Think you might need to do your credit repair yourself? Learn how to fix your credit score with a free credit report and these three tips for better credit.
If you want to do your credit repair yourself, the first thing you need to do is get your annual free credit reports from the “Big Three” credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and Transunion. Once you have your annual credit reports, use the tips in this article to learn how to fix your own credit score.
Get Your Free Credit Report Online
To get your free credit report online, go to AnnualCreditReport.com every year. If you go to any other site that offers a free credit report or credit score with a free trial membership, you can end up paying fees. The AnnualCreditReport website is regulated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and helps you get a no-strings-attached free credit report annually from each of the three credit reporting bureaus.
Remember: You get a free credit report every year, but if you want a copy of your credit score you’ll have to pay for it. You don’t really need your score when you’re working on repairing your credit, unless you want to keep track of the “before” and “after” of your efforts.
Dispute Errors in Your Credit Report
Once you have your credit reports, compare the information in them to your actual credit information. If the balance for an account is higher on your credit report, check to see how often that creditor reports to the bureaus. When reading your credit report, look for this information:
- Open Accounts: Are there any accounts listed as open accounts that should be closed?
- New Accounts: Are there any accounts listed that you don’t recognize?
- Delinquencies: Do the accounts show a delinquent payment when you haven’t been late?
- Bankruptcy: If it has been longer than ten years since your debts were discharged in bankruptcy, the bankruptcy information should not be on your credit report anymore.
If you find any information that needs to be changed in your credit report, contact the creditor and the reporting bureau to dispute the errors.
Fix Your Credit Score With Responsible Debt-handling
Make on-time payments every month and keep your debt paid down to fix your credit score. Every timely payment makes your debt history report look better. You should also strive for a low ratio of debt to available credit. When you’re doing your credit repair yourself, avoid getting close to your credit limits and pay down your credit balances, and you’ll see a better credit score.
Looking for more credit repair information? Read:
Credit Report Repair Services – Who To Trust To Fix Your Credit – Many credit report repair services are actually credit repair scams. Who can you trust to fix your credit score without scamming you out of cash?
Bad Credit? Debt Consolidation Loans Can Help! – Too many unsecured lines of credit can result in missed payments and bad credit. Debt consolidation loans merge the accounts, providing help with credit card debt.
Free Credit Scores: Reports to Help You Lower Debt – Looking for free credit scores? Reports & credit information help you get lower interest rates in a debt consolidation offer.
Copyright Victoria Nicks. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.
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