The Broken Credit Blog is a clearinghouse of information specifically housed to help advise people with bad credit situations. The blog is written by individuals who register for the blog, and they share their stories and solutions.
Usually, these individuals are industry professionals, and not just random cranks who talk about how they stuck it to Bank of America with a protest letter or something. Although, there are plenty of first-hand experience stories from people who had a very nasty time with creditors.
The site is incredibly easy to navigate, is updated frequently (I reviewed the page over the course of two weeks and there were almost daily updates to the site). There are tons of archives, and the information is helpful and interesting. The site is not flashy, a very simple white background with easy to read navigation, archives by month and by category topic, and an RSS feed for those who wish to subscribe.
The Broken Credit Report blog offers a link for obtaining a free credit report, a form for users to generate their own dispute letter, a huge help center, and online seminars. There are tons of archives to go through too, which is great because there are so many blogs that I get to review that have … six entries. Hard to review six entries folks. Here, they offer interesting bits of advice on how to raise your credit score, advice given to clients on how to clean up credit, comforting and encouraging bits about identity theft and dealing with that problem.
All told, the advice and the first hand experience stories were all a pretty interesting read for what I thought would be kind of a dry topic, or a complete and total “shell” of a blog hawking someone’s business services. Obviously there is a business behind this website (located in Las Vegas…), but it seems that they are willing to share a lot of information that normally you would think would cost you an arm and a leg. And that’s pretty cool… considering that so many Americans get into such horrible credit situations, and can use all the free and honest advice they can get.
The About page cites the New Testament with a quote from the Book of Matthew:
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
I believe our blog authors ascribe to this philosophy and present the information in this blog with a generosity that only grows from someone who truly wants to do good works for other people to glorify God. So indeed — Hats off to the authors for being generous with their content. I hope this kind of generous business practice blesses them with actual clients that can keep them going and generating this service for free.
I would highly suggest that in addition to the words of Matthew, our authors include this quote from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet:”
Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
While it is necessary to borrow money for mortgages (because really, who has $500,000 in the bank to just up and buy a house these days…) it is important to not dig that hole too deep. Lord Polonius was right in his advice to Hamlet — be honest, work hard, and do the best you can. And you may not find yourself stuck with bad credit in the end.
I give this site a 3.5, because it was chock full of information and not a shell to suck me into a business sales site. I think it is incredibly helpful to people who need to learn how to clean their credit house, and would highly recommend it to friends struggling with problems which are addressed here.
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