Meet Inc. Innovator: Andrew Reuland

By: Maureen Wallenfang, Post-Crescent

Andrew Reuland is owner and operator of Wisconsin Credit Coach based in downtown Manitowoc, WI.

Q What are the biggest things that ruin credit?

A Bankruptcy and divorce. Those lead to having a lot of errors and incorrect data on people's credit reports after the fact. In some cases, they believe they've paid all their bills on time, but they had no idea that they have debts that were either paid off in a bankruptcy or were their ex-spouse's debts. They don't know what's on their credit report. It's said that 78 percent of Americans have an error on their credit report.

Q What other things do people do to mess up their credit?

A A lot of clients, when they were younger, mismanaged credit. They didn't pay their bills. Now they've been married, have kids, want to be financially stable and they have a good income. But they need to deal with their past.

Q I spoke with Michael Cox, senior loan officer at GSF Mortgage in Little Chute. When he gets people who don't qualify for home loans, he says he now sends them over to you to boost their credit scores. Are all your clients referrals?

A About 80 to 90 percent of our clients are referred to us directly from a bank, mortgage broker or credit union, mainly for the purpose of getting them back on track so they can go back to that institution and purchase a home.

Q Financial institutions can't do this?

A A lot of people at the banks know a lot of what I know. But if you're a loan officer, your time is very valuable. You get paid close to 100 percent commission. You can't charge for (credit counseling) unless you have the license. So they'd be spending hours of their time for free. It doesn't make sense.

Q What's considered a good credit score?

A Between 650 and 700. Excellent is pretty much anything over 720. Credit is based on history. In my background as a lender, the folks that I saw with 750 or 800 credit scores were usually in their 50s. They've got a home they purchased 20 years ago. They've paid on time for 20 years. They've never maxed out their credit cards.

Q You have counselors in three locations and are hiring in Milwaukee, Kenosha and Madison?

A We've got enough clients under our belt and enough experience now that we feel comfortable growing throughout the state. My goal by the end of the year is to pretty much be well established in most major markets. We do most of our coaching and counseling classes right at the bank or financial intuition for two reasons. I don't have to purchase a building. Secondly, it helps keep the bank involved with our clients. The client feels obligated to work with that bank. We want them to go back to where they came from.

Q You charge a straight fee?

A The credit coaching program is our flagship program. It's $295. The client pays over three sessions. In the sessions, they get the education and tools. It's budgeting, credit repair and credit rebuilding. (After that) a lot of clients will roll into our monthly program, $35 a month. They get updates on their credit report, identity theft protection, fraud alerts and an action plan.

Q Since February, how many have gone into the coaching program?

A We have 112 as of right now.

Q How many have now qualified for home loans?

A We've put a good 25 people into homes. That includes people put into houses early through rent-to-own programs and are very close (to getting a loan).

Q How long does it take to fix bad credit?

A We have some easy fixes where it's mainly errors on their credit report and we're dealing with the credit repair phase. For folks with a lot of past debt, that takes longer. We do a lot of settlement plans, payoffs with collectors. We help negotiate. It can be 12 months.

Q How are you like FISC?

A There are a lot of great nonprofits out there like FISC and Catholic Charities. They offer similar services to ours. The difference is because we're a private institution, we have a sensibility about how to make things happen for you. You're paying us money, so we have to get you a result. We need to show (the lender) that we can get results.

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