Sunday, January 25, 2009

Credit Repair - What You Can Do

By Ricardo Mendiola

If you have bad credit it is important to get it repaired. There are many things you can do to repair your credit. You can repair your credit by going to a credit repair agency or you can do it yourself. Either way, you are making a good decision toward a better financial situation for you and your family.

Credit is everything in the world today. Bad credit looks like you don't pay your bills on time. It makes you look like you are not responsible and you don't take care of your debts also. You have to have good credit if you want to buy a home, a car, and obtain credit cards. Some employers will not hire you if you do not have good credit also. Credit affects people in many ways and it is important to repair your credit if it is in bad shape. Credit is never irreparable.

If you want to repair your credit on your own you can. It is very easy to do, especially if you do not owe a lot of money. You will need to obtain your three credit reports. Be sure all of your contact information on the reports is current. Verify if there are no debts listed on your reports that you do not owe on. If there are any debts listed that you do not owe then you will need to dispute them. All of your debts will be listed on your credit report along with the contact information too. One at a time you can call your debtors and begin to pay off the balances you owe.

If you have a lot of debt that you owe you can still repair your credit yourself. You should pay off the smaller debts first that you can afford to pay in full, all at once. Some of the collection agencies will take a percentage of what you owe. Find out if anyone will accept a partial payoff for the balances. The larger debts you will need to work out a payment plan with these debtors. This is important. Remember that once you make a deal with these collectors you need to stick to paying off the debt as you promise.

The next step to credit repair is paying on the debts that you do owe. The smaller the debt is the worse it looks. For instance, if you have a $10 item on your report this looks really bad. Pay all of the smaller debts off immediately. As you call creditors keep in mind that you can ask them what they will accept for a partial payoff balance. Most creditors will accept a partial payoff for balances. The larger debts you may need to do this. As you pay on your debts, it takes up to 30 days for them to reflect on your credit report as paid. Once they reflect paid, your credit scores will begin to rise.

Repairing your credit is the best thing you can do if you are hoping for financial freedom or if your bad credit is negatively affecting you. By taking a few simple steps you can repair your credit.

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