Those who have had their applications for credit, employment or insurance rejected due to bad credit know all too well the woes of having a negative credit report.
It is therefore important for you to strive for a good credit score by having a negative credit report repaired.
Yet, with the costs that come with professional credit repair, it may be best for you to do your own credit report repairs.
Credit repair is not rocket science, and you can easily clean up your credit report using the tips below.
1.
Order your credit report - The first thing to do is to check your credit report.
You can access your report from any of the three credit bureaus namely Equifax, Experian or TransUnion.
You are entitled to a free credit report once a year from each of these bureaus, and you can order it through AnnualCreditReport.
com.
Also remember that you are entitled to a free copy of your credit report in the event that you are denied credit or employment due to your credit report information.
In this regard, the company to which you applied must provide you with the name, address and telephone details of the credit bureau.
2.
Examine your credit report - It is up to you to ensure that there are no errors in your credit report by carefully going through it checking for errors such as typos, outdated information, as well as incomplete or inaccurate account history.
Should you find anything that needs correcting, you should list it down in order to dispute it, ensuring that you provide reasons for the dispute as well.
On the other hand if the negative reporting is true, you will only be able to repair the damage by changing your future credit habits for the better, by say, consistently paying your bills on time.
3.
Dispute errors - In order to dispute inaccurate information on your credit report, you will need to either complete a dispute form which is provided with your credit report or write a letter to the credit bureau.
Ensure that each error is clearly identified and give reasons why you maintain that the particular information is wrong.
One easy way to do this is to circle the errors on the report, photocopy the document and then send it to the credit bureau, along with any supporting documents you have.
Always remember to retain all copies of letters, completed forms and any other documents that you send to the credit bureau, as well as records of the dates they were sent.
In some instances, you may have to contact your creditors yourself in order to have an error corrected.
4.
Negotiate debt repayment: You will thereafter need to come up with a good money management plan which will help you to control your expenses, reduce your debt and enable you to pay them on time.
If you are finding it hard to repay your debts, you may negotiate with your creditors to keep your accounts current and avoid their being reported as being delinquent or bad credit.
You may request that they reduce your monthly payments or even change the due dates in order to help you balance out your bills each month.
Do the same for fixed-loan payments and use the extra money to pay off your debts, while gradually increasing payments to other debts.
You may also negotiate a pay-off settlement which will reduce your bills on collection accounts, as well as demand that any negative comments be removed from your credit report or be reported as having been fully paid up.
Ensure that you have all such negotiations included in written agreements before issuing payment.
5.
Reduce credit accounts - It would be wise to close out credit accounts that you do not use or need, and only remain with between 2 - 4 credit cards.
However, take care not to damage your credit score in the process, by ensuring that you keep the ratio of your total revolving debt to 50% of your total available credit.
In order to do this: oclose out the accounts gradually over several months oclose out the newer accounts in order to avoid losing your longer credit history oensure that all the accounts you have closed are reported as "closed by consumer" oonly allow yourself modest credit limits should your creditor offer to raise the limit omaintain low balances and steer clear of revolving balances 6.
Stabilize your credit report: In order to add positive information to your credit report, you may request creditors to report your account information, as well as monthly payment history to a credit bureau which will help demonstrate stability in your credit file.
Taking out secured credit cards will also help you build a solid credit history.
However, do no make too many applications because the more the "inquiries" listed in your report, the lower your credit score becomes.
Also remember to open a savings bank account to demonstrate to your creditors that you are working on saving money to repay your debts.