Agent vs Lender
Agent vs Lender
Credit, It's a Game You Can Win
Nothing is more heart breaking than a client who can't get the home of their dreams because of their credit score. What if there were ways you could help your client improve their credit score fast?
This week we have Sam Parker, CEO of My Credit Guy, here to tell us how to help client and anyone we know improve their credit scores. Sam shares with us the bas information in the industry and how to correct that information. Good credit is attainable and Sam has all of the best tips to help your client fast.
This is an episode you can share with your clients or anyone you know that might be in need of the help!
You can listen to all episodes of Agent Vs Lender on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play. If you love Agent Vs Lender follow us on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram for all bonus content.
Welcome to another episode of agent versus lender. And today we have with us, Sam Parker, of My Credit Guy. So Sam's going to talk to us about credit. Now, you know, as a loan officer of 25 years, this seems to be one of the most misunderstood sections of the process of getting a mortgage just, it's just like, people just don't want to talk about their credit, whether it's good, whether it's bad, especially if they have some issues on it. So Sam's going to talk to us in to the perspective of what we as lenders and agents can do to help our borrowers. And he's also going to talk to us about maybe what the borrowers can do as well. So, Sam, welcome to agent versus lender. It's, I am so happy to have you here today. Hey, Ron, thanks
Sam Parker:Thanks so much for having me. I really appreciate it. And hopefully we can spice credit up a little bit and make it a little more exciting than what most people normally think of.
Ron Pippin:Yeah, yeah. So there's, there's a lot of a lot of misconceptions about credit. So, you know, I'm, I have a lot of questions that I can ask. But I'm gonna let you let's, let's introduce you you a little bit. I'm gonna let you introduce yourself a little bit. tell you just a little quick background about about you and yourself and and how you got into credit?
Sam Parker:Yeah, absolutely. Well, I kind of fell into it. Honestly, between, I'm from Iowa originally. And I was going to college, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. And between semesters, during the summer, I was working at MCI, back when home phones were a thing. And I ended up, you know, accidentally being pretty good at that, you know, the the phones and talking to people went well. So I got a call from a headhunter, they said, Hey, do you want to run a sales and marketing department. And I wasn't enjoying college that much at the time, like, you know, going somewhere and doing something when somebody said to do it sort of thing wasn't, you know, my cup of tea, so, so I took this job opportunity. And it ended up that running sales and marketing for a startup company just means you're the only telemarketer in a really little room. So, so I took it and ran with it, though. And it was a credit repair company. And they didn't do a very good job at, they had no idea what they were doing. They just put a big stack of papers out in front of me and said, call these people they have bad credit. And so I was calling people and just saying I know you have less than a 580. And they were mad about it. So I said, Hey, you know, this can be done better, there's a better way to do this. So I started reaching out to mortgage lenders and saying, hey, we'd love to help your clients who need help. I ended up when I was about 20 years old, leaving that company because they, like I said their their moral compass didn't quite align with where I was wanting to go. So I left that company started my own, built that company for about three and a half years sold to a competitor ran that company for about six years. And then six years ago, started my credit guy. So it's been a it's been a little bit of a windy road, but it you know, once I got into credit repair, I just, it was so much fun. I just couldn't get out Ron. So
Ron Pippin:well, cool. Sounds like you've got quite quite the background of experience to draw from so. So tell me, man, I got so many questions. And I know that that anybody on this call would would or anybody on this podcast would would have so many questions. But I think one of the things that there's just some myths that are in in credit, so why don't we just start out with that? What are what are some of the myths? What are some of the things that people think about credit? That's probably just not true?
