Whatever your background or record, you can take some simple and quick steps to begin your own credit repair. It costs nothing and you can begin right away - but the results can be tremendous!
You can begin by ordering a copy of your credit reports, going through them, and understanding them. There are three different credit reporting bureaus, and each one may have slightly different information.
The law now provides consumers the right to one free credit report from each of the bureaus, Experian, TransUnion, and Equfax. You are entitled to one from each company every year.
The Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, has set up a website where you can order them: annualcreditreport.com. Be careful of any other website that claims to offer you free reports - this is the "official" site, and any others have strings attached.
You'll start your credit repair efforts as soon as you get your reports. To begin with, you want to read each report line by line.
These reports will either include a "dispute" form, or give you a web address to get them. This is the key where you will begin to fix your credit.
Make a note of every outdated, inaccurate, or incorrect entry - you will be disputing these. Fill out a dispute form and provide corrected information, or why it is inaccurate, such as debts that have already been paid but are still listed.
Each credit reporting agency has up to 30 days to either verify the information, or they must remove it by law. Even if the information is accurate, if they don't verify it in time, it gets removed.
This simple step can remove many of the negative strikes against you, and they will no longer count towards lowering your credit score. In many cases, this can lift your score by up to hundreds of points!
You can begin by ordering a copy of your credit reports, going through them, and understanding them. There are three different credit reporting bureaus, and each one may have slightly different information.
The law now provides consumers the right to one free credit report from each of the bureaus, Experian, TransUnion, and Equfax. You are entitled to one from each company every year.
The Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, has set up a website where you can order them: annualcreditreport.com. Be careful of any other website that claims to offer you free reports - this is the "official" site, and any others have strings attached.
You'll start your credit repair efforts as soon as you get your reports. To begin with, you want to read each report line by line.
These reports will either include a "dispute" form, or give you a web address to get them. This is the key where you will begin to fix your credit.
Make a note of every outdated, inaccurate, or incorrect entry - you will be disputing these. Fill out a dispute form and provide corrected information, or why it is inaccurate, such as debts that have already been paid but are still listed.
Each credit reporting agency has up to 30 days to either verify the information, or they must remove it by law. Even if the information is accurate, if they don't verify it in time, it gets removed.
This simple step can remove many of the negative strikes against you, and they will no longer count towards lowering your credit score. In many cases, this can lift your score by up to hundreds of points!
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