After accumulating a lot of debt, and only paying the minimums for a while, I wasn’t worried about my credit. But, when I missed a payment, and it hurt my credit even more, I knew it was time to start the process to repair my credit rating on the FICO credit score scale. I searched online for “How to repair my credit report” and I found some great tips to help me with my credit fix goals, and so I am going to share some of those tips with you.
One of the major factors for a bad credit score is from any outstanding debts. If you have any old debts from a credit card, or a missed rent payment, or anything, that is the first thing you should take care of, by paying those off and any fees associated with those missed payments or defaulted loans. Once you erase debt, your credit score will begin to increase.
Another thing you want to do right away is to get a copy of your credit report and look at the reports and see if there are any things are that aren’t your fault. When I began to repair my credit I didn’t see any problems, but some people definitely find problems so it is always good to look. One thing to look for is any duplicate accounts. Sometimes the credit reports show the same account twice, and so if you have messed up on that account, the effects will be twice as bad on your credit report. Call the credit bureaus and have the duplicate account rectified.
Another thing to look for on your credit report is any defaults that are older than 7 years. The credit bureaus and credit reporting agencies can’t keep stuff on there for over 7 years, so call and have them remove those thing if you find any that are older than 7 years, and that may be a quick way to fix bad credit.
The next step I took to repair my credit score was to pay all of my debts on time. The credit card companies set minimum payment amounts so that they know they will have a certain amount of money coming in each month. If you don’t pay your debts on time, or your rent on time, then that will definitely negatively affect your account. But, if you begin to show a good pattern of paying off all of your debts on time doing everything in your power to get legal credit repair done, then you will definitely see an increase in your credit score, and you can start working your way towards the average credit score. This also helped me to avoid repossession of my car by making my car loan payments on time once again.
When I started I wanted to erase bad credit and repair my credit right away, but it takes time. You may or may not want to get in touch with one of the numerous credit repair businesses – I’d say do everything you can to fix your credit on your own, first. You may have people calling you however, if you somehow were placed on a list of leads for credit repair – so just be aware of this. The older that the negative stuff on your credit report is, the better it will be. Plus, if you have some new positive things on your account like paying on time, and paying down your debts, those are all things that help your credit score, but they just take time.
One of the last things that I did to repair my credit report was to lower my debt. The credit bureaus want your debt balance to be less than 50% of your total available amount. That means if you credit limit on all of your credit cards equals $10,000, then you shouldn’t have any more than $5,000 in debt. Once you go below that number, your credit score will start to go back up and you will improve credit.
I hope that the steps I took in repairing my credit help you out in your goal to get your credit repaired. Like I said, it won’t happen overnight, but each month that you make the right choices by paying down your debt and paying on time, your credit score will start to steadily improve. Once you’re on the path of restoring your credit, you’ll be one step closer to fixing it for good. Deciding is the first step, so commit to doing it no matter what, you’ll be really glad that you did.