Credit Secrets Book Review - What To Know

Published by Midwestern in 2017, Credit Secrets is the brainchild of Scott & Alison Hilton, who were compelled to create the book after saving themselves and their family from impending financial ruin. 

Overview

Based on their own family’s trials and tribulations, and following the ups and downs of their financial journey from rock bottom to stability, Credit Secrets offers countless tips, tricks, and useful pieces of advice to improve a bad credit score, beat the system, and strive for financial security in the future. 

Whilst it’s true that the book is a do it yourself credit story, it offers far much more than merely simple, generic advice, instead giving people the tools to completely rework their personal finances, giving them a blueprint upon which to live their lives. 

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Contents

Credit Secrets contains 9 chapters of accessible, advanced credit hacks, focusing on areas such as the removal of incorrect or unfair terms from your credit report, advanced tactics, dealing with lawsuits, ChexSystem removals, student loans, repossessions, HIPAA, advanced credit techniques, a statute of limitations chart, and a handy FAQ, to provide you with extra support if any of your questions have not been answered. 

Core Themes

Within the context of the book, several questions are explored and answered. If you have any of these questions, or have experienced similar problems, then this book might just be for you. 

• What is the best way to deal with defaulted loans and vehicle repossession? 

• What can I do to recover from bankruptcy and foreclosure? 

• Can I remove lines and judgments from my credit report? 

• How do I file a credit dispute, and what can be disputed?

• What is the fastest way to rebuild bad credit? 

• How can I get out of ChexSystems? 

• How can I raise my credit score? 

• How long does it take to rebuild credit history?

• What do I need to know about consumer protection laws?

The answers provided to these questions aren’t merely generic answers available online, instead offering several step by step walkthrough guides to help you organize and restructure your entire personal finances into a pattern that works for you. 

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Review & Testimonials 

The amount of positive reviews surrounding this book are quite staggering. 

It’s important to carefully pick through online reviews, especially on Amazon where they can be falsified to increase sales, and personally I am always skeptical when something seems overly praised. 

One thing I can ascertain from the reviews though, is that this book certainly isn’t too good to be true. 

Whilst some have criticized the book for its high price tag (through secondary vendors), and the somewhat scarce availability on some major platforms (including Amazon.com), the majority of the reviews speak highly of the tone, the narrative style, and the overall effectiveness of the advice given. 

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Writing Style

Many reviewers praised Credit Secrets for its straightforward written style, which avoided “unnecessary fluff” and focused on delivering the cold, hard facts to its readers. 

In many ways, this is important to the subject matter. The majority of people purchasing the book will either be under some financial stress, or are looking for useful information that can be easily digested and understood. As such, an accessible written style is paramount to effectiveness. 

Tone

Another source of praise for the book was the personal tone created by the Hiltons. 

This book is not a textbook suited for academic study, but a warts and all cautionary tale highlighting the bumps along the way to financial stability. It doesn’t seek to judge its readers, instead introducing them into the Hilton’s lives, and guides them with a warmth often reserved for family and friends. 

This makes the material easier to digest, and makes people more likely to continue reading. 

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Efficacy

From the first chapter, the couple breaks down what credit is, the importance of it to future financial security, and the things that can be affected when it goes bad. They discuss the importance of the little details, and how they can rescue you from future hardships down the road. 

What the book basically offers is a credit repair course, divided into a series of sound financial strategies to properly organize your entire personal financial system, as well as various template letters which can be sent to creditors, and credit bureaus, for example to remove derogatory information from your credit report. 

Several reviewers on Amazon.com and GoodReads praised the effectiveness of the advice given, praising the “actionable strategies” that promote the creation of a month-to-month household budget, and the handy guide to the necessary wording and tone when approaching credit bureaus. 

Other reviewers were quick to point out just how much their credit score had increased within mere months of reading the book, with one boasting a rise from 500 to 761 points over a 6 month period. 
 

Credibility

One should always be suspicious, or at the very least cautious, when it comes to books boasting the answer to all of your problems. A lot of these supposed “solve all” guides use your problems to make financial gain, without really delivering useful material to fix what needs to be fixed. 

Finding Credible Reviews

The same is true with reviews online. Any that seem too enthusiastic should be taken with a pinch of salt, as should the one star reviews that seem too damaging or derogatory. 

Five star reviews that are not from a personalized account could be falsified to achieve higher ratings. 

On the flip side, 1 star reviews that either seem unreasonable, or which do not seem to correlate with what the majority of people are saying, should more than often enough be chalked up to the personal preference, or indeed unrealistic expectations, of that specific customer. 

Look for the 2-4 star reviews on Amazon.com, and see where there are common denominators, because therein lies the truth, or a closer estimation at the very least. 

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Is The Advice Legitimate? 

From a purely legal standpoint, the book appears to offer sound tactics for dealing with debt collection agencies and credit bureaus, using legal loopholes and handy tips to achieve the best results. 

While the degree of detail might suggest insider knowledge, either from a financial adviser or lawyer, the help provided focuses on practical actions aimed at the lamen, avoiding complex financial explanations, or unachievable goals. 

Whilst it might never be clear how effective the advice is, at least to a credit expert, the testimonials from readers are positive across a wide range of websites and sources, so the legitimacy of what they are saying in the book seems to be effective at the very least. 

One thing the Hiltons do say in the book is that not everyone will be equipped to utilize the advice given, which would suggest honest intentions on their part.
 

Additional Features

As this book is an “as seen on TV” product, and can only be reliably bought from the couple’s website, availability can seem scarce. 

Amazon.com offers the book at a greatly inflated price, and the quality is often pre-used. This makes the website the best place to get a new copy of the book for what is comparatively a much cheaper price tag. 

Additionally, the branded website offers a 100% money back guarantee within 30 days if you are not happy with the product. This can be for any reason, even dissatisfaction with the advice given, or the apparent inefficacy of the content to your specific problem. 

With certain criteria, you can also be eligible for double your money back after a period of 3 months. 

To qualify for this, you need a proof of purchase from at least 90 days prior, verified log-in to the online members area, completion of the “jumpstart” training inside the members area, and a receipt for three certified letters that have been sent to either a debt collection agency, credit bureau, or creditor, asking for removal or amendment to false or misleading information on a report. 

If these terms are met, a check for double the purchase price will arrive via PayPal within one month of request. 

Is It Worth It? 

After reading all the reviews and testimonials, and after examining the advice and guides provided, I would suggest this book for anyone who is struggling with debt and bad credit, or for someone who merely wants to chart a sounder course for themselves going forward. 
 

Final Thoughts

And there we have it, everything you need to know about Credit Secrets. 

If one thing is clear, it's that this book has helped a lot of people achieve financial independence, and to dig themselves out of the pit of despair that is debt and bad credit. 

The important thing though is to do your research. 

Learn your rights, familiarize yourself with the specifics of your situation, and always seek professional advice if you are still unsure how to proceed!

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