There are certain things that are very helpful to know before
you embark on your journey of credit repair. This article will
cover these points. Credit repair is your right. You may feel
somewhat guilty for making a mess of your credit, but there's no
reason to spend time punishing yourself. When you deal with the
credit reporting agencies, you need to be clear headed and
unemotional. Make a record of all of your dealings with them,
because you may well end up in dispute with their version of
facts.
The main right you have as a consumer is to have accurate
information reported on your credit report. The reason behind
the Fair Credit Reporting Act is to make sure that people have a
mechanism to dispute potentially negative credit data. Recent
studies have shown that a large percentage of all information
reported by credit reporting agencies is inaccurate or outdated.
It behooves you to make sure the information is up to date, and
positive. Removing negative tradelines will greatly increase
your credit score, which will result in lower interest rates
across the broadest spectrum of loan products.
One key area to make sure to dispute is any wrong address data.
If it's an old address that you don't live at anymore, and in
particular it's associated with a bad account, you'll want to
make sure to dispute it with all 3 major credit reporting
agencies. There is no way for them to prove you live at an
address that you say you don't live at, so simply dispute the
line item as "never lived at this address" and you should have a
very high degree of success in removals.
Once you've successfully disputed your old addresses you're in a
better position to argue your other derogatory items. You'll
want to keep very accurate records as you do this, because the
CRAs only have 30 days to respond, and you'll want to hold them
to their obligation. The best way to ensure their compliance is
to use a return-receipt requested mail so that you have a
signature and a date and time stamp of when the letter was
received. This clearly shows the CRA that you "mean business"
and it also helps protect your 30 day dispute period. Even if
the CRA has an infraction, it will be up to you to document it
and to follow up and get the negative info removed. Truth be
told, dealing with the CRAs is usually not easy, but sheer
dilligence should ensure your success in the long run.
The process of credit repair can take six months or longer for
results to be evident. But it's something that can be done for
very little money, and with very little effort. You need to
maintain a positive attitude, keep excellent records, and follow
up. Studying the Fair Credit Reporting Act will be the best
method you can find for learning what your rights are, and you
can easily join the Credit Repair Forum to ask specific
questions from people who have been in the same situation as
you, and have successfully clawed their way back to the top.
Good luck with all of your efforts.
About the author:
You can learn more about Credit
Reports at the Credit Repair
Forum.
|
|
 |
Avoid Payday Loans to Repair your Credit
If you are trying to make ends meet and are having past due
bills pile up, the last resort you would want is to take out a
payday loan to pay your dues. There are many sources available
today that offer payday advances. To get a quick payday...
Credit Repair Companies and Credit Counseling
Let's be crystal clear, right up front. Paying someone to "fix" your credit is a waste of your time and money, since the negative issues that are temporarily removed from your file will only reappear again in a couple of months. Be careful...
The Importance of Repairing Your Credit Report…….Yourself!
It seems to be common knowledge today that we are living in a society overwhelmed with debt. Credit card balances are hitting all time highs and in return, people are running into more and more problems with their credit ratings. These...
Repair My Credit - I Don't Know Where To Start
Can you repair my credit? Although there are many Internet sites
that claim to be able to do credit repair for you, they cannot.
When you ask "How can I repair my credit", there are many places
you can get advice about credit repair, but you are...
Credit Repair Services vs. 'Do-It-Yourself' Credit Repair
Millions of Americans suffer because of bad credit these days, and almost all of these people turn to the Internet for help. In the past 5 years hundreds of ‘internet-based’ credit repair services have sprung up , preying on consumers in need of...
|
