INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS EDUCATIONAL IN NATURE AND IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE; nor should it be construed as a substitute for counseling by duly licensed financial or legal professionals.  This resource is provided as a public service for general guidance.  Use these data at your own peril.   It is advisable to consult with an attorney or financial advisor to discuss any legal or financial issues involving personal credit decisions.

The primary author of this website is a freelance writer, who wishes to make it abundantly clear that he is not engaged in the practice of rendering legal or financial advice, nor does he operate any manner of credit repair organization.

The primary author earns his living as a licensed Mortgage Originator who has closely studied thousands of credit reports.  This resource contains the author's first-hand observations, secondary reports from trusted associates in the mortgage lending business, and personal opinions.  Each is supported by confidential case histories and personal investigation of the various subjects discussed.

NOTE:  This site is in transition.  As such, please bear with us until we have time to complete its design and expansion.  The subject matter is of such importance, however, that it mandates this premature publication as a work in progress.

You have just entered into a special "service station", otherwise known as the MechanixOfCredit.info (a.k.a. ScottSecor.info).  Both URLs will take you to this educational and, some say, almost magical destination.  This website was developed by caring individuals to assist those who wish to unleash their "inner 720 credit score".

In a sense, this valuable resource is an Owner's Manual for the Credit-conscious^SM ... or a Repair Manual for the Credit-oblivious^SM.  Grab a tool, get your hands dirty, and together we will overhaul your reputation ("street cred" in the vernacular).  Risk Factor Reason Codes are at the heart of the matter - you must learn what they mean!

Creation of this website was strictly a labor of love!  Primary author D. Scott Secor, Senior Loan Officer and REALTOR^® practicing in the State of Minnesota, routinely directs his customers to this debt and credit “self-help kit” for educational guidance.  Take some comfort in the fact that we accept no paid advertising.  Although we wish to remind you that InspiredFinancing.net and Real Estate Pros are forever willing to go the extra mile for their customers, regardless of their current credit profiles!  Take further solace in knowing that we will not spam you into oblivion simply for visiting one of our websites.

This important resource is provided FREE OF CHARGE, and the information contained herein is proven to be of greater benefit than services costing many hundreds or even tens of thousands of dollars (we refer to the all-time most outrageously exorbitant credit-repair promoter Tracy Ballard -- her fees range from $3600 to $17,000 per individual)!

These data have been gathered from representatives of various credit reporting agencies; Fair, Isaac, & Company; collection agencies; consumer law attorneys; certified credit counselors; and from the personal experiences of trusted associates within the intensely credit-driven mortgage lending business.  Apply this information wisely and you will be able to better your credit score, often within a matter of weeks.

It should be duly noted that precious few mortgage lenders and real estate professionals have taken meaningful steps to educate themselves about credit.  So how can they be taken at their word to effectively educate their customers?  The truth of the matter is that most cannot.  Many mortgage lenders and real estate agents are too gullible, too arrogant, too self-absorbed, or too ignorant to verify the credit "information" that they so casually pass along as fact to their unwitting customers.  Sadly, this does not speak well of their customer care policies.

NOTE: Those real estate and lending professionals who came here to LEARN have our full support and admiration.  Pompous fools who fancy themselves as lending or real estate "professionals", yet elect not to educate themselves -- whether here or elsewhere -- are free to take offense with as many of the well-deserved insults as they may deem applicable.  They shall have our scorn, and their customers shall have our pity.

We openly share the experiences, suggestions, and opinions of other lending professionals and employees of credit reporting agencies.  We debunk many credit myths.  The information contained herein is intended to assist potential consumers who, through their own efforts, desire to learn more about debt and credit management and to apply to their personal financial situation.

Over time, the Mechanix Of Credit will expand to contain an even greater wealth of information, unlike any other site on the Internet.  For now, what you see is what you get ... warts and all.  If this is your first visit, you may not realize that we have recently separated this credit information from our lending website (InspiredFinancing.net) so that both websites could be more easily expanded and enhanced to better serve the general public.

