Congratulations! If you are considering credit repair, I am assuming you are not having trouble paying your bills and you do not have accounts in collections. Or maybe you just finished a debt program and are looking to rebuild your credit score.
WHO IT'S FOR
Those who want a higher credit score and have a middle score under 700.
Those who want to make a major purchase in the upcoming months.
Those who want to be prepared for any major purchase they will need to make in the future.
IF YOU HAVE ACCOUNTS IN COLLECTIONS DO NOT ATTEMPT CREDIT REPAIR!
WHY FIX IT?
You fix your credit score because you want to get the best interest rate when you take on more debt. The ONLY thing a credit score is used for is getting MORE debt!
THE PROCESS
Credit repair needs to be done in an efficient and organized manner wtih careful attention to timing and tracking. If you want to learn how to do your own credit repair I highly suggest you get the credit repair guide I wrote for my clients to teach them how to repair their own credit when they finished their settlement program.
Not all credit repair companies are created equally, be VERY careful who you give your credit report to, my clients have been burnt by a lot of shady "companies" in this industry.
WHAT YOU CAN DO YOURSELF You are contesting items you think are inaccurate on your credit report. If you believe something to be inaccurate, the law states that you can contest what you believe to be false to each of the 3 different credit bureaus. You can contest just about anything that is on your credit report, including bankruptcies.
Once an item is contested, the bureaus then have 30 days to ask your creditors if the information you are contesting is correct or not. If your creditors do not respond in 30 days as to the accuracy of what they were reporting, the credit bureaus MUST remove the unproven information from your credit report.
Anything that can be put on your report, can be removed, and has been removed from a credit report at some time or another. This does not mean you will get everything removed from your report, it simply means if it has been put on your credit report, it can potentially be taken off.
A personal view point:
I personally would try to contest EVERYTHING that is negatively affecting my credit score! But you have to be careful how you do this. If a company reported me 30 days late, I want them to prove whether or not it was actually late. I may think it was never late, and they can't prove that I KNOW the payment was late. I don't feel bad for making them PROVE something for which I am unsure of. The FACT that 8 out of 10 credit reports HAVE errors, is enough to tell me, that everything on my report should be validated. If they weren't so inaccurate, I wouldn't have to dispute everything!!!
PROS Higher credit score. You will save THOUSANDS on anything that you finance over a period of time because you will receive a better interest rate. You will know your report is accurate, and you will be aware of anyone trying to steal you identity.
You will be much more attractive to lenders.
CONS It is VERY hard to find a good credit repair company. In fact there are a lot of credit repair scams. It is an unregulated industry, so be carfeul who you hire to fix your credit. It takes time. There is no quick fix. If someone promises to fix your score in under a month, you should look elsewhere.
