How To Fix Your Credit

By Harold C. Rehm


It's an unfortunate fact of life, but bad things happen to good people every day. If you have found yourself in a bad situation with your credit, the good news is there are easy ways to fix your credit report. In this article, we will discuss three easy steps you can take to fix your credit report and get on your way to a brighter financial future right away.

The bureaus won't provide your score for free (you have to pay them for that), but it is still important to see what information they have about your past credit transactions. That way, if something is wrong, you can correct it.After all, if you paid a bill on time -- but it was reported by a collection's agency as not paid -- you're going to want that false information removed.Make sure you have a credit card.There are two types of credit that are reported to the credit bureaus -- revolving and installment credit.Installment credit is bills that you pay a certain amount towards each month -- like your car payments, mortgage payments, student loans, etc.

It is a common misconception that closing old accounts will help to improve a person's credit score. In fact, old accounts are your ally in obtaining a good credit rating. Keep your old accounts active, even if you only keep a small balance on each of them. The age of accounts in your credit report along with the payment history on those accounts are large factors in how credit reporting agencies calculate your credit score.

If these methods are not successful in getting a negative account removed from your credit report, you will want to do a pay for delete. This is where the creditor agrees to remove an account from your credit file in exchange for you paying the account in full.While you are working on credit repair, don't forget that paying down revolving debt is one of the best ways to improve your credit score.You can improve your credit score yourself by disputing the personal information that has been compiled in your credit reports from the Big 3 Credit Bureaus -- Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.Your first order of business is ordering your free credit report online at annualcreditreport.com. There is no charge for this service.

Next, be aware of your financial limitations and do your best to pay your creditors on time. While following the first two steps in this article, it is imperative that you continue to pay your debts in a timely manner to fix your credit report. If you have had trouble paying your bills on time in the past, consider using a dedicated calendar in your home just for paying bills. In addition to using a calendar to track your due dates and payments, you should also consider using any of the free automatic bill pay options that many creditors offer. Having your payments made automatically for you is a great way to ensure that you are paying your bills on time every month.

The third step is to carefully review these free reports and commence taking direct action to dispute inaccurate, outdated, or erroneous credit report information that you find in your credit history.The free credit report website annualcreditreport.com will not provide you with your current FICO score. You will have to shell out $5 to $10 at the time of your order to view your credit score. Yes, the credit report information remains free; the FICO score is still a chargeable item. To check your credit, you can always order your FICO scores online at myfico.com.

You should be aware that both the CRA and the business which provided originally submitted negative information to the credit bureaus are responsible for ensuring the reported information they are adding to your credit report remains accurate and timely. They have a vested interest in getting the story right. This is where you likely will find the errors, and where you will have the best opportunity to challenge black marks and derogatories hurting your credit score.

Another thing to look for are accounts that you have already paid down, but which companies have failed to clear up. If you find errors like these you will need to contact businesses individually to request corrections. This can take time to accomplish, however, it is one of the surest ways to kick a score up quite a bit.

It is probably pretty obvious that you will need to pay down open accounts if you want to enhance your score. Businesses will be reticent to offer you new financing if you have any existing amount of debt that seems overwhelming. Once you have less on your plate, however, you may be able to start qualifying for some of the loans that you really want.

Consumers must also work hard to develop positive lines of credit. If you want to know how to fix your score in a major way, you will find that spending money will actually help to increase an individual's purchasing power. You do not need to make a major purchase in order to do this. In fact, many people establish positive lines of credit by simply signing up for secured credit cards or by letting a business finance an in-store furniture purchase. These accounts are easy to manage and pay down and will help you to show yourself as being worthy of larger amounts of funding.




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