Sam Parker:Well, the number one thing that I would say is the whole attitude around credit of you're a victim of it, that it happens to you that you're crossing your fingers and hoping that your credit is good enough, right. Like, it's the informations out there. Credit is a high stakes game, but the rules are written very clearly if you know where to look, now, they're not told to us proactively, but you can find them and once you find them, it's a tool that you can use to to save money, make money, I mean, create generational wealth, you know, credit is is yours to use, as you see fit. It's not something that should control you. Right. So so so that's kind of the, the attitude around it is in itself. You know, I'm kind of a myth that that you can't control it that credit You know, kind of something that happens to you and cross your fingers that it stays good. Getting into things more, in more detail. You have myths, like just paying your bills on time keeps credit, you know, great, you know, I see all the time in these community forums where, you know, it's just borrowers or consumers talking to consumers. And it's hard to even get the correct information in there. Because there's so much bad information. People say, you know what, it's, it's easy. pay your bills on time dummy. It's like, No, that's not true. That's it's not just pay your bills on time. Okay. Okay.
Ron Pippin:I'm glad you clarified for that. Because when you said no, at first, when you said, pay your bills on time, you said, No, I'm thinking full. Yeah, you have to pay your bills on time. But you clarified and said, that's not the only thing. So it's important, right? payments. That's the number one thing payments are killer.
Sam Parker:Yeah, no, making your payments is the number one golden rule in when it comes to credit, you can't get a late pay, there's no such thing as a little late payment. And that's going to draw from the largest section of the credit scoring algorithm algorithm that makes up 35% of the overall credit score is your payment history do you make on time payments, but what I just said that makes up 35% of it, which leaves 65%, right, of the credit scoring algorithm that's unaccounted for by just paying your bills on time. So there's things like to go along with that, like when, when a financial guru like Dave Ramsey says cut off all your credit cards, close out all your accounts, what he's just telling you to do, if you if, if I got that information, and you said, Hey, translate this into credit advice, what he just said, I would say, Well, what he just said, was to eliminate all of your pay history that you've built up over the last several years, what he just told you to do is to eliminate any cushion that you had in the 30% credit usage section of the algorithm, which is your balance to limit ratios on your credit cards, because when you cut up and close out your credit cards, not only do you eliminate the pay history from reporting, that makes up 15% of your credit scoring algorithm, but now you don't have a sample to take out of the 30% credit usage. So you might even go to a no credit score, or at least a very low credit score by removing these huge chunks of the credit scoring algorithm, right. And so that's one is cut up all your credit cards, close your accounts out. And what people need to realize is, this is a financial resume. This is a running financial resume. And when I look at a resume to decide if I want to hire somebody and pay them a lot of money, or translate into credit, when I look at your financial resume and decide if I want to lend you 300 400 $500,000, I want to see that you're actively engaged with your credit, making good choices, displaying good habits, good behaviors, and that you're somebody that I want to lend my money to, because I know I'll get it back.
Ron Pippin:Yeah, so I've seen that happen many times where somebody thought they were doing, doing the right thing by like closing out their credit cards, because they just assumed that closing those out, not having them on there anymore is good. But I've seen their credit scores, just like take huge dives when they do that. No to why why is that? I know, it's in the algorithm, but it just seems almost unfair that you've been making payments on a credit card for years. And because you close it out, now you use your entire pay history and your credit score drops. So why is it that they do that? I don't know. Maybe, maybe you can answer that. But why is it?
Sam Parker:Well, I can't it's because 10% of the credit scoring algorithm is proper mix of credit. And so if you're only showing a I explain it, like it's a it's a quarterback trying out for a team, okay, so it's like the creditors and the credit scoring algorithm or in the bleachers, and they're taking notes. And when you close out like credit cards or or really any accounts, but especially credit cards, because those show the ultimate discipline, you know, because they're they're, they're kind of open ended open termed, you know, do with this, as you will credit, you know, credit lines. So, it's like, scouts are watching you, and you're taking a snap, nobody rushing at you backing up and throwing a nice, easy pass over the middle, right. Like that's simple, you should be able to make that pass. Congratulations. That's just like somebody saying, I have a car loan and a student loan and I make my payments on time every month. It's like, great, you have two things to be responsible for in your whole life. And they're the easiest things and you throw it straight over the middle fine. When you want somebody else's money. Remember, this isn't like some amendment like this isn't a right as as a US citizen to just to have your asking for somebody else's money and not just a little hundreds of 1000s of dollars. They get to make the rules and they say well, what we want our tryouts to look like isn't just taking a snap backing up, making it easy. Throw are handing it off, we want to see, we're going to put three guys running at you. That's called a credit card. Because it's it's, it's tough, right, we're going to put three guys running at you, we want to see you run out of the pocket and have to throw on the run, like we want to see what happens under pressure, we want to see what happens in different scenarios, before I lend you $400,000, that you promise to pay back to me over 30 years, right. And so it's just a different set of skills that they want to see. And they want to see the whole some of it, not just what you pick and choose to be safe because they make the rules, not us.
Ron Pippin:So what you're saying is, you having just a credit card, or just a student loan, or just a few accounts, doesn't give them a really good picture of what you're going to do in your financial picture when they start adding adding more accounts. So it's good to have a credit card or two or three, it's good to have a car loan, it's good to have. I don't know, it's good to have different, you know, revolving accounts, installment accounts, or mortgage different types of credit. That doesn't mean maybe we'll get to maybe we should get to this too is it doesn't mean to carry large balances on them. But it seems to show that you are using different types of credit responsibly.
Sam Parker:Absolutely. It's. And once you know the rules of the game, you wouldn't max out a credit card, you know, you just you wouldn't because you understand that it's like taking a 50 yard penalty in football, you're like oh my god, I wouldn't ever want to do the 50 yard penalty. It's like, well then don't do these things. And then you don't have to worry about that. Right. So knowledge is definitely power with this. But it is Ron, it's just more. It's simple. But it's more complicated than most people know, right? Because it's just it's like it like I say it's like a resume, right. And so when you don't have imagine a resume where all you had was one type of person, right? You're like, I've known this person, they've known me since I was a little kid. And but that was the only person that was willing to stand up for you and say anything nice, right? It's the same thing on your credit, all you're trying to do is get a bunch of people that when you walk into a bank, it's virtually like this, if you could imagine this, it's like you have 20 people behind you walking in going, he's good stuff. He does a good job for us for real, you should give him some money, right? And so if you only walk into that with one person, nobody or if those people are behind you going, don't do it. Don't do it. He hasn't paid me. He didn't pay me. Yeah, he's made some payments on time in the last couple months, but six months ago, you know, that's what your payment history is doing. It's just you want to bring as many allies with you as you can. But financially, you have to understand what you can handle too. So, you know, people will ask Ron, they'll say, you know, how many credit cards is the right number of credit cards? And what I say is, and I say this reluctantly, and I got to explain it as as many as you can handle if you can handle 10. Well, right, like everything was paid, and but people can't. And that's why there's such a thing as people saying, well, what's too many credit cards? Well, it's wherever you can handle it, which usually ends up being around four or five is when people miss a payment, or they forget it something about it or, you know, whatever, but but the real answer is man, as many people as we could bring into the bank saying thumbs up, give him money is, is good for you, you know,
Ron Pippin:so let's so let's talk about credit cards for just a minute. So credit cards, if you have if you have credit cards and you start running up those balances, or worse going over the credit limit. Where is that? Where is that? Where's that? Nice balance? Where is it that the credit, credit bureaus are saying, hey, thumbs up, man, this guy's this this dude, or this girl is cool. They're they're, they're handling everything. Right? So where's? Where's that balance? Great question.
