Credit Repair
Tips to fix your credit
Credit repair tips
Credit Repair Tip 1 - Understanding how Credit Works
Credit repair and fixing your credit can be very difficult and confusing. Thankfully there are some internet tools that make this daunting task a lot easier understand how credit repair works.
The first thing to understand is that there are 3 credit bureaus that measure your credit worthiness on an almost daily basis as you make you payments or request additional credit.
1. Equifax - Credit Repair and credit dispute website
2. Transunion - Credit Repair and credit dispute website
3. Experian - Credit Repair and credit dispute website
The reason there are 3 is to prevent one large company from possessing a monopoly in the credit industry. Each credit bureau focuses on different aspects of credit. For example, one bureau may be more geared toward credit cards and department store cards where another bureau may be more geared toward home loans and/or auto loans.
The companies you do business with report your payment history to these credit bureaus in order to supply your credit worthiness to other companies you may want to do business with in the future. For example, cell phone service, auto insurance, satellite TV services, home loans and auto loans are just a few examples of how your credit worthiness is measured by companies. The information found in your credit file with each of the credit bureaus could and will affect the rates you get on future purchases and business dealings.
Credit Repair Tip 2- How to keep your credit file clean
The best way to keep a good credit score is to always pay your bills on time. This is paramount. Late payments are reported as negative payment history to the credit bureaus. This will cause companies that require a credit check to look at you as risky to do business with and you will get higher rates.
If you do have a series of unfortunate events that affect your credit digging yourself out of this hole is very difficult. But, it can be done and will take several months if not years.
If you continue to have a series of unfortunate event you might want to re-evaluate the business you are doing and make sure you are living within your own means. If your outgoing payments are almost the same as the income you have coming in and there is not enough money left over for food, gas and other costs of living you might want to stop doing business with some companies that are not considered necessaries of life. This will ensure you can make your payments on time and have enough money left over for costs of living month after month. This is paramount for having a steady payment history.
Credit Repair Tip 3- How to remove negative information from your credit
Each credit bureau has their own website. These websites allow consumers to create login profiles that manager your credit file with that particular credit bureau. You will want to create a profile for all three credit bureaus.
Once you have your profile created you can view your credit file for free once per year. This will show you the 3 digit credit score you have for that particular credit bureau. You can also subscribe to other services that provide more constant access to your credit file every month or almost daily if you sign up for these kinds of services.
Removing negative information from your credit file is one of the best ways to achieve credit repair.
Each website also has a section set aside for disputing information found on your credit file used for credit repair. When you make the decision to clean your credit file you will want to dispute everything negative on your file. If the company that reported the negative payment history does not respond to the request the credit bureau will remove negative activity in compliance to the Far Lending Act. The more negative items you can get removed from the credit bureaus the better you will look to companies you plan to do business with in the future. However, you will still need to make a valid effort for paying your current bills to prevent more negative items from showing up on your credit. You must make a life decision to be more vigilant with your personal finances to continue to get positive results on the payment history on your credit file. You can do it!
Credit Repair Tip 4- Other companies and services
Another way to clean your credit file is to sign up for companies that can manage your credit for you. Some companies can dispute negative credit history items for you while other companies can give you live credit scores on demand from all 3 credit bureaus on one screen all for credit repair.
Some companies also provide credit monitoring, credit locks, credit repair and identity protection.
Google these companies and get to work your own credit repair strategy.
Credit Repair Tip 5- Is all this work worth it?
Yes, the better your credit looks to companies you do business with means you will improve your chances of getting a loan in the first place and getting a lower rate. Just remember to live within your means. Don’t sign up with too many companies so you can continue to pay your bills on time.
(Credit repair tips are intended to be informational and opinionated)