Easy Steps To Credit Repair
Are you being held back on refinancing a mortgage due to a poor credit score? How about financing a car? Been turned down for a credit card application? Are you asking yourself "how do I fix my credit"?
There are things you can do, and services you can hire. Before you throw up your hands on credit repair, let's investigate some options.
Your credit score is a numerical rating of your use of credit for the last seven to ten years. On your credit report, certain categories of issues can harm your credit score. These include having a high balance owed to total credit limit ratio - if you're near your credit limits, it will harm your credit score. Likewise, the number of new accounts you attempt to open each ding your credit score by a small amount, and even inquiries to get your credit score can reduce it.
Other things can harm your credit score, like having a bankruptcy, or having a lot of bills go to collections. Obviously, seeing your credit report is the key to taking control of your finances and doing credit repair. To fix my credit, you'll need to get a copy of your credit report. Look over it for anything that's fraudulent, or anything that's wrong. Credit reports are compiled by people; people make mistakes. Be sure to spend the time to contest and get things removed that are incorrect.
Then, do the most difficult part of this - wait. If you have existing credit accounts, make an effort to pay them off on time, and pay a little bit extra. Each time you make a payment on time, your credit report improves incrementally. It's important to get ALL your payments on time; this is what makes debt consolidation loans such a good deal when doing credit repair. When there's only one payment to make, it's easier to keep it going on time.
Once you've done that for six months, open a new credit account, and use it responsibly. That means paying each month, on time, and in the full amount. This will also teach you a bit of fiscal discipline, which is the key to using credit (and doing finances) responsibly.
How long did it take to fix my credit? In my case, it took about 12 months of regular payments for my credit score to rise again to the point where asking for a new car loan wasn't a painful shock. I set up a separate bank account and set it to automatically pay my bills electronically, and then made sure that the money for those bills was set aside at the beginning of each month (the account was also interest bearing, which helped a bit). About once every three months, I'd go in and make double payments, which demonstrates intent to pay, and helps run the balances down faster.
One thing I learned about credit repair was that having a credit account that never gets used doesn't help your score; this surprised me. It initially counts as a negative (you're putting an account out), but until you make a regular history of payments, it doesn't help you.
Anyway - if you're up for fixing your credit, credit repair is within your grasp if you can manage your time and finances wisely.
There are things you can do, and services you can hire. Before you throw up your hands on credit repair, let's investigate some options.
Your credit score is a numerical rating of your use of credit for the last seven to ten years. On your credit report, certain categories of issues can harm your credit score. These include having a high balance owed to total credit limit ratio - if you're near your credit limits, it will harm your credit score. Likewise, the number of new accounts you attempt to open each ding your credit score by a small amount, and even inquiries to get your credit score can reduce it.
Other things can harm your credit score, like having a bankruptcy, or having a lot of bills go to collections. Obviously, seeing your credit report is the key to taking control of your finances and doing credit repair. To fix my credit, you'll need to get a copy of your credit report. Look over it for anything that's fraudulent, or anything that's wrong. Credit reports are compiled by people; people make mistakes. Be sure to spend the time to contest and get things removed that are incorrect.
Then, do the most difficult part of this - wait. If you have existing credit accounts, make an effort to pay them off on time, and pay a little bit extra. Each time you make a payment on time, your credit report improves incrementally. It's important to get ALL your payments on time; this is what makes debt consolidation loans such a good deal when doing credit repair. When there's only one payment to make, it's easier to keep it going on time.
Once you've done that for six months, open a new credit account, and use it responsibly. That means paying each month, on time, and in the full amount. This will also teach you a bit of fiscal discipline, which is the key to using credit (and doing finances) responsibly.
How long did it take to fix my credit? In my case, it took about 12 months of regular payments for my credit score to rise again to the point where asking for a new car loan wasn't a painful shock. I set up a separate bank account and set it to automatically pay my bills electronically, and then made sure that the money for those bills was set aside at the beginning of each month (the account was also interest bearing, which helped a bit). About once every three months, I'd go in and make double payments, which demonstrates intent to pay, and helps run the balances down faster.
One thing I learned about credit repair was that having a credit account that never gets used doesn't help your score; this surprised me. It initially counts as a negative (you're putting an account out), but until you make a regular history of payments, it doesn't help you.
Anyway - if you're up for fixing your credit, credit repair is within your grasp if you can manage your time and finances wisely.