Sam Parker:Um, so first of all, just so everybody knows, that section that Ron's talking about makes up 30%, or almost a third of your credit score. that's entirely up to you on how you control it. Okay? Now, everything in this algorithm, or in this section is based on ratios, which means it doesn't allow somebody who you know, just because somebody has a$50,000 credit card doesn't give them any advantage over the person that has a $500 credit card. It's all about balance to limit ratios. And what you want to do is never go over 50% or at least if you do understand what you're doing yourself, like I have a rewards card, and I wrap that thing up every month. I'm also not trying to purchase anything. And I know that when I am I need to get that paid down rescored or let it update right. But if I'm following my own rules, I'm never going over 50% because once you go over 50% of the balance to limit ratio on a credit card that sends out red flags to the credit scoring algorithm that implies You're, you're over utilizing your credit lines that you don't have cash to back it up. Otherwise, why would you be maxing out this credit card or on the plus side of 50%. So 50% is where you got to stop, don't go over that, and or at least don't maintain a balance over 50%. Or else, you're definitely that card is more than likely hurting you more than it is helping you, when you maintain a higher balance like that. Now, if somebody says, Hey, what is just a good practice where my credit score is going to stay really, really healthy all the time, it's 30%. And under, and then if you want it to be in a perfect world, and really maximize this section of the credit scoring algorithm, you would keep it between five and 10%, not 0%. And people will be like, Oh, I don't want to pay interest, you're you're paying a credit tax to have really great credit. Because if you pay it down to zero and keep it at zero, your credit scoring algorithm damned if you do damned if you don't have a mechanism, right. So if you keep it at zero, then you're not showing the scouts in the standard anything, you're it's not just that you have it and that you don't utilize it, they want to see you and remember, roll out runaway from people pass on the run, right? Well, that's using credit on a monthly basis. So what I tell people is go out, get a tank of gas, whatever that puts you at, pay it down between that five and 10%. Keep it there for the next month, make your next minimum payment. And then once you get down below 5%, you put that next tank of gas on it. But as long as you keep your balance to limit ratio in that, like I was saying the credit scoring algorithm is intelligent in the fact that it's not going to allow somebody that's rich to just have a better credit score because they have a larger credit line. It's all about how you treat those opportunities. Yeah, cool.
Ron Pippin:So you've mentioned credit scores a couple times. And I, if I remember, right, I think the FICO model goes from what 350 to 850? Is that sound about right? Okay, so when somebody goes out and pulls a credit report, like at a, a, I don't want to say one of the websites, but the free credit report,
Sam Parker:free credit garbage score.com?
Ron Pippin:Yeah, very good. So why is there like you have if they go out and pull a credit report there, and then I pull a credit report for mortgage report, and then maybe a credit card pulls it. And so they're getting their score from either free credit report, wherever, and maybe from their credit card. And then for me, we each have different credit scores. Yep, is that?
Sam Parker:Well, you guys are all pulling from different algorithms and different models, meaning when they're pulling online, they're more than likely pulling a vantage score as opposed to a FICO score. So fundamentally, from the very beginning, these are two different models, two different businesses, right. And they're similar and how they calculate, but they're not the same. And so that Vantage score that's used is typically going to be for, like retail offers and stuff like that not going to be your big purchases, like, like a home especially you guys are going to use Piko. And you're gonna use a specific model of FIFO. So what happens though, and so hang on, so hang
Ron Pippin:on, you just had a specific bottle of FICO. So there's multiple models in FICO. That doesn't, it's not just a FICO score. It's like, which model in FICO as well,
Sam Parker:yeah, there's dozens, there's dozens of FICO models, even once you get into fight go. But most people aren't even seeing their FICO score, if you're getting your credit score for free somewhere, or for very cheap on a monthly basis, it's more than likely a vantage score. Now, the problem with that, Ron is that people will go there, they'll look at their Vantage score, it'll say 720, then they're encouraged to apply for something that would require a 725 go score to qualify for on that website. And then they apply and then they're introduced to something that actually fits their 660 credit score. So it's kind of a big bait and switch and funnel. A lot of times with those Vantage scores, um, and or at least that's the domino effect that happens, whether it be are really doing that intentionally, which I believe they are or they're not, that's what happens client sees this credit score, they believe that with that credit score, they can qualify for a card that meets that 720 and then really, they find out they're at a 680. Now, when you get over into the FICO scoring algorithm, only the mortgage lending industry is able to pull their specific credit score, right or they're the only ones that utilize that model. But then you got to remember there's dozens of other FICO models out there, and some some are used by other industries and in my opinion in some cases, it just takes the pressure off of Miko, meaning that like one of the algorithms doesn't count medical clinic against your credit score, one of the algorithms doesn't count paid collections against your credit score. So then they'll put out these little press releases every few years. And then I'll get from the industry, they'll be like, Oh, my God, what's going to happen with this new credit score? And I'll bet, probably nothing. Nothing. It's all just smoke to say, look, we're at least making it available. The Big Bad banks aren't choosing this. And it's like, well, of course, they're not going to choose it. That doesn't. I mean, I know medical collections are, they suck, but at the same time, like a bank needs to know if you paid your $25 copay or not, I understand that it's frustrating. But I and I know copay slipped through the cracks, too. Don't get me wrong. But if you didn't know about it, and you didn't pay it, I'm not trying to jump in line on a 15 $100 payment on a monthly basis for 30 years, if, you know. So anyway, it's just it's just there's Vantage, there's Piko. And even once you get into those, there's dozens of different, you know, models and calculations in each of those. So it's tough.
