A person’s credit can be in need of repair for a number reasons. You could have been late on a few payments for bills or credit cards, or you may have lost your job, which meant you did not have enough money to pay for your bills. No matter what the cause is for the bad credit, it is important to take proactive steps in order to repair your credit. Usually when a person needs to repair their credit, they are tight on money. Luckily, there are many ways that you can repair your credit for free. Although the process may seem grueling, it is important to take steps in the right direction in order to improve your score. With a better credit score, you will be eligible for loans, you will look better to landlords, and you will have peace of mind because you will not be worrying about your credit all the time.
The first thing you will want to do in order to repair your credit for free is to go online and get your free credit report. There are three major credit reporting companies that provide credit reports for free once a year because of The Fair Credit Reporting Act. You can get your free credit report once a year from each company. You can get these all at once, or you can get them throughout the year. You will want to go to AnnualCreditReport.com in order to get your free credit report.
Once you get your free credit report or reports, you will want to look at them in detail. If there is any inaccurate information, make sure to mark it. You will want to know any of these inaccuracies, like information about any accounts that you may have not opened, or any personal information that is wrong. You want everything to be correct because that will produce the most accurate results. You can dispute any errors that you find, but make sure the errors are actually not a debt that you have forgotten about. If these errors are because someone has been messing with your account, or there has been an error on the credit card company’s end, your credit could change for the better.
You will need to wait for the creditors to respond to any disputes about the account. Once you dispute any item on your report, the credit bureau will contact the creditor to respond to the dispute. You may have to wait for 30 days to hear a response from the creditor. If no response is received with 30-45 days, the account will be removed, or the correct information will be put in place, and notify you about the results.
When going through this process, make sure that you are making your payments for bills on time, and that everything is accounted for and not forgotten. Also, pay off any little balances that are left on credit cards, and only use one or two for any emergencies. You can also open a new credit card and use it for something that is already in your budget, like a car payment or an electric bill.
Although bad credit can seem like it will last forever, there are ways to improve your credit without spending any money. By taking steps in the right direction, you will improve your credit over time, and you will learn ways to keep your credit report at the level you want it.
