How to fix your credit?
How to Fix your Credit
You can fix your credit score by auditing your credit score, investigating
the defects, wrangling the errors, fulfilling all the late payments, ensuring
timely payments, enhancing the credit limitations, making payments off of
increased interest cards, and consistently making timely payments.
Attaining a superior credit score can benefit you in terms of
justifying a mortgage, a decreased interest rate and exceptional charges on
loans or credit cards. There are various methods of repairing your credit score
if need be.
There is no time like the present to fix your credit score since it
will be in perfect shape for when you want to apply for a loan or a credit
card. It is not always the case of increasing your score, rather the case of
adjustment of the score.
7 Steps to Fix Your Credit
This guide helps you fix and eliminate errors from your credit score.
Given below are steps you can follow to repair your poor credit.
1. Acquire
your credit report
When looking to fix your credit, it is vital
that you review your credit report to repair and eliminate any errors.
Therefore, you must inspect your credit report frequently to make sure that
everything is in order.
Attainment
of a free credit report
The first course of action is to attain your
credit report to pinpoint the errors that need repairing. Every one of the
significant credit bureaus are bound by law to provide a free credit report
each year. If timed correctly, you can receive one report every four months.
You can make appeal for yours from the Annual Credit Report Request Service online through the phone at 1-877-322-8228 or
by emailing them at Annual Credit Report Request Form to:
Annual Credit Report Request Service
P.O Box 105281
Atlanta, GA 30348-5281
All your credit history, including accounts
that were sent to institutions for legal actions and such are present on your
credit report. The copies you receive every year negates the need for report
duplicates.
Review
your credit report for inaccuracies
Studies show that nearly 25% of all credit
reports contain inaccuracies that can be deep enough to cause disapproval on a
credit application. Which is why you must review your credit report thoroughly
each time it is checked.
When auditing your
report, these are some of the things to check for:
●
False
personal information (Wrong spellings, addresses etc.)
●
Accounts
that belong to someone else
●
Missing
accounts from the report
●
Faulty
public records (e.g., liquidation, foreclosures)
●
Inaccurate
accounts (e.g., claiming to be open when closed)
●
Accounts
labeled ‘closed by grantor’ (accounts closed by lender)
●
Identical
accounts
●
Data
authority inaccuracies
●
Defaults
or critical marks
●
Counterfeit
activity
●
False
scrutiny
If any of these inaccuracies are present, you
must verify that these errors are present on the other two reports. The repair
of these issues can work to enhance your credit score in a quick minute.
Therefore, you must ardently work to improve
your credit score instead of waiting for it to improve on its own.
2. Falsify
errors in the report
As you clarify the errors in your report, you
must work to fix them. Fortunately, the credit bureaus are obligated to try and fix issues. You can appeal for
changes through phone or email.
The changes are reported to the credit bureau
directly with the added information to verify your identity and to prove that
the information is false.
Record your dispute under:
Experian Disputes
●
By
phone: 800-916-8800
●
By
mail:
Experian
P.O Box 4500
Allen, TX 75013
Equifax Disputes
●
By
phone: 866-349-5191
●
By
mail:
Equifax Information Services LLC
P.O Box 740256
Atlanta, GA 30374-0256
Transunion Disputes
●
By
phone: 800-916-8800
●
By
mail:
TransUnion Consumer Solutions
P.O Box 2000
Chester, PA 19016-2000
You could also see to contacting the lender of
your account regarding your dispute allowing them to make changes to their
file, thus updating all the main credit reports. Regardless, you will receive
feedback on your dispute in 30-45 days.
For further help with your disputes of credit
reports, contact us or sign up online.
3. Late
payments or past-due accounts
In addition to correcting all errors on your
credit report, you must ensure that you make all these payments on time. If the
payment is overdue by 30 days, the credit bureaus officially consider it late
In case of a late payment, the bureaus are
notified which will affect your credit score negatively. The longer the account
remains unpaid, the worse it is for your score as they stay on your report for
almost seven years.
When
do we require collection agencies?
If an account is overdue 30 days, the creditor
may transfer the account over to a collection administration or institution to
attain the payment from you directly. This has a negative effect on your credit
report.
The negative entries are eliminated from your report after the
collection of payment. A dispute can also be filed in case of an issue.
What
is a charge-off?
When payments are six months late, your credit
card will be ‘charged off’. This means that regular minimum payments will no
longer be accepted. The creditor accepts this as a loss and cancels your
account, only allowing the payment to be made in completion in addition to the
late fee.
There are several additional issues, including
the increase of interest rate. Furthermore, if it is not possible to make the
payment in full, you can consider other payment options. The charge-off condition of your account
stays on the report for seven years.
What
is a pay-for-delete?
A pay-for-delete is a constitution between a
buyer and a collection organization to eliminate the collection account from
your report. We do this through an agreement to make the payment in full or a
decreased amount.
4. Boost
your credit limits
Credit card companies allot a credit limit to
each holder. You can request an increase on your credit limit through your
creditor, working to improve your credit score and offering a buffer before the
requirement of a payment.
You will also need to contemplate on your credit
use ratio, meaning the amount on your credit and the amount of the payment you
need to make.
For example, if you owe $5,000 on all your
cards and your credit amount is $20,000, the credit use ratio is 25%. Experts
advise that the credit score be kept under 30%, otherwise there is a negative
yield on your credit score.
An increase in your credit limits brings about
a decrease in your credit use ratio.
5. Make
full payments to the high-interest, new credits
When you have to make payments to several
accounts, there are two ways you can do it.
Either make the payment to the account with
the highest interest rate, or the one with the lowest balance. The latter is
done so that the low balance does not bring in further interest. You can pay
the low balance off in full quickly so that there is no interest buildup.
6. Inaugurate
a new credit card
Opening a new credit card improves your credit
score by increasing your available credit and lowering your credit utilization
ratio. A decrease in your credit use ratio increases your credit score.
Before you apply for a new credit card, you
need to be aware of all the impending payments you will need to make and also
risk the negative image of your credit score to lenders.
In addition, your credit antiquity also factors
into the improvement of your credit score. It would do you well to remember
that keeping old accounts open for long increases your credit age which in
turn, enhances your credit score.
7. Make
timely balance payments
Ensure that you make all your payments and get
rid of your debts on time to appear a responsible holder to your creditors.
Credit repair agencies promise results that
are not attainable in a quick while which is why you must remain vigilant when
occupying their services.
What
is the time limit to fixing my credit?
As mentioned before, it can take around three
to six months to consider and repair a dispute made in the report. This time
can vary depending upon your credit history and actions you perform in the
future.
How
to maintain an adequate credit?
After repairing your credit score, you must
work on maintaining a balanced credit that will aid in making payments,
requesting loans and low interest rate approvals.
Following are some tips to help maintain a
strong credit:
●
Limit
the number of hard inquiries as they affect your credit score negatively.
●
Appoint
automatic payments to ensure that you make all your payments on time.
●
Leave
old accounts open to increase your credit age which aids in the improvement of
your credit score.
●
Do not
open several accounts at once to prevent from seeming risky to potential
creditors.
●
Hire professional help to aid in making the right decisions for your
credit score.
If you are looking to increase or fix your credit score, you are
advised to make an effort and contact top agencies that may help. Here at
Blackwater Credit Repair, we offer the services of experts to aid you in
raising your credit score and maintaining it at the most adequate state.