Ron Pippin:Also, I think, before we jump off of credit scores, I think some of the reasons why there's we have different models, or and we pull up different, correct me if I'm wrong, is that like, mortgages wait things differently than we heard credit card? So we want to know, did you pay your mortgage, you do have a mortgage on there. And that's really important to a mortgage person and maybe not so much for for somebody that's buying a car or credit card? Yes. things differently.
Sam Parker:Yeah, you're exactly right. There's data. And that's what those different models do is it weighs things differently, because each industry cares about things a little bit differently. And like the mortgage industry not only cares about past mortgage payments, but it's also looking at other certain things that you know that the auto industry is like, yeah, I mean, we're not worried about that they can they can make this little payment. So we're fact are we're keying in on these factors, where the mortgage industry sees other calculated factors that they're like, well, that would indicate the ability to repay a larger installment loan, like a mortgage.
Ron Pippin:Okay, so when we pull credit, there's that's that can that cause that? That is called an inquiry. Yep. And your credit score can drop if you pull too many of them, but I understand. Now, I've heard like, different windows. So there's a window of opportunity when you're buying a more when you're buying a house that you can have your credit polled and not affect your credit score. Is there any truth in that?
Sam Parker:Yeah, yeah, there's a 45 day window in the mortgage industry. And in most industries, there's a 30 to 45 day window where, you know, like industry meaning auto loan, if I go and I get my, my credit pulled at this auto dealership, and then seven inquiries get added, because of that, I only got hit for the first one. Same thing with the mortgage, you get hit for the first one in that 45 day window. And honestly, even that first one run, you're probably talking to zero to three points, in most cases for a mortgage inquiry, I will say to any customers listening, or borrowers. And I love I give tough love guys. So I just want to shoot it to you straight. This is usually where a borrower will point out and go look this see all these things that aren't my fault, right? And then I usually look at the credit report, I go, you have a credit card that's over 50% Oh, wait two credit cards over 50% you have a late pay from six months ago, and you have a collection that hit the credit report in the last 12 months. I'm not worried about these inquiries, because it's this that scapegoat. And it goes back to that very first thing we talked about the myth about credit is I'm not in control of it, you are in control of it, as soon as you say I want to control it right. And so, um, so yeah, we we definitely got to sort sort through that part of it as well.
Ron Pippin:Okay, so what are some things that maybe somebody can do to just, like maximize their credit? Are there specific things that maybe somebody can do and say, if you do these things, other than make your payments on time, it was always talked about two things, making your payments on time, and keeping your credit utilization under that, that 50% or down to the 20 to 30%? is the ideal, or five to 10% is the ideal, you know, other than those two things, what are some other things that maybe somebody can do to help keep their credit score? Higher than? Yeah, keep it keep it higher?
