If you want to fix credit reports, there are 2 different ways to go. Just like with anything else in life there is the HARD way and the SMART way. Time, dedication, financial effort and careful planning will undoubtedly raise your credit in the long run. On the other, hand educating yourself on the credit loopholes will allow you to raise your score for a significantly shorter period of time.
Here are 3 important factors to consider when trying to fix your credit history:
1 Focus on the important items in your report.
Order a copy of your credit report from annualcreditreport.com. The site was set up by the Free Trade Commission in order to provide you with one free credit report from each of the 3 major credit bureaus(Equifax, Transunion, Experian). Once you have a copy of the report, take a careful look at it. It’s very important to distinguish between negative items you can change and negative items you can’t change. Things like foreclosures and bankruptcies stay on your credit report for 7 years and there is not much you can do about it. Luckily the older these items get, the less influence they have on your overall score. Now focus on the things you can change positively-late payments, maxed out credit cards,collections etc. Find out what are the negative accounts that have the most detrimental effect on your credit (normally this would be late payments and credit debt spinning out of control) and take care of them first.
2 The triple D formula (document, dispute, delete).
These are the three successful pillars of fast credit repair. Dispute any incorrect information that you found on your credit report. Miscommunication between creditors and credit bureaus frequent and this explains why more than 40 % of credit reports contain errors. Disputing inaccurate information is the fastest way to raise your score. The next thing you have to keep in mind is that “deleted” negative accounts are far more beneficial for your credit score than “paid off” accounts. Negotiate with the collection agencies and agree to pay your account only if they remove the negative item from your credit report. If a late car or mortgage payment was just a one time incident, send a goodwill letter to your creditor explaining the circumstances around the late payment and asking them to remove it from your report. Don’t forget to document every step of the way. Sometimes you would reach an agreement with a customer representative for the deletion of a certain negative item just to find out the next time you call that there is no proof of this agreement.
3 Keep those old cards open.
Length of credit history is the third major factor in the credit score formula. Closing old credit accounts you no longer use will harm your credit score by reducing the length of your credit history. It will also reduce the amount of available overall credit and hence the debt to credit ratio. On the other hand, piggybacking someone else’s credit (having a trusted person with longer credit history add you as a user on his cards) will additionally increase the length of your credit history and will thus add points to your credit score. The tricky part? Finding that trusted person.
There are many ways to fix credit reports that do not require excessive financial effort. The more you know about the little secrets of the credit system, the better your chances to raise your score in short period of time.
Author: Irena Bocheva
http://fix-credit-score.info/
