4 Things to know when you are repairing credit yourself
Tuesday, August 31st, 2010When you actively work to make sure that your credit report is up-to-date and accurate, then what you do is called credit repair . You can repair credit yourself or hire the services of an attorney or a credit counseling company.
However, it must be remembered that hiring a company or attorney would be very expensive as they charge a heavy fee. Thus, if you learn the basics and decide to credit repair help with yourself, you can save a huge amount of money. Remember that there is nothing that a company can do and you can’t, to repair your credit.
These are the few things you should know; after deciding to repair credit yourself.
1. Order for your credit reports: Before you set out to repair your credit, find out what exactly, do you have to repair. To know what you have to repair, you must order for your credit report from all the three credit bureaus. The top three bureaus are-Equifax, TransUnion and Experian.You must get credit reports from all three because some of your creditors may report to only one bureau. As the bureaus don’t share information with each other, you may have different information on all the three reports.
2. Examine your reports thoroughly: After you have received all three credit reports go through them carefully. Look for any incorrect information on your credit reports. In most cases there is at least one error, this is because the bureaus give the information that they receive from creditors, they do not verify. Look for typing errors, inaccurate account histories and also wrong information.
3. Dispute the wrong information: You can dispute the information on your credit card which you feel is incorrect. Write a letter to the bureau and send along with it a copy of your credit report. Mention in your letter every inaccuracy and highlight each mistake in the copy of your credit report.
4. Resolve negative items on your report: Your payment history affects your credit score significantly. Thus, to improve your credit you must take care of your past due accounts. Try to get all past due accounts reported as “paid” or “current”. Do not let your accounts get charged off, and the ones that are charged off try to pay them off.
After resolving the negative items on your credit report try and get some positive information added.