Credit Repair

My credit stunk, but I did not want to shell out hundreds of dollars to a credit repair service.

I’ve heard both sides of the argument, the advertisements for credit repair services sometimes seem to guarantee results, then again, I have been informed that if there is legitimate bad information on your credit report, they cannot make it magically go away.

I’ve worked on my credit before and I was determined to do it again, and not pay a service to do this for me.  Here is an outline of the steps I went through to fix my credit.

1. Go get denied for some credit. – Go apply for a credit card or a loan.  In a few weeks you will get a denial letter in the mail.  This letter is your key to getting your credit fixed for the price of a stamp or less.  Often these letters will include a trimmed down copy of your credit report and /or credit scores.  Alternatively you can request your yearly free credit report.
2. Use the denied credit application and credit report to dispute negative items on your credit report.  If you have internet Access you can dispute items online.  If your denied application and resulting free report will not allow you into a credit reporting agencies website.  Simply write a letter to the credit reporting agency requesting a copy of the report and include of copy of your denial letter.  Once you get your paper copy, identify the items you are disputing and give reasons for your dispute.  Send the marked up copy and any supporting information back to the credit reporting agency.
3. You may have to repeat the process a few times, but diligence can pay off and you should be able to get most incorrect information off of your credit report.
4. Pay off any bad debts you may have.  Legitimate bad debts look bad on your credit report.  You probably won’t be successful in getting those off of your report until the debts are paid off or seven years pass.  I doubt that any of the professional credit repair services could do any better.

The three major credit reporting agencies are Experian, Transunion and Equifax.  you can find websites and  contact information for these companies on the internet.  Each company will also provide you with specific instructions on how to go about cleaning up your credit.

It is very likely that your credit report has incorrect information on it if you have not monitored it in the past.  I have not found the Credit Reporting Agencies to be very diligent in ensuring their information is accurate or even that they have the correct person when they update a credit report.  In my case one reporting agency showed I had bought a home and cars over 15 years ago.  I have never had a car loan, and this blog is about my first home buying experience.  One of my credit reports reported information about my parents amd even stated there were name and social security number mis-matches.

 Once I cleaned up my credit report, my Realtor and Lender were quite surprised at how much my credit scores improved.  I told them what I had done and asked if a repair services would had done anything different?  They mentioned that a Professional service would have just done the same things I did to fix my credit.