credit report - Basics On Repairing Your Credit

If there is a will there is a way. You're not the only one out there that has had a rough time of something and ended up with bad credit. In this article I intend on giving you the basics on repairing your credit and getting back into the life style you deserve. First thing your going to want to do is order your credit report. You are allowed one free credit report per year from the reporters. Or if you have been denied credit then you are entitled to that report. Once you have received the report make sure you have a look at it and see if there are any errors on it. If you do find some errors then you want to read this article. Once you have found an error on your credit report then you need to contact each bureau. One may have the right info while the others have the wrong info or vice versa. By contacting all of them you will save a whole lot of hassle later when you realized you did it wrong. The next part might take a little while but in order to get this straightened out it is going to take some time. When writing to the bureau you can only report one mistake at a time. If you try and report more than one your claim will be denied as a frivolous claim. Another little tip is that the complaints departments are postal boxes and believe it or not they change their addresses quite regularly to avoid so many complaint letters. You will find that trying to correct mistakes on your bureau is very much in your favor. Once the bureau receives the complaint they have to contact the creditor with in 30 days to check if the info you gave them is right. Now if they don't get a response with in 30 days from the creditor then all the bad info has to be deleted off of your record. There is some help out there but you have to be careful because there is also a large number of scams out there. You can get a credit agency to help you when it seems like you're in over your head. Persistency is the key here. As long as you have worked on your credit and done the proper reporting then it's in your best interest so that you can get on with your life and start enjoying things again. Dale Mazurek Dale has been personally affected by bad credit and worked his way out of it. The best and fastest way to build credit is with a credit card. Dale has a number of cards available for many different issues. Just go to http://stcajo.ecreditdirectory.com/ or on another avenue check out two of his very popular bogs at http://relationshiptidbits.blogspot.com/ or http://affiliatemarketingfornewbies.blogspot.com/ Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dale_Mazurek credit report - The Truth About Your Credit Report If you have ever applied for a mortgage, car loan, business loan or even opened a credit card, you have run a credit report. There are two parts to your credit report: your FICO score and the report that lists every lender you owe or have owed money to. This is what banks and creditors are looking at to evaluate how creditworthy you are, therefore, you want to make sure your FICO score is as high as possible and there are no errors on your credit report. Begin your credit report checkup by running your current credit report and get your credit score. One place to do this is at www.myfico.com. You will get your FICO score and a credit report from each of the 3 credit agencies: Experian (www.experian.com), Equifax (www.equifax.com), and Trans Union (www.transunion.com). If you have run your credit report in the last 12 months and don't have any credit card debt, you don't need to do it again. It is important to get all 3 credit agencies' reports because there are often mistakes. If you have any credit card debt, running a credit report is especially important, because it is the most accurate report of how much debt you actually owe. What does your FICO score mean? It is out of 850, with 850 being the highest and best rating. A lower credit rating means that, according to the lenders, you are not as creditworthy. When you need to borrow money, such as buying a home or getting a small-business loan, the higher your credit score, the lower interest rate you will get. More than 75% of mortgage and auto loans are based on a FICO score. Once you have run a recent credit report, check it for errors - Carefully! Ask the following questions: Is your personal information correct? Are there any debts that aren't yours? Is there duplicate information? If you find an error, call the credit agency and creditor (the company that lent you the money) right away. Copy the report and highlight the error. Send it back to the credit-reporting agency with an explanation. They should contact the creditor and verify the information. Creditors have 30 days to respond to a dispute. You can also dispute it online. If you have made a late payment, ask the lender to remove the item. Explain it will never happen again. They usually remove it the first time. You can also write letters to your creditors to take late notices off your record. You should also try to resolve any outstanding bills. You can raise your FICO score by any of the following: ? Don't use more than 50% of the available credit on any account. ? Stop applying for new credit cards. ? Request limit increases on your existing cards (but don't charge more!). ? Pass up department store and other store charge cards (for example, Banana Republic) so you don't load up on debt you owe. Plus, they are known for very high interest rates. ? Avoid too many inquiries. Another reason to avoid applying for as many credit cards as you can is you want to avoid too many inquiries from credit card companies and lenders. This will lower your FICO score. Just like most of us get a physical checkup every year, checking your credit report is part of your annual financial checkup. Even if you think you don't want to apply for a new credit card or buy a home (or refinance), you might want to in the future and you should get it ready. It can take a while to clean up your credit report. But, it's worth it when you are buying a home and the process goes without a hitch! Written by Galia Gichon DOWN-TO-EARTH FINANCE (Copyright Down-to-Earth Finance LLC 2006)