| Are you thinking about making a major purchase? Do | | | | better. By law you can dispute any info on your credit |
| you want to take advantage of the current housing | | | | report that you find inaccurate, outdated, incomplete, |
| market and buy your dream home? Are you applying | | | | ambiguous, questionable and unverifiable. The first |
| for a business loan hoping to get your business plan | | | | round of disputes usually starts with the credit bureaus. |
| off the ground?Do you want to fix credit problems and | | | | Normally 20 % of all disputes filed with credit bureaus |
| start with a "clean credit slate"? More that 35 million | | | | end up with success. |
| Americans are facing bad credit problems. Some of | | | | 4 Second round of disputes-reporting companies. |
| them have totally given up fixing credit. Others have | | | | The so called 623 Dispute (named after section 623 |
| "buckled up" and started paying off their debt. A small | | | | of the Fair Credit Reporting Act) allows consumers to |
| percentage, however, have discovered that there are | | | | dispute a negative listing directly with the company |
| far easier ways to fix credit problems. Credit | | | | reporting it to the credit bureaus. Most of these |
| knowledge and thinking outside the credit box are the | | | | companies are collection agencies and debt collectors |
| only requirements for success. | | | | which often don't have the right paperwork to validate |
| Here are 6 tips that will help you understand how fast | | | | that the debt is yours. |
| credit repair works. | | | | 5 Third round of dispute-original creditors. |
| 1 Staring point-your credit report. | | | | If everything else fails, turn to the original creditor. By |
| You need to have a copy of your credit report before | | | | law creditors are required to notify you (in a written |
| you jump into action. Your credit report is the basis on | | | | form ) within 30 days after they place a negative item |
| which you will build a successful credit strategy. You | | | | on your credit report. If they fail to do that, they are in |
| are entitled to one free credit report each year which | | | | violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. You can use |
| you can order from Make sure that you get reports | | | | this to pressure the creditor to remove the listing from |
| from all the major bureaus-TransUnion, Equifax, | | | | your record. |
| Experian. There might be significant differences among | | | | 6 Track your correspondence. |
| the reports, because different creditors report to | | | | It's a good idea to create an organizational system to |
| different bureaus. | | | | track your correspondence with the credit bureaus. |
| 2 Group adverse items in two major categories | | | | Try to keep everything in written form, so that you |
| Highlight all negative items and group them in 2 | | | | have proof of your correspondence. Write down |
| categories-things you can't change | | | | names of people you talk to, dates, confirmation |
| (bankruptcies,foreclosures, repossessions) and items | | | | numbers etc. In the heavy bureaucratic system |
| you can change (collections, late payments, declined | | | | surrounding credit reporting, your efforts can easily go |
| credit, credit inquiries). Court judgments are a tricky | | | | down the drain if you don't document every step of |
| area. They are a difficult item to be removed from | | | | the way. |
| one's credit report. However, if the judgment is paid in | | | | There are various ways to fix credit problems. Some |
| full and you file the proper paperwork in court, your | | | | of them require spartan discipline and financial planning. |
| have pretty good chances of success. | | | | Other require credit knowledge. The more you know |
| 3 First round of disputes-credit bureaus. | | | | about the inner workings of the credit system and the |
| The ultimate goal of fast credit repair is to delete | | | | various loopholes in it, the better your chances to raise |
| adverse items from your report. The more items, the | | | | your score over a short period of time. |