- Everyone has a credit score that tells creditors what your bill paying history is so they can make a decision about extending you credit. This three-digit score comes from your creditors and is what they report to credit reporting agencies or credit bureaus. Many people find they have less then perfect credit or bad credit. If this is the case, it is important for you to do what you can to improve your credit score. This is important for many reason such as renting an apartment, obtaining credit cards and even purchasing a home or a car. You want your credit score to show you are reliable and you can pay your bills in a timely manor. There are plenty of things you can do to improve your credit history, but it will take some time.
- In order to bring your credit score up, you need to know what is on your credit report. Each of the three top credit bureaus will give you a free copy of your credit report once a year. You can do this by contacting each one directly. The three bureaus are Transunion, Equifax and Experian. You can visit Annualcreditreport.com and order a free report from each of them in a matter of minutes (see Resources). This will help you to identify areas you can work on where your credit is concerned.
- Once you have your credit reports, you can see where discrepancies are and contact the creditors directly to help get some duplicate items removed from your credit score. This can help tremendously to improve your credit score as you can submit letters about discrepancies to have them removed from your credit report, which will improve your overall score. There are plenty of websites that will give you free advice on how to write the letters and what additional steps you can take to remove errors on the reports.
- If you are having trouble getting things under control, you may want to seek the advice of a credit counseling service. It is important to be cautious of credit repair scams that asks you to pay a large sum of money to repair your credit. Make sure the company is legit before you make a commitment. You will want to set a budget for yourself so you can stay on top of your bills. They key to improving your credit is to pay your bills on time. You should contact the creditors of bills you are extremely behind on so you can work out a payment arrangement. This can help bring you current faster, and in some cases, the creditor will remove items they reported once you are current again.