Topics include discussions of managing debt, improving credit -- and the dire consequences of abusing either one.  The underlying research was performed over many years and will continue to be updated as consumer laws change and as new credit scoring trends emerge.

Incidentally, are you prepared to have your credit card minimum payments raised -- even doubled -- in 2006?  Guess what this will do to your ability to borrow more money?  Increased payment amounts will reduce your borrowing capacity due to the fact that it increases your debt-to-income ratio. 

We wish to advise the casual observer that we are neither certified debt or credit counselors nor any manner of credit repair organization.  Judging from what we have seen over the years, we can teach most bona fide debt and credit counselors a few things about how credit works in the "real world".  Furthermore, the majority of most credit repair organizations are incompetent -- or worse.

Nevertheless, we can safely say that this repository contains more practical information regarding credit than virtually all lenders, loan officers, underwriters, real estate professionals, and legitimate credit consultants are taught.  We fully expect that a substantial number of our visitors will comprise individuals within these professions who seek guidance or further education.

BEWARE!  There is a broad misunderstanding of credit by individuals whose job it is to assist others in issues directly relating to credit.  For instance;

• Few self-anointed credit "gurus" know anything about the innermost workings of credit.

• Most credit repair organizations and debt management services invariably place their ("non-") profits ahead of the consumer's best interests.

• Most loan officers (and major lenders) provide BAD advice.  They simply don't know any better, because they are either untrained or misinformed!

• Most real estate professionals are either too impatient or self-absorbed to invest the time required to help a few customers achieve their full buying potential (if they will work with them at all).

• Many debt counselors have little or no practical training, and most have no real world experience in the truly important aspects of this forum.

• The vast majority of those who parrot myths and outright falsehoods regarding credit have never studied cause-and-effect relationships of specific events analyzed by credit scoring models.

Why?  Because any training that these individuals may have received informs them only about the superficial characteristics of credit, such as how to read and interpret a credit report.  That is clearly insufficient information!  Anything which delves more deeply, simply does not fit into the rudimentary curriculum that these people are taught.  With the exception of a handful of compassionate individuals who truly care about their customers welfare -- and actually pay attention to details -- most will never gain real world experience!  Nevertheless, our concerns do not stop there.

Other worries include prominent Internet law firms who "fifty-buck" their customers to death and will spam their site visitors without mercy.  Once they have a customer in their clutches, their progress is excruciatingly slow.  Why?  Because they have absolutely no incentive to stop billing the customer!  A word to the wise should be sufficient.

Then there are those compelling television commercials that beg you to "call now" to avoid bankruptcy.  Did you know that credit card companies, solely to circumvent the uniform protections of bankruptcy law, own many of these “non-profit” debt pro-rating companies?  Save your time and your money.  The Attorney General of Minnesota has run the worst offenders out of our fair State (e.g., AmeriDebt), but more bottom-feeders have rushed in to take their place.  AGs in other States have taken similar measures against unscrupulous debt pro-rating and so-called "debt elimination" companies.  Be very skeptical of these outfits.

We offer external links to many websites and publications from such authorities as the Federal Trade Commission, various Attorneys General, and bona fide credit counselors.  Please be advised that if the information contained in any publication from these sources is contrary to what we discuss herein, our position is that the reference publication is likely to be "in error" and that our findings are "most correct".  While that may sound a bit headstrong, our positions are based upon real life experiences rather than theory, conjecture, myths, and outright lies (some promoted by credit reporting agencies).

Make no mistake, the data contained within this repository are merely intended to provide educational information to the website visitor (thus our conspicuous choice of the .INFO suffix in our domain names).  The casual observer is left to draw their own conclusions, for which they must take full responsibility for their actions.  Please seek the services of competent legal counsel, financial professional, or appropriate licensed professional for further debt management and credit guidance.

We make every attempt to ensure that the information contained herein is accurate and gathered from reliable sources, although we cannot guaranty that there will not be errors or omissions in what we report, nor can we be held accountable for results obtained from the use or misuse of this information.  On the other hand ...