The First Steps of Credit Repair
Thursday, April 1st, 2010 at
8:46 am
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Filed under: Credit Repair Advice
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whats the first steps to repair my credit i need to see results within six months?
I work for a finance company and view credit reports all day, so here’s my opinion.
If you have CCJ’s or defaults, there will be nothing you can do to ‘repair’ your credit in 6 months. The companies that promise to repair your credit are telling lies. If a negative mark on your credit file is true and correct, it can’t be removed for 6 years.
Now, if you have just a few missed payments here and there and a few arrears, bring them up to date as soon as possible and keep the payments up to date.
But I stress, if you have a CCJ or default in the last year, there won’t be anything you can do to instantly repair your credit. You need to satisfy the CCJ & default firstly though, and then make sure everything else is paid on time to make sure your credit in future is good.
References :
Depending on what you have you should start one item at a time pay that off move to the next. Also if you have close family who has good credit you may check about having them add you as an authorized user on an account, this often helps improve your score dramatically.
References :
SR. Credit Anylist with Citi Financial.
go to creditboards.com it is an online free forum that will explain exactly what steps you need to take. I can summerize for you what you need to do:
1. get you credit report from all three bureaus.
2. Dispute the items that you want removed from you credit, you can do it online at the Credit Bureaus website. (only dispute two or three at a time or they will think it is frivolous and it will not do you any good. (they have 30 days to verify or they have to remove neg items from you credit report.)
3. You can also send a Debt Verification letter to any Collection Agencies on you credit( credit boards will have sample letters you can use for dispute, always send certified mail.)
4. If the Credit Bureaus send back and they say they have verified the debt, send them a letter asking how they verified the debt. This info is also available at CB. (Certified Mail)
5. Make sure you lower the utiliztazion of your credit cards to below 30%, that is if you have credit cards. Also when lowering you limit to below 30% do so over the six month period with equal payments, if possible. This will also raise you score. If you pay them all off in one payment it can lower your score.
6 If you do not have any credit cards go to http://creditcardwarehouseonline.com and apply for a card. They have cards for people with all kinds of credit. They also have a good article about how to raise you credit score. You can also visit http://creditcardwarehouse.ecreditdirectory.com/ for credit cards too.
7. If possible go to your bank and take at a loan for $500 using a bank cd as collateral. Make sure they are going to report this to the credit agencies. (you will have to put 500 in a cd to secure the loan if you have poor credit.
8. Do not apply for anymore loans or credit cards except for the 2 above (and only do that if needed) because multiple inquiries will also lower your score.
Again these are the steps I have used and are just a summary of what you should do. I really advise you to visit Creiditboard (this is not my site, it is however very useful for anyone who is trying to rebuild their credit). Good luck. Rebuliding credit does take time but you could easily raise your score 30 or more points in six months time.
References :
The way to build good credit is still to pay your bills on time and also to keep a low balance on your credit cards. For best results keep the amount you charge on your credit cards under 30% of the credit limit.
That said there are other things you can do to improve your score however it will largely depend on what you credit situation is at the time. The best strategies to employ when improving the credit score for someone with a credit score of 540 will be different from someone who has say a 620 or 660 score.
It is easy and the best part is you can do it all yourself. Check out this link for more details.
http://my-financial-steps.com/index.html
Good Luck
References :
http://my-financial-steps.com/index.html
From the answers I’ve seen, they haven’t really answered the question, so here’s my 2 cents:
This is what makes up your score:
1. Payment history- 35%
2. Total debt owed to available credit ratio-30%
3. Length of time establishing credit-15%
4. Types of credit established-10%
5. Inquiries and New accounts-10%
As you can see, #1 and #2, are the 2 most important factors to your score, since it counts for almost ⅔ of your score. Aside from paying on time, the only thing that has a dynamic impact on your score is how much credit is used compared to how much is available to use. You should keep the balances on all your credit cards at or even below 30% of their limits. For example, if you have 3 credit cards with a combined limit of $3000, the balance should be no more than $900 between the 3 cards, or $300 on each card.
Another thing you should know is that your score’s affected by activity in the past 2 years. It’s important to start making consistent payments. Also, if you have collections, try to negotiate either having them change it to a better rating on your credit, or even better a "pay to delete", which is a payment in exchange for removing it from the report. Just simply paying collections doesn’t help you, because the collection account even after it’s paid still has done damage to your score. You have to get it deleted to make a real difference. Here’s some links that explain it in detail:
http://www.creditinfocenter.com/debt/settle_debts.shtml
http://www.creditinfocenter.com/debt/neg_rating_after_settle.shtml
http://www.creditinfocenter.com/debt/CanCreditorSue4SettlementDifferences.shtml
http://www.creditinfocenter.com/debt/ActualDebtSuccesses.shtml
http://www.creditinfocenter.com/debt/debt-negotiation.php
References :
credit analyst/underwriter
Link(s) to debt negotiation:
http://www.creditinfocenter.com/debt/settle_debts.shtml
http://www.creditinfocenter.com/debt/neg_rating_after_settle.shtml
http://www.creditinfocenter.com/debt/CanCreditorSue4SettlementDifferences.shtml
http://www.creditinfocenter.com/debt/ActualDebtSuccesses.shtml
http://www.creditinfocenter.com/debt/debt-negotiation.php