Someone with a bad credit score can find life to be extremely difficult. Paying higher rates and being denied credit, can make living in this economy even harder than usual. Instead of giving up, people with less than perfect credit have options available to change that. This article contains some ways to repair credit so that burden is relieved.
Now is always the right time to consider repair of your credit file. You should always practice spending and saving patterns that allow for you to constantly improve your credit. Monitor for issues, address those issues and protect your improving rating consistently. Waiting until there is an issue or need for good credit will only cost you more time and effort.
Give your cards a bit of diversity. Have a credit account from three different umbrella companies. For example, having a Visa, MasterCard and Discover, is great. Having three different MasterCard's is not as good. These companies all report to credit bureaus differently and have different lending practices, so lenders want to see a variety when looking at your report.
Keep your first account open. Whatever credit account you have had open the longest, is the best one to keep on your report. Don't close this account because the limit is too low or the rate is too high. Try to get a higher credit limit, or ask for a lower interest rate, but even if they won't give that to you, keep the card and keep using it. The longer track record you have with an account, the more it will affect your score in a positive way.
If you are trying to improve your credit score, be sure that you read your credit card statement every month. Only by reading your your statement will you notice if any unauthorized charges have been made or any unexpected fees charged. In most cases, you must report an authorized charge within a short period of time to have it contested.
Ask a family member or a close friend if they will add you to onto their credit card account as an authorized user. This account should be a couple of years old, should have nearly flawless payment history, and should have a balance that is low. You will inherit the history of the account on your credit as if you have always been on that card.
If you are trying to repair your credit score, don't be afraid to open new accounts that you qualify for. Opening a new account, such as a secured credit card, and then maintaining that account in good standing shows creditors that you are trying to move forward. If the only accounts on your credit report are in poor standing, of course your score will be lower.
If you are trying to repair your credit and you are filing a dispute about an incorrect reporting item, be sure to include as much information as possible in your dispute. The more information the credit reporting agency has on your dispute, the faster it can be dealt with and the sooner your credit score will increase.
The law requires that credit bureaus be notified in writing of any errors you may find on your credit report. In order to best protect yourself and document your request, you should send any letters via certified mail; this will require the credit bureau to sign, acknowledging receipt. It is important to document your request in the event they do not remove bad information from your file promptly.
To repair your credit, start making your payments on time. Work on reducing credit card debt and try to keep the balances below thirty percent of the total in the future. Paying your cards on time prevents additional late payment fees and builds a positive history. The longer you can maintain a positive payment history, the higher your score will get.
Negotiate with a creditor to have a negative item removed from your report, in exchange for an agreed upon pay off amount. Make sure to get this in writing before making the payment. Doing this could significantly, and quickly, improve your credit score. You may also get them to agree to accept less than you initially owed on the debt.
Pay down your debt. Aim for reducing all of your debts to about 10 percent of available credit. You should pay off the high interest accounts first, and then start on the less expensive accounts. Don't accumulate any new credit. Focus solely on paying down the credit you already have.
Set up automatic payments for your credit cards. You can set this up by calling your credit card company. This way you can be sure at least the minimum payment is made every month on time. If you do this, you can avoid forgetting about it and getting late fees.
If you are having a hard time paying all your credit card bills on time, you may want to look into a credit consolidating company. They can combine all your credit card debts to one bill. This way you will have one payment that you can focus on making and you don't have payments spread out everywhere.
When trying to repair your credit it is important not to miss any more of your monthly credit card payments. You will never be able to truly repair your credit if you do that because this missed payment will go on your credit report and stay there for at least seven years.
Pay all your bills on time, every time they are due. Even if you miss a payment by a few days, this can be reported to one of the credit bureaus and can negatively affect your credit. Try everything you can to avoid your accounts going to collections because this is very negative on your credit report too.
The burden of bad credit can weight heavily on a person. Yet the weight can be lifted with the right information. Following these tips makes bad credit a temporary state and can allow someone to live their life freely. By starting today, anyone with poor credit can repair it and have a better life today.
Orignal From: Credit: Make It Work For You Instead Of Against You!
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