Do It Yourself Credit Repair

Having a good credit rating is one of the essential tools to leading a successful economic life. Although most people don’t give their credit reports much thought, good credit allows for many things that are usually taken for granted: credit cards, car rentals, hassle free loans and apartment rentals etc. . .

Every time you miss a payment to a creditor, the creditor will report this to a credit bureau, and it will be added to your credit report. If you do this too often, or let loans go into default, you will find yourself needing to engage in credit repair, as you will be consistently turned down for credit cards and most other types of loans.

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If you turn to the internet or classified ads when beginning your research into credit repair, you’ll likely notice many, many offers from companies offering credit repair services. Most of them market themselves aggressively, and claim that they can fix your credit report quickly for a fee. You should be very wary in dealing with these companies – not only are many of them scams, in most cases you can repair your own credit more effectively.

It’s important to understand that there is nothing a credit repair company can do that you can’t do yourself. In other words: even though they may imply so, a credit repair company is not in cahoots with the credit bureau, and cannot get poor marks on your credit rating “erased.” What’s most likely to happen is that the credit repair company will encourage you to obtain your credit report from the credit bureau, and to challenge negative items on the report.

In some cases, credit repair companies will even go so far as to engage in activities of questionable legality. Namely, they will encourage you to start a “new” credit rating through a change of address and banking information. This practice is not legal, nor is it usually effective. A far better approach to credit repair is to do it yourself. If you search online you’ll find many sites offering step by step advice – your best bet is to look at advice from a government source or other trusted organization.

The best approach is to first obtain your credit report from the bureau. Once you have the report examine it closely, and challenge, in writing, any errors on the report. Only challenge items if there are genuine errors – if your report is error free, you will have to engage in the traditional methods of credit repair. The best way to start is to obtain a secured credit card and use it regularly. In this manner you will be to slowly repair you’re credit rating.

By being patient and making smart budgeting decisions, you will be able to pay your creditors on time. In doing so you will eventually prove to them that you are suitable for credit. Although credit repair in this way is a slow process, it is the only truly effective one. This do-it-yourself approach will be far more successful in the long run than employing a credit repair company.

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This post was written by MoMoney on February 16, 2009

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Dealing With The Credit Bureau

Having good credit is an essential tool in today’s economy – it allows you to have a credit card, to obtain car and house loans, and many other conveniences. While you can live without good credit, a bad credit rating will certainly affect you negatively throughout your life.

The key to your credit rating lies with a credit bureau.

There are a handful of credit bureaus in North America that handle all reports – positive and negative – from creditors to create a credit report specific to you. If you have a poor credit history, you must take steps to engage in credit repair, and one of the first and most essential tools is to learn how to effectively deal with your credit bureau.

Credit repair begins with determining which credit bureau holds your file. To do this simply look at any rejection letter from a credit application – the letter, in refusing you credit, will indicate which bureau proved the rating. The next step is to obtain your credit history.

Keep in mind that legally it is always free to obtain your credit history if you have recently been denied credit, although many organizations will imply that it is not. The only time you should pay money for a credit report is if you want to receive it instantly, in which case credit bureaus will provide an instant online report for a fee.

When dealing with a credit bureau, understand that they are in the business of collection and selling information. For this reason, it is in your interest to never provide them with any information that is not legally necessary. Legally, you only need to provide a credit bureau with your name, social security number and legal address in order to obtain your credit report.

The bureaus may request a copy of your social security card, and – if the address they have on file is different from your current one – a copy of something proving your address. Although they may ask for a driver’s license to prove your address, send them a copy of a bill showing your address. The reason you want to be cautious when dealing with credit bureaus is that they own many collection agencies, and if you have a credit problem you want to give them as little information as possible with which to harass you with.

Once you have received the report, examine it closely for any errors. If anything is in question, send a written request for an investigation to the credit bureau. Legally, the onus is on the credit bureau to document anything on your credit report – if they cannot document it within 30 days, it must be removed.

This is the basic strategy of many credit repair companies that charge exorbitant fees: challenge everything negative. In many cases if the negative item is more than a few years old it will be difficult to verify and the item will be removed.

By learning to properly deal with a credit bureau you can engage in effective credit repair that other companies change high fees for. By educating yourself as to the legal obligations of the credit bureau, you can, in many cases, repair your own credit quickly and effectively.

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This post was written by MoMoney on February 14, 2009

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