How to Clean Up Your Credit Report

Whether you are trying to buy a house, a car or get a personal loan, your credit is the first thing that the lender will look at. You can clean up negative information on your file, yourself. Here's how...

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• A copy of your credit report from all three credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion and Equifax).
• Persistence
• Patience

1. Get a copy of your credit report from the 3 credit bureaus; Experian, TransUnion and Equifax. You can obtain a free report from each credit bureau once a year at annualcreditreport.com. You may also get a copy if negative information has been recently added or you had an application for credit denied.
2. If you find any inaccurate information on your report, you may dispute it, either online or by writing a letter to the credit bureau that provided the report. If you have any proof of the inaccuracy you should send it along with the dispute letter.
3. Once you have disputed the negative information, the credit bureau will contact the creditor regarding your claim and the credit company has 30 to 45 days to provide the requested information or the negative item has to be removed from you credit file.
4. Negative items on your credit report may also be removed even if they are correct. If you have otherwise maintained good standing with the creditor that reported the information, you can write to them and request that they remove the item from your credit report.

Tips & Warnings

• There are companies that offer credit repair services, for those who don't want to go through the process of disputing their credit reports themselves.
• Whether or not your credit report needs to be disputed, you should monitor your credit reports from all three bureaus.
• If you are the victim of identity theft, you can write to the credit bureaus and request that a fraud alert be placed on your credit report.
• A fraud alert does not change your credit rating! You will have to verify your identity whenerver you apply for new credit, making the online credit application process more timely.
• Collection items will remain on on your credit report 7 years. Bankruptcy remains on your credit report for a 10 years.