Advertisements

If you have a bad credit score, your life can be negatively impacted in many ways. You may find that you are unable to get financing, loans, and even some jobs. It is in your best interest to begin a bad credit repair process as soon as possible. A bad credit repair program can consist of contacting a credit repair service if you are overwhelmed and cannot handle the process on your own, or you can manage the bad credit repair process yourself. Here is how to handle the problem on your own.

The first step in bad credit repair is to get free copies of your credit reports from each of the three nationwide consumer reporting companies: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Study each credit report carefully and look for inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable information. It has been estimated that as many as 70% of credit reports have some type of inaccurate information included on the report.

The next step in bad credit repair is to mark all the negative, incomplete and unverifiable information. Begin with the negative items and make sure the information is accurate. There is really nothing you can do to erase accurate negative marks but wait out the recording time. If you find inaccurate negative information, write a letter to the consumer reporting company concerning these inaccuracies and support your claims with copies of relevant documents.

It’s important in bad credit repair that all your correspondence be recorded in writing. When you send in your letters to the consumer reporting companies challenging their veracity, include your complete name and address, identify each item in your report that you dispute, state the facts clearly explaining why you dispute the information, and request that it be removed or corrected. It’s best to enclose a copy of your report with the items in question, circled. To document that the consumer reporting company has received your letter, send it by certified mail, “return receipt requested”. Keep all copies of your dispute letters and enclosures.

By law, consumer reporting companies must investigate the items you dispute within 30 days. They must then forward the disputed data you provide them to the organization that provided the information. When the information provider receives the notice of dispute, they must investigate the relevant data and report their results back to the consumer reporting company. If the disputed data is indeed inaccurate, the information provider must notify the three nationwide consumer reporting companies of the errors so the correct information can be entered into your credit report.

Once you have completed challenging the negative marks on your credit report, the next step in bad credit repair is to challenge incomplete and unverifiable information. Use the same process as described above and be unrelenting in your challenges. You will find that with time and persistence that many of the negative, incomplete and unverifiable information will be removed from your credit report and your score will start to improve. The process will be slow and time consuming but in the end bad credit repair is worth the effort.