over the last many years. Part of it has been due to scams from Credit Specialists who charged premium fees and promised guaranteed results to customers. If you hire a specialist, it may cost you thousands of dollars and you still may not get any results. Go to credit-related Facebook Groups and you will hear horror stories of how many people were scammed by repair specialists who promised guaranteed results.
Even if you do get results, do you really want to spend thousands every time you want to dispute errors in your reports? Why not learn the process yourself? Unfortunately, the Credit monitoring and fixing experience is broken and has not evolved in the US.
The complexity of the credit ecosystem has expanded due to the digitization of our lives. Add to it the fact that Identity theft is rampant in the online world, it all becomes even more complex and confusing. When was the last time we checked as to which data brokers are selling our personal information? According to identitytheft.org, identity theft cases have more than tripled in the last decade. All of this hurts our lifestyle choices.
Y-Combinator backed startup, CredKin, wants to change all this by simplifying the experience. Using software and automation, they have come up with a Do-it-Yourself approach. CredKin recently announced that its Credit Management Platform is now open for use to individuals in the US. CredKin’s Credit Management Platform aims to simplify credit management for everyone, regardless of their credit knowledge. The Company aims to empower its community with a platform that untangles the entire credit management journey and helps users build their creditworthiness. Their strategy focuses on empowering people to build a healthy financial lifestyle themselves.
“Credit Management doesn’t have to be confusing. We want to provide our members with transparency and simplicity when it comes to how they view credit,” says Yasir Shirazi, Founder and CEO of CredKin. ” We are on a mission to provide credit management solutions that are accessible to everyone, regardless of their level of existing knowledge.”
Many people don’t realize the impact of credit scores in terms of the interest rates that they pay on their lending products. By building their credit score, they can save thousands of dollars in interest payments. Someone with a great credit score would pay thousands of dollars less on a Personal Loan vs someone with bad credit.
While services like Credit Karma also provide access to Credit reports, CredKin does look like a new approach as it is offering monitoring and unlimited DIY dispute filing. It helps members manage their credit efficiently with an easy-to-use interface with transparency on processes. In addition to providing monitoring tools, CredKin helps identify and stop data-brokers from selling or sharing the personal information of its members. It also offers a financial management tool that allows them to visualize their financial health so they can create an actionable plan to improve it.
One other cool feature is the integration of a DIY software – DisputeGuru – that helps them identify and delete inaccurate information from their credit reports. Members don’t have to run around and spend hours on the phone with each bureau anymore.
According to Yasir – “If any company promises to fix your credit with guaranteed results, most likely they are not being factual. CredKin is a mission-driven platform. We want to create real-life impact for our members in terms of full transparency on credit related topics. We have come across people who spent a lot of time and money for getting their credit fixed with guaranteed results. Even worse is the fact that they never got a chance to be educated and empowered on this process. They view Credit as a black hole. We give you the tools to manage the entire process yourself. Our software enables you so you can save time and money and make decisions”.
With the current US economic data pointing towards tougher times ahead for Americans, managing credit to get access to more financial products has become a high priority for many of us. With interest rates at historic highs and banks re-evaluating their lending strategies, CredKin can help its members take charge of their financial well-being.
