Don’t be fooled by free credit repair claims. No matter what circumstances lead to your imperfect credit, there is no easy, fast or free way to repairing it, the good news is, it can be done. Before you can repair your credit, you will need to get all your facts in order so you know exactly what you are dealing with. The best way to do this is to obtain a copy of your online credit report and scores. As there are three major credit reporting agencies operating as separate companies they do not share their information, so, it is quite possible that you would have three totally different credit reports. Therefore it is very important that you obtain your credit report from each of these companies, Equifax, Trans Union and Experian. You can obtain your credit reports instantly online separately from each of the major credit bureaus or you can obtain a merged 3 in 1 credit report.

Now with your credit reports in hand you can see exactly what the banks see when you apply for credit and will know exactly what needs repairing. There are many companies offering to do free credit repairs, some will charge you hundreds of dollars and promise you the moon and stars and others will be more reasonable both in price and expectations of what can be done. You can choose to use a credit repair company or you can choose to do the repairs yourself. Which ever way you go, it will be a long process, there is no quick fixes, and no company will do your credit repairs for free.

When you start repairing your credit, there are two types of repairs that need to take place. One is repairs of outright errors. These are things that do not belong to you, wrong names, addresses, employment, credit accounts, ratings or inquiries. These are easier repairs to clear up and can be done by sending letters to the credit bureau explaining the wrong information and providing them with the correct information. The credit bureau must investigate and make the necessary changes.

The other things that will need repairing are accounts that are yours and have a bad rating. These include accounts with late payments, overdue accounts, collections, judgments and other derogatory information. If the ratings are correct they will not be removed from your credit bureau report and will stay there for six or seven years depending on the type of information being reported. However, there are things that you can do to help repair the standings. First, if there are any accounts that are showing balances that have been paid off, you will want to get the file updated to show a zero balance and a paid status. You can try to re-open changed off accounts and make payments on them, as an open account will help your credit report score where as a charged off account with lower your score.

Once you have done all you can do with repairing errors and challenging information. The next step is to re-establish your credit. Depending on how bad your credit is you might have to do this via a secured credit card. This is an excellent idea, as long as you manage the credit card properly and make all your payments on time. This will help with increasing your credit score and slowly your bad credit will diminish repairing your credit.

Linda Meadley