Sam Parker:Yeah. So there's some immediate things that you can do and then there's some best practices on a regular basis, right. So number one, if somebody came to me today and said, say I got 30 days, tell me everything I can do to jump my scores. as quickly as possible, I'd say, all right, when we get off the phone here, what I want you to go to do is go to opt out pre screen comm and select the five year electronic opt out, that's going to remove them from any unsolicited credit offers for the next five years. And that usually gets somebody 712 points in in a week or so, in some cases does absolutely nothing, but it won't hurt you. Okay, so that's one little, little trick there. Um, I would then look at credit cards, and look at those balance to limit ratios, and I would look at the money I have. And then I would also understand that I'm scored on my individual balance limit ratios and my overall balance limit ratios, meaning their strategy here. So let's say I have $1,000 available, and I have three credit cards. One is a $2,000 credit card, that's maxed. And then I have two other credit cards that are only 1000, I would be better off to pay those two smaller credit cards down to zero, or sorry, between five and 10%, like I said earlier, and leave that other one maxed out, because no matter what my overall balance limit ratio is going to be impacted by that $2,000. But now I can really max out my points on my individual lines, thereby getting two of them paid all the way down. So I would opt out, I would look at my balance to limit ratios on my credit cards on collection accounts. I would call them and or or correspond with them or have my credit guy do it. And I would try to get paid for deletions, I would call them up. And if I didn't disagree with it, I'd say Listen, I owe you $732, I got 300 bucks for you right now, if you're willing to take this off my credit report, if they will, I would do that and save the 400 and some dollars and get a deletion off the credit report. And if they wouldn't, I wouldn't pay them. I would move on to the next one. But going
Ron Pippin:so I've heard I've heard this strategy before. And but what I have seen is that sometimes they'll say, hey, yeah, we're going to remove it. But what they really do is just show up. Hey, so how do you I mean, and there's a difference on the credit score, right?
Sam Parker:Yeah, so a client. And this is why a lot of clients say, Sam, you take care of it, because then we can cover their behinds and make sure that this just flows seamlessly, right? But a client or a borrower has to know enough to highlight certain things. So when you call up a collection company guy that's going to get paid a percentage of whatever he collects from you, you have to understand that sometimes they're not being truthful. And so they'll go Yeah, yeah, we'll delete it. We'll send that out once we're done. So you have to stop for a second and you and you got to go, Hey, excuse me, sir. What's your name? JOHN Brown. Okay. JOHN Brown, you have an employee number there, I just need to document some things. Okay. And so you what you're telling me is that on this date, February 19, if I pay you $300, on this $726 collection, that you're saying that within 30 days, you will have this deleted from the credit report? And I am I correct that a lot of times when you just slow down and repeat it again, they'll take that opportunity to go, Ah, no, we can't do that. The other thing that you can do is say Give it to me in writing, but I will tell you, a lot of them won't. They won't give it to you in writing before the payment. And a lot of times you need this done. So what I would do is I would say hey, if you're cool with it, I'm going to record this call. And and and just for my protection, because they're recording it on their own. So I'm just gonna record this call. So can you again, repeat your name? And then I'm Sam Parker, I'm talking to you on February 19. And what you're saying is, if I pay you this, you're going to delete it. Is that correct, john? And then john, if he's being sketchy, he'll hang up on you. Right, then? If he's not, he'll go? Yes. Yes, Sam, that is correct. I'm going to what I did say was that I'm going to submit a letter to deletion to the credit bureaus. And that usually updates within 30 to 60 days, and I'm gonna go Okay, you're still giving me what I want. So just cover your butt a little bit, but but there's a good chance. I mean, there's an equal chance they're gonna say, no, they're gonna say it's against their company policy, and they're not going to do it. And if that's the case, you got to hold your horses and come back to the strategy table and see where your money is best spent. You know,
Ron Pippin:that's some really great advice. But my advice to people that are watching this, or what if they're watching it on to YouTube, or if they're just listening to this on a podcast, is to just talk call Sam. It's just like, just get that crap off your plate. Let Sam do it. It's just like, it's, I'm telling you trying to repair your credit. Can you do it? Sure. You can. But it's it's just like everything else when you are you're not an expert in it. It's far more difficult than you think it is. Sure. So you have just a little more time.
Sam Parker:I got five more minutes for you, Ron. All right. Cool.
