With all the credit repair companies getting in trouble with the FTC, you might wonder why? The main reason is most credit repair companies sell a service they cannot deliver. The reason is you cannot delete an item on your credit report that is a valid debt you owe. Credit repair companies claim they can delete bankruptcies, foreclosures, late payments and charges off by flooding the bureaus with dispute letters. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act the credit bureaus have 30 days once they have received a dispute to respond. If they don’t respond within the 30 day window it is suppose to be removed from your credit report. Let’s face it; the creditor that you owe will still report to the credit bureaus that you owe them money. So the collection will eventually show back up if this loop hole takes place. I would not be surprised if this loop hole eventually gets changed, because it causes unnecessary work for the credit bureaus, especially if it’s a frivolous dispute Now that I have got that out of the way, here is the steps to repair your own credit report without paying someone for a task you can do for FREE yourself.
1. Get free copy of your credit report.
There are several options here, you can go to www.annualcreditreport.com and get your free credit report with no credit scores. Also you get this credit report only once year for free with no credit scores. I always suggest getting your credit report with your score for each credit bureau. The reason is you need to be educated about where your credit scores currently stand. To get your credit scores you can go to a number of credit report sites that offer your credit scores on a free trial. Make sure you get all 3 credit scores with your credit report.
2. Review your credit report for collections and inaccurate information.
It is very common to have many mistakes on your credit report that will affect you overall credit score. So review your credit report and notate any incorrect information being reported. Typically most collections will report for 7 years from the collection date. Also review the actual collections that you owe. Write down the amount you owe along with getting the creditors name and number. The name and number will be on the credit report so you can start calling these creditors to make arrangements to settle on the debts you owe. If you thought disputing stuff you owe was a good practice you are wrong. You are wasting your time disputing stuff you actually owe.
3. Negotiate your collection balances
Everyone is selling the easy way to do things when there really is no easy way to repair your credit report. Once the damage is done you have to get a little dirty to fix your credit issues. The first step is to find all the collections you can take care of with in your budget. Determine how much money you have to either arrange payment arrangements or to settle on an account. I recommend settling on the accounts you owe for pennies on the dollar., For instance if you owe $300 dollars offer them $150, you will be surprised what these collection companies will settle for. While you are calling these creditors be sure to ask for a letter to delete the collection from each credit bureau. This applies to whether you paid your account in full or settled. Typically the creditors will not give you a letter to delete, but it does not hurt to pressure them for this letter. Normally they will mail you a letter either saying you settled on the account or you paid it in full. Regardless of what takes place make sure you get some sort of letter for your records. Once these updates start taking place with the credit bureaus your credit scores will increase. The reason for this is the balance owed now is $0. This has the tendency to increase your scores. Most will argue that this process does not help and they are dead wrong. Your credit scores will increase as your creditors report these accounts with zero balances owed
4. Dispute inaccurate information
It is very common to have inaccurate information reporting to your credit report. This can affect your credit scores and your financial life. Comb your credit report for information that is incorrect. Once you have determined what you are absolutely sure is wrong dispute it with the credit bureaus. Example, if the collection is reporting to one credit bureau and is over seven years old, then disputes that collection with that credit bureau. There are two ways to dispute an item on your credit report.
a. Dispute on line here
b. Dispute with a dispute letter select this link.
After you have disputed all inaccurate information and re-establish credit go to step 6.
5. Re-establish credit
If all your good credit went to collection and you have no good credit reporting to the credit bureaus you have to re-establish good credit. The quickest process is to get a couple of secured credit cards. I would recommend a couple secured cards. Most secured credit card companies usually require around $200 to $300 dollars put into a account of there choice. This process will secure credit in your name. Once you do this the secured credit card will report to all 3 credit bureaus. This process immediately starts the credit score rebuilding process. With good payment history you will start getting new credit card offers in the mail. Remember to make your payments on-time and to pay off the card as quick as possible. You don’t want to keep high credit card balances even though its your money that secured the card. I know this sounds strange but its the quickest way to re-establising good credit history.
6. Re-Pull your credit report
Once you have paid or settled on most of your collections re-pull your credit report. Make sure the creditors have reported to the bureaus what has been done. If they have not call the creditors back and ask them why they have not updated with the credit bureaus. Also make sure each creditor or Collection Company you settle with sends you a letter stating what you have done. Usually after you have paid or settled on your accounts your credit report should be updated to bureaus by the collections company within 60 days maximum.
By paying off your collections and re-establishing your credit, your credit will increase a lot quicker than the desperate person depending on a credit repair company.
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