If you want to know how to fix credit, you will want to read this article. Specifically, we will be discussing why you should repair your own credit and review the credit restoration process. After reading this article, you should know how to repair your credit on your own.
Many people wonder “Can I fix my credit myself?” While the process may seem overwhelming if you are uneducated about the credit repair process, the reality is that no credit repair company can repair your own credit better than you can! It just takes education, organization, patience and persistence. In order to stay in control of your financial future, understanding the credit repair process is critical.
While no one can legally remove accurate information from your credit bureau, (and you should run from any credit repair company that guarantees they can do this) the law does give you the right to dispute any information that you are uncertain is accurate. Through this process, you may be lucky enough to remove some negative information that is accurate.
So, where do you start? The first thing you should do is get a copy of your credit report. You are entitled to a free credit report one year at http://www.annualcreditreport.com. Unfortunately, your fee annual credit bureau does not give you a credit score.
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Once you have a copy of your credit report, the next step to do your own credit repair is to review your report very carefully. It can be a good idea to make a copy of your report so that you have one copy that you can highlight and write on. Line by line, make note of anything that you find questionable.
You will want to select two or three things to start with and compose a letter to each of the three credit bureaus. Simply give your personal information and state what you dispute and why. Alternatively, each of the credit bureaus has it’s own dispute forms you can print out an use. It can be a good idea to use these on your first round of disputes. Here is Equifax’s form.
Make sure you mail your letter via certified mail. People ask me all the time why they can’t just do their own credit repair over the internet. While this is simple and convenient, you need the paper trail created by using the mail if you are going to move on to more advanced strategies. (Especially those we teach inside our Credit Repair College Membership site.)
You will have to wait approximately 30-45 days to get the results from each of the three bureaus. One of three things will happen. If you are lucky, you will be notified that the account has been removed from the credit bureaus. In rare circumstances, you may receive a request for more information. (This doesn’t happen often.) Lastly, you may receive notification that the creditor has verified the account and it will be staying on your credit file.
Now, here is where persistence comes in. Just because the account was not removed from your credit, does not mean that you should give up. You can wait a month or so and repeat the dispute process. If you used the form the first time, now is a good time to move on to a more detailed letter. You should dispute an account twice in most instances before moving on to more advanced strategies.
Hopefully by now, you have a good idea of how to repair your own credit!
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