By John Campbell
The old adage “if you want something done right you have to do it yourself” applies very well to credit repair. You’re the best person to ensure that the problem areas on your credit report are dealt with appropriately.
You may be asking yourself, “Where do I begin?” For starters you’ll need to have copies of each of your credit reports from the three national credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion LLC. For more information on how to get your credit report read the article “Getting Your Credit Report is the Key to Credit Repair” on Cashbuzz.com.
Once you have your credit reports in hand, scour them for any inaccuracies or negative financial information. This must be done for each individual credit report, as each of the credit bureaus may have been provided with different information on your accounts.
Highlight anything that may be negatively impacting your credit score. Any late or missed payments, loans in default or accounts close to or over their credit limits should be highlighted. If you also see any accounts listed on your credit report that you don’t remember opening, make sure to highlight those accounts.
The next step in repairing your credit is to pick up a phone and call the creditors who are reporting negative information on your credit report. You may be pleasantly surprised at how many creditors may be willing to help you after you’ve explained your situation.
If there is any negative information on any of your credit accounts that you don’t think is correct you’ll want to file a dispute with the creditors in question. You may need supporting documentation to support your claim. For example, your credit card company claims they received your monthly payment check late in June of 2004, but you have a copy of the check that was stamped as cashed by the company before the due date that month.
Even if you don’t have any supporting documentation but know the item in dispute is incorrect, you should still file a dispute. Through legislation enacted in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), your creditors have 30 days to investigate any claim you make to determine whether the information is indeed incorrect.
If you know some past negative information posted by a creditor is correct, but your account is currently in good standing, you may be able to negotiate with the creditor to take the negative information off your report. By law, if you have any negative information on your credit report that is at least 7 years old you can get this information removed.
If there are any accounts on your credit report that you don’t remember opening you should try to get them removed from your report. Any accounts tied to your credit report that shouldn’t be there may bring down your credit score and indicate potential fraud.
A lot of identity theft scams involve crooks who open credit card accounts in other people’s names, build up a positive payment history and then max out the stolen credit line once it increases. Many consumers find out about this fraud after their credit has already been damaged or destroyed.
Not only can too many credit accounts negatively impact your credit score, but having too few accounts can be harmful as well. If you don’t have many established credit accounts your credit score may be much lower than you would expect. If you have any department store or gas card accounts that are in good standing you may be able to get these accounts added to your credit report, which may increase your credit score.
Your credit could also be negatively impacted by credit accounts that are close to their credit limit, over the limit or in default. If any of your accounts are close to or over their individual credit limits, you’ll be paying a lot of money in interest charges and other fees. If you can convince your creditor that you can no longer afford to make such high interest payments on the account, your creditor may be willing to lower your interest rate. If you have any accounts in default you need to contact the creditor and establish a new payment plan.
The one thing you must remember if you plan to repair your credit is to be patient! It may take a lot of time and effort on your part to get your credit score to where you want it to be.
The steps you take now to repair your credit will pay off in your financial future.
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John Campbell is the writer and editor of CashBuzz, A financial portal for the rest of us. Check out cashbuzz.com for the latest articles on money management and tips and tricks that can help improve your finances. This article may be reprinted on your Web site if the copyright, author information and active link are included.
