Friday, 11 January 2013

How to Fix Your Credit in 6 Months or Less

By Patricia E. Beeson


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.


[How To Fix Your Credit]



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.

Once you have the results of your disputes, you will want to move on to the next step for any accounts that were not successfully removed from your credit report. Depending on who is currently servicing the accounts, you will want to go through the 623 method or the debt validation method. In both of these strategies, you are dealing directly with the account holder and requiring them to prove to you specific information regarding your account. If they cannot do this, they are not legally allowed to report to the credit bureaus.

Sometimes there will be negative accounts such as collections, judgments and public records that are listed on your credit report in error. When attempting to fix your credit report, you should look at each individual account and verify that the information reported is accurate. If you locate accounts on your report that are potentially negative and obviously reporting incorrectly, credit reporting agencies use a process called a "dispute" to allow consumers to dispute potentially negative items and inaccuracies on their credit reports. Disputing an item listed on your report with a credit reporting agency is free to do, so if you find inaccurate information in your file don't hesitate to dispute it.

Secondly, it is a good idea to print out each of your free credit reports to have a hard copy you can easily refer to as you start the dispute process of your credit report entries. Having immediate access to these credit reports now will give you all of the facts as to the current status of your credit rating in stark black and white.

By charging to both cards -- and paying off both cards -- it shows credit bureaus that you have two accounts to which you are making on-time payments.You are looking for ways to fix your credit. The number one thing to do is to be sure that your monthly bills are paid in full by the due date. If you need assistance remembering when to remit payments, you can set up some sort of payment reminder. You can find various methods that will assist you in doing so. With the information age upon us, the possibilities are endless. There are many computer programs available to help with reminders, and now since phones have become mini computers, you can set up payment reminders on your phone. Which ever way works best for you.

Making timely bill payments is a sure fire way to boost your credit score, and in addition will cause your credit history to be cleaner and more attractive to lenders. But say you can only make the minimum payments? That is fine for starters, paying anything at all is better than no payment whatsoever. Your credit will be very adversely affected by a single late or missed repayment.A big thing to steer very clear of, or at least be very cautious of, is attorneys that will claim they can fix your credit almost instantaneously. With the sagging economy, more and more people are experiencing credit problems. And naturally there are always people that will take advantage of this situation to line their own pockets. Beware of scams, attorneys that charge huge sums to basically do nothing. Always, always, always check out a service before you commit to their services.

Improving your credit score is as easy as writing the letter to direct errors and outdated entries be deleted from your credit report. No, you won't be able to challenge and have timely, accurate bad credit entries deleted from your credit history. These stay, sometimes remaining on your records for as long as 10 years. But many entries, such as 30 day late payments on credit card accounts and negative information in civil matters, must by federal law be removed after 2 years. These key derogatories will be what you will want to find and challenge.

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.

Fixing your credit really starts simply by maintaining bank accounts such as checking and savings. Good banking habits appear to lenders that you are responsible with your money, and they like that. Keep these accounts clean at all times.Obtain a free yearly copy of your credit report and scrutinize it carefully for mistakes and information that may be taken off. Keep very fastidious records of all the contacts you make. Include things such as emails, snail mail, and any summaries of telephone calls.Your credit score and history can be very frustrating. Sometimes it seems you are doing everything right, but nothing is happening. But rest assured, every positive thing you can do to improve your score will eventually be reflected in your credit history. This is how to fix your credit, and it takes time and patience.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment