How to Do Credit Repair Yourself!

Credit Repair does not have to be so difficult. Follow these simple steps on how to do it yourself for free and save hundreds of dollars.

Over the years, I found I was always involved in coaching people so they can improve their situations and get that first home loan. Sometimes I helped them find credit repair services. Since my primary business was to do mortgages (not any more) my goal has always been to help a person get ready to buy their first house. The subject of how to repair bad credit always came up.

DO YOUR OWN CREDIT REPAIR METHOD

Ok, so you want to explore doing this yourself. That's great, at least you have decided to make the move to improving your situation. If you do nothing you're going to find it very difficult to get through life. Credit is a necessary evil. It can be your friend or your enemy. Why do I say that?

If used properly, good credit can help save you thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars over a lifetime. Personally, I look at a good credit standing like a treasure chest of gold. With it, you can buy homes, cars and get credit cards whenever you want. Without it you're stuck renting, paying extremely high interest if you can get credit for cars, homes or other things.

If for some reason you now need help, you've come to the right place for information on repairing your credit. I really want to help you move forward so that one day you can buy your first home. So here are four steps to get you started.

Step One: Get a Copy of Your Credit Report

Before you can begin anything, you need to get a copy of your credit report. There are three credit bureaus that keep information on you. Once a year you can obtain a copy of your report from each of these. Or if you have been turned down for credit, they are required to give you a copy so you can see why you were turned down.

Be sure you are aware of the credit reporting laws. Many times the way they're reporting may be against the law, so being familiar with the law can help you.

Once you get your credit report move down to step two.

You can also get a free copy from all three by clicking here. They will try to sell you a service to watch your credit profile monthly and send you a report if something changes for a fee. But you don't have to accept that, they will still send you your free credit report. Unfortunately, if you want to check credit score, you'll have to pay a small fee to see that score. The other services they offer can be useful at times, especially if you're preparing to buy that first house and you want to keep a close watch on your credit.

Step Two: Review Your Credit Reports

Now take a look at your credit report information. Make sure your information is accurate and report any errors. What do I mean by that? You're looking at your personal information. I had one client who had two social security numbers associated with her information. So we had to find out why and how that was affecting her credit scores. The credit reporting agencies don't always report your personal information accurately so be sure your personal information is correct on all three reports.

For example, if you have a loan paid off, do they show it paid off or do they show you still owe it. Keep in mind that one or two agencies might show it paid off, but if one does not, it can affect the score from that agency. If you find something not reported correctly, then you need to report any of these credit report errors. There you go, you're on your way with doing credit repair yourself.

Here are some credit repair tips that you can specifically follow. See which ones fit your particular situation and follow them.

Additionally, take action on fixing any credit report errors. If the reporting agency cannot verify a disputed item on your credit report, they must delete it. This can be to your advantage. Many times the creditor won't reply to the reporting agency's request for verification, so then the item is deleted from your report. So don't hesitate to dispute an item, especially if it's old. It's not worth the creditor's time to find the verification.

Step Three: Dispute Any Errors

If you find errors now you need to take action on them. Sometimes you have to decide if you need to dispute or do an investigation on the errors. If you need to do a credit report dispute, then you will need to formulate some credit repair letters and send it to the credit reporting agency that is reporting the information inaccurately.

Step Four: What if Everything Looks Right on My Credit Report?

If everything looks right on your credit report, then you may have too many open trade lines and that is causing your credit problems. You need to get some of those bills paid off or under control. If this is a problem for you, perhaps a debt counseling service would be the best choice for you. Keep in mind, you may have to wait to buy that first home while you improve your debt situation. Your primary goal is to lower your debts so your credit score will go up.

FINDING PROFESSIONAL CREDIT REPAIR COMPANIES

Once again, this page is to help you find ways to get your credit in shape. There are tons of scam websites out there offering information and so forth on this subject. Please be very careful. If you got hooked up with the wrong outfit, you may find yourself fighting with identity theft. There are many people that want to just fool you and then take your personal information and use it to rip off financial institutions, credit card companies and more. You end up with years of trouble and headaches just trying to get your credit cleaned up. So be selective when choosing your credit repair specialist.

So, how can you tell if a service is good? I'm glad you ask. The answer is simple. They would have a solid reputation, you would be able to clearly check them out because they have nothing to hide. Furthermore, and most important, they are effective in helping people get their credit repaired. You want them to be a good source of credit repair information with unlimited disputes, unlimited deletions, identity theft protection with real attorneys that are leaders in the industry.

Sometimes you can get bad credit help from the lender you are working with. I gave lots of help to my clients. Make sure you're working with a good lender.

Even if you have had to declare bankruptcy, you can fix your bad credit. There are things you will need to do, but it is a real possibility.

Thank you for taking the time to read over this important information. Please take your credit file seriously. Do not delay getting your affairs in order. If you want to know, "whats my credit score", then be sure to obtain that score from all three credit bureaus. Soon you'll be ready to buy that first home.

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