Ron Pippin:So let's talk about those that have divorce or or a bankruptcy. How What do they do? I mean, how does that affect credit? Does divorce itself affect credit? I don't know that it does. I think it's just maybe the effects of divorce, bankruptcy will affect credit. So tell me how that affects credit. And then I have one more question for you, too.
Sam Parker:Yeah. So So I would say divorce has the potential to her credit worse than bankruptcy, honestly. And here's the reason why, no matter what is determined by that divorce court, meaning he owes this, she owes this, I don't have to make the payment. A divorce court does not supersede a pre existing contract, meaning whatever financial obligations and agreements you entered into, before you didn't like this person and broke up, still are absolutely valid, regardless of what the judge said, Now, what the judge said, is who's responsible for the payments, that other person is still responsible for these payments, you can circle back on them, sue them for contempt of court suing for damages, but credit wise, that divorce decree is not going to do a thing. So what you need to do is be pre emptive on this, and you need to reach out to the creditors, before you guys get even if you're upset with each other, do it as fast as possible. While this is as bad as it is. And if you're cool with each other, please, this is the one place where you really need to be cool with each other where you're getting a hold of that creditor, and you're doing a tree true refinance out of your name and removing financial obligation. Because otherwise, no matter what happens with that you're on the hook, even if you guys have said Now listen, you promise you're going to make the payments, when it doesn't happen a year from now. And that hits your credit report. I can go to the Bureau's and I can show them the divorce decree and I got probably a 40% chance of getting it removed, maybe a little bit less. But the majority of those are going to come back and they're going to go no this the the whole purpose of a cosigner is that if that guy doesn't pay it that that girl will or that girl does it, then that girl will whoever your cosigner is, is saying, I am 100% obligated, and I'm going to make sure you get your payments. They're not saying I'm 50% obligated, and they're definitely not saying I'll put my name on this so that we can get a better interest rate. But if we break up, it's not on me, right? So so with a divorce, it's you got to get ahead of it, stay ahead of it. And then if it has bit you which a lot of people it has, and they're like, well, that's too late now. That's okay, we can work through it. It's just you have to understand we can't ride the horse into this battle of this isn't mine, we're gonna have to go in and say, here's what the deal was it was a divorce, would you please remove it from the credit report, if they say no, you're going to have to be prepared to either go to that x and get the money from them one way or the other, or to take care of it because it's holding you back from a home loan. And then you circle back and go through the proper legal channels to get your money back that way. Now, with a bankruptcy, that's a whole different story, a bankruptcy, a lot of people think that it's like a financial death sentence. And it's not, it's a rebirth really, as long as you do it correctly, most people are going to have filed a chapter seven bankruptcy wrong, which is a complete dismissal of all debts that aren't government backed. So a lot of people are getting rid of pretty much everything on their credit report. But then what they don't realize is that all of those individual items that they filed on, there's this MLP rating, it's like a secret rating system and credit that's kind of behind the scenes, and you really only see it on the mortgage report. But when you get to a collection charge off profit and loss, that's a nine rated account. Once something has been in a bankruptcy, that's a seven rated account. And that's a huge difference in the credit score. You know, if all you looked at was a credit profile that had included in bankruptcy, $0 balance, and then you had us go through it, you would see in some cases, you know, an 80 100% increase over 30 to 60 days. But you might not see on like a consumer report, you might not see any you'd like what is different about this. And it's because we got those MLP ratings changed. So after the bankruptcy, it's just credit cleanup, make sure that everything is either removed or updated. And then it's reestablishment of positive trade lines, because you've got to get those people walking in the bank with you saying they do after the bankruptcy has done a really good job for me, because right now on your credit report, you just got a bunch of people in the background going? Nope, nope, nope.
Ron Pippin:Well, so I don't know if I asked this question. So that's really good. Great advice. I appreciate that. I don't know if I asked this question yet. Is there some strategies that a real estate agent can take to help their clients?
