Credit repair is not as challenging as many websites want you to think it is.
In a nut shell, here is what you do: 1.
Get a copy of your credit report.
2.
Decide what you want to dispute.
3.
Write credit dispute letters (a.
k.
a.
, credit repair letters).
4.
Make an ID page containing photocopies of a utility bill, your social security card, and your drivers license, making sure all items have correct addresses and are perfectly legible.
5.
Mail the credit dispute letters to the credit reporting agencies, making sure to enclose an ID page with each letter.
6.
Watch your mail for responses from the credit bureaus.
7.
Follow up with responses that require your follow up.
8.
When the process is complete, review your credit report again to determine the improvement.
What is described above is 'basic' self credit repair.
Often, this is sufficient to achieve your goal.
If it is not, there are further steps you can take.
This article will not address those steps because we have found that basic Credit Repair is often very successful.
Also, before you undertake those steps, you have to complete following basic steps first.
1) Get a copy of your credit report - This is really very simple and can be accomplished online for free at http://www.
annualcreditreport.
com.
Or, if you were recently turned down for a loan, your loan officer will probably give you a copy of your credit report if you ask them.
2) Decide what to dispute - This is a little more difficult; however, it is really a matter of reading your credit report and figuring out what is not correct and what is not yours or what you do not recognize at all.
Here are some scenarios to look for: If you look at an account and have no recollection of it, you should dispute it.
If you see a collection that you paid off and it still shows that you owe a balance, you should dispute it.
If you see an account that you paid off, but the account still has a negative rating, you should dispute it.
(How do you know if it has a negative rating? Any account that has a zero balance and does not have a rating of '1' is hurting your credit profile.
Since the account has a zero balance, it should have a 'current' rating which is a rating of '1'.
) Often, when you dispute accounts that have no balance due but have a negative rating, the creditor will not bother to respond to these disputes and therefore the account will be deleted from your credit report.
This is something that credit repair companies claim as a 'big deal' when really it is no more difficult than sending a dispute letter.
I've helped hundreds of people learn how to do it on their own, so I know it is both simple and FREE.