Many consumers that struggle with bad credit and a low credit score ponder the question on how to repair my credit? Finding out how to repair credit can take a little time but often leads to very positive results. The sooner you get starter with credit repair the faster you will see the results and reap the benefits of higher credit score.
Some consumers that look up information on how to repair my credit find for profit services that assist with the task. The credit repair services business is filled with unscrupulous proprietors so be careful. Everything a credit repair company can do for you, you can also do for yourself at little or no cost.
There are a number of actions a consumer can take to repair their credit and raise their credit score. The key actions to credit repair include the following:
Obtain your credit report and review the contents. The starting point to repair your credit is to get your credit report. In order to repair your credit and credit score it is crucial to understand what needs to be repaired. Your credit score is compiled from information collected by the three major consumer credit agencies and each one calculates scores a little differently based on the credit data they hold.
Each of the major consumer reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion are required to provide consumers with a free copy of their credit report once every 12 months, if the consumer requests a copy of their report.
After reviewing your credit report, list the accounts and data that may be inaccurate. Check to make sure that there are no late payments incorrectly listed on any of your accounts and that the balances owed for each of the accounts is accurate. The focus should be on delinquent accounts, collections accounts and late payment histories. These are items you will want to dispute with the credit reporting agency. Clearly identify each item in your report that you want to dispute, with a reason for to dispute the information.
For all the errors and questionable data you find in your credit report, write a dispute letter to the credit reporting agency. Try to be specific and detailed in your dispute letters but if the information is questionable, being vague works too. Dispute each credit account or other item separately. It is generally not recommended that you list all of your disputes in one letter but rather send separate letters over a period of time for each dispute in your credit report.
The whole key to the credit repair procedure is that if the credit bureaus cannot verify information on your credit report they must remove it. For instance, if a credit reporting agency cannot contact a collection agency which is reporting a collection on your credit report, they cannot verify the information, and the credit reporting agency must delete the entry. The law (the Fair Credit Reporting Act) allows you to ask for an investigation of information in your credit report that you dispute as inaccurate or incomplete.
Now, wait for the credit reporting agencies to investigate your disputes. You will need to be a little patient and give the credit reporting agency time to verify the information. The credit reporting companies are required to do it within a certain period of time, usually 45 days, but you need to allow time for the credit reporting company to receive and send the results.
Keep good records regarding the disputed items and the reasons given as well as the time at which the dispute was initiated. You may need to repeat the process after reading the findings of the credit investigation. The sooner you have a report and the sooner you make your disputes the sooner you will get results.