Credit Repair DIY
A low credit score and negative items on your credit report may prevent you from getting a loan or finding employment. It is therefore worth the effort to check your credit rating and make sure that you present the best possible credit history. Credit repair is something that takes place over a couple of months and there are various steps involved if you want to increase your credit score.
The first step is to get to know exactly what the state of your current credit rating is. Since there are three different credit bureaus your credit rating might differ at the three bureaus. Not all creditors report to all three bureaus. You therefore need to get your credit report from all three credit bureaus.
If you have been denied credit or employment due to your credit record you are entitled to a free report. You can request a credit report from the bureau that the creditor used to deny to credit. You are also entitled to one free credit report from all the bureaus per year, as per government legislation.
It is your responsibility to check your report for inaccuracies. People make mistakes and this works to your advantage. Be on the lookout for factual errors such as date errors, inaccurate histories of your accounts or typing errors. After going through the report, make a list of all the errors you would like to dispute. Please do not dispute errors that are ‘frivolous' since these might just be rejected by the bureau and they might then ignore subsequent disputes from you.
You can either submit your disputes in the argument form supplied with your credit report or write a letter. Do not forget to include copies of supporting documents with your dispute. Do not send the original documents in with your dispute! Also keep records of the dates that you have sent in the disputes, as well as copies of all your dispute letters.
Any item that is proven to be inaccurate will be removed and will result in raising your credit score.
Apart from that, you also need to prove that you are able to repay loans in future and build up a good record on your credit reports. Ensure that you promptly any loans that you have. You might also have to take out some additional credit through the form of secured credit cards. You might find that some of your positive repayment history is not added to your credit history at the credit bureaus. You need to ask the grantors to report your credit history with them to the credit bureaus.
Slowly you will build up a positive credit history and start getting a good credit score that will make it easy to get a new loan with a reduced interested rate.