Credit Repair

Here are some helpful hints on repairing your credit.  It is very easy to do and if corrected can save you thousands of dollars when applying for a mortgage.

*NOTE* You are allowed by law, 1 free credit report per year. To get one you can go to http://www.annualcreditreport.com/ and sign up. When you are asked which of the 3 bureaus you  would like to pull from, select all three, Or you will find your self retyping all of your personal data in 3 times.

Steps to Repair Your Credit

1. Obtain your three credit reports.

2. Review the reports and locate the negative items.

3. Dispute the negative items with the credit bureaus. (You can do this by simply sending them the printed out report with false items that have been marked with a red, green, or blue pen, followed by a letter asking them to remove those items that are incorrect.)  Here is the trick in your letter, make sure you have this line. "Please investigate and verify all highlighted items as they appear to be incorrect."

**NOTE**  Whenever you receive a pre-approved credit card in the mail that company has made an inquiry on your credit, which has a negative affect on your rating. Solution..  Go to www.optoutprescreen.com this is like the do not call list, it blocks companies like credit cards from inquiring on your credit. 

**NOTE** When you close a credit card, the credit bureaus will always figure it was for negative reasons. -  You will want to put a line in your letter that says "Please reflect that all credit cards were closed by card holder"

4. Disputed items are removed or corrected. Items that were not re-verified are removed.

5. Negotiate with creditors and collection companies.

6. After negotiating and making payment, creditors delete the negative accounts or change them to a positive rating.

7. State the item you are disputing, but do not use dispute forms or file numbers provided by the bureau. This will cause fewer delays by the credit bureau asking for clarification.

8. Do not confirm the account if any information about the item is wrong.

9. Do not use letterhead (you don't want to raise any Red Flags).

10. Do not photocopy a fill in the blanks form letter (another Red Flag).

11. Send disputes during busy times of the year. For Example: The first to middle of November can cause a delay in verification because of Thanksgiving. Christmas rush for the creditor and the bureau can catch them before they can thoroughly investigate within a reasonable time.

**NOTE** Send your letter certificated mail with a return receipt request.  They have 30 days upon receipt of receiving your letter to investigate actions requested by you.  If they do not respond within those 30 days they are required to erase it from your report.

* This information might not work for everyone, but I do hope you did find it helpful.

Cheers,