Sam Parker:Well, first of all, Ron, if there's a lender, like you who's saying, I want to help with these clients, the best thing that they could do is go all in on that and say, okay, other people just want my 720 referrals. They're asking me where it's coming in this guy saying it Have an incubator for you. So number one, get with a lender, Ron, who is willing to kind of shoulder the weight and and work with me to polish these people up and get them back to you. But I think, again, a lot of this is mindset. And you have this whole group of your community that you're ignoring right now, because they're, they're not in your eyes good enough. And that's how they're feeling too, because you're not giving them any attention. There's people out there going, I want to buy the house that you're putting up, I love 123 Main Street, but I don't have good enough credit, and you're not giving me any ways to do it. So I guess I'll just rent and then I'll cut, you know what I mean? So it's that realization that your audience is bigger than you think it is. And that you need to have avenues for them to reach what it is that you're trying to show them. So like one thing, Ron that we have, that I'll give to you, is white label pages that you can get out to every realtor that that wants to work with you on this. And what that'll do is at the end of each one of their listings or emails, it'll say, look, if credit is an issue, click this button and sign up for a free review. And then we'll do a free game planning session with them. That'll drop them straight into our CRM, it'll take you and the realtor and then we'll update you that next day and say, Hey, listen, Joe Schmoe entered into our system off of your 123 Main Street Facebook post, and is ready to do whatever it takes to get back and qualify for a home loan with you, Ron and for a house with you realtor, you know, so, you know, just just talk to them. They're there. And through Ron, we provide tons of credit education videos, all sorts of different content, any realtor that's watching this run whenever they want to do a first time homebuyer seminar or credit education seminar, and then they have the mortgage expert with you on there. That's a really great Facebook Live, that's a great webinar, or, you know, we could always figure something out live once the world's back to normal.
Ron Pippin:Cool. So credit, we've all I know, I'm not gonna say we've all been through it, but I have, I've been through some times when credit, you know, my credit was like, really not good. And, and I wish they would teach this kind of stuff in high school and even colleges, but they don't. And so when we start getting credit, it's just like, we screw it up. You know, I, anybody that's listening to this, whether it's a real estate agent, whether it's a lender, whether it's a borrower, whether it's anybody, just realize that don't feel bad man, we've after 25 years, well, I always say I've seen it all. But what often once in a while, somebody surprises me, but, but I've seen most of it, and we've all been through it, so don't feel bad about having some, you know, some credit issues, it can be resolved. Now, sometimes some some of us easier than other times to get to get resolved. But um, but it all can be done. But if you're willing to.
Sam Parker:That's right. It's it's absolutely a game that you can win at as soon as you quit throwing your hands up in the air and saying, I don't know what's going on. And just take control of it, you might have worst case scenario, you might have a buckle down six to 12 months in front of you. But there's nobody that can't have a great credit score in 12 months, if they just work at it and know the rules of the game. So get ahold of ron ron will put you in touch with us if you need to. And we'll get you sorted out.
Ron Pippin:So I usually ask people, if there's a way to get hold of you, but I don't know, do you want them to just call me?
Sam Parker:I really do. Ron, that's gonna be best. Because there's a lot of times where people are worried about their credit, they get ahold of you. They say, hey, just when you pull my credit, I just don't judge me and you're like, I'm not gonna judge your 686 credit score I just pulled. You know, they think that's bad, right? And so right, I would I think that it's going to be best for them to talk to you that way. Once you send them to me, we're going to have that clear cut strategy of you know, we got a month we got six months, we got 12 months, what is it that we're working with? And then that way, we have a team built around them and they know that they're taking care of every step of the way.
Ron Pippin:Okay, cool. That Sam, this has been this has been like a one of my favorite episodes, just because everybody has questions about credit like everybody does. So I think I think you've provided some really great insights, really great strategies to help people. And so I appreciate you taking the time out of your busy day. Hey,
Sam Parker:this was a lot of fun, Ron, I appreciate it and let me know when the next one is okay.
Ron Pippin:Okay, sounds good.
Sam Parker:All right. We'll see ya.
Ron Pippin:All right. So if you guys want to get hold of me or my team, just give us a call at 801-628-7667. And we'll hook you up with Sam and his team. And that will bring to close another episode of agent versus lender.