Advice for Bad Credit Repair
Bad credit is sometimes repairable if you know the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), which gives you certain dispute rights, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). You cannot get rid of accurate information, even if it hurts your credit score, but mistakes open the door to scrubbing negative data from your Experian, TransUnion and Equifax reports legally and at no cost to you.
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Professional Credit Repair
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Professional companies offer paid credit repair services through telemarketing, online and print ads and even television commercials. Some make enticing promises, claiming they can erase everything negative on your current reports or give you a fresh start with brand-new credit records. The FTC warns that there is no legal way to fulfill such promises. Paid repair firms are limited to the same tactics consumers can use personally.
Obtaining Credit Reports
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Credit repair starts with a credit report review. The FTC advises that free Experian, Exquifax and TransUnion reports are available once per year through annualcreditreport.com. Bureaus work independently, so each report may have different mistakes. Thirty-seven percent of people who ordered their reports in 2007 found some errors, according to a Zogby International survey. Circle the errors on all three reports.
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Disputing Mistakes
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You are entitled to dispute every legitimate mistake you find on your reports, even if it is a minor date, spelling or number error. Experian, Equifax and TransUnion all provide Internet dispute forms, and the FCRA gives them 30 days to process inquiries. The Divorcenet website explains that the bureaus are sometimes too busy to even contact creditors, so they just erase disputed information immediately. The creditors might not verify it even if they get a request from the bureaus, which also results in erasure. Successful credit repair means getting as many negative entries as possible eliminated from your reports.
Warning
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The FCRA protects Experian, Equifax and TransUnion from frivolous credit report disputes by giving them a right to ignore obviously false complaints, according to Divorcenet. Do not challenge every harmful negative credit report entry just to see if it gets erased. The bureaus can ignore your entire list of disputes if they notice a number of frivolous items, which thwarts your credit repair efforts. Do not get an Employer Identification Number (EIN) for the sole purpose of establishing a new credit identity. The FTC warns that unscrupulous credit repair firms sometimes recommend this tactic, but it is illegal and can lead to mail or wire fraud charges if you use the EIN to apply for new accounts online, over the phone or with a mailed application.
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