Poor credit is a terrible thing for you to deal with as you journey through life. Instead of getting that house or that job, you are left sitting with a refusal and a copy of your credit report. That said, it is possible to restore your credit to its former glory and prevent it from being wrecked again.
Keep your credit card balances below 50 percent of your credit limit. Your credit score can diminish with balances over 50%, so spread out the debt or pay off the credit cards.
When you have better credit, you will be offered lower interest rates on loans and credit cards. This will make your payments easier and it will enable you to repay your debt a lot quicker. Getting better interest rates leads to an easily maintainable good credit score.
If your credit is top-notch, getting a mortgage is a simple matter. You will get a better credit score by paying your mortgage payment on time. Having a major asset like a house also looks good to potential creditors. This will be beneficial when you apply for loans.
If you want to fix your credit avoid companies claiming they can remove all of your issues, even those properly reported. Negative credit information remains on your record for up to seven years. You should know that mistakes and anything incorrect can be removed from your credit report.
Repairing your credit is actually pretty simple. The first step is to focus on paying your late bills. You need to pay your bills off on time; this is very important. Once you start paying your past bills off, you will notice an immediate improvement in your credit.
Credit File
Don’t do anything illegal. There are scams all over the web that teach you how to create a new credit file. Creating a new credit file is very illegal and you can be easily caught. You may end up in jail if you are not careful.
Joining a credit union may be helpful if you want to work on improving your credit score and are finding it difficult to access new credit. They may offer better rates and more credit due to local conditions as compared to national ones.
Dispute every error you identify on your credit report. Send a letter to all agencies involved. Include the errors you noted along with supporting documents that prove that the information on file is erroneous. When you mail your dispute package, be sure to make arrangements for confirmation of receipt. In this way, you will have documentation that your information has been received.
Carefully check all charges on your monthly credit card statement for errors. If there are late fees you don’t deserve, act as soon as possible to get the matter resolved before it can affect your credit score.
To show that you are serious about improving your credit, start systematically lowering all of your account balances. Pay down your cards that have the highest interest and largest balances first. Beginning to pay your credit card balances off will show creditors that you are making a valiant effort and are credit worthy.
Credit Score
Make sure a credit score repair agency is legitimate before choosing to work with them. There are a number of agencies out there that are really not that helpful. It is sad to see how many people have been taken advantage of by credit score improvement scams. Read all the reviews that you can find and you should be able to make a decision about who you can trust.
Try to avoid using credit cards. Try to use cash instead for all of your purchases and bills. If you have a situation where you have to put a charge on your credit card, make a point to pay it off as soon as possible.
Build your credit back up to repair it. Because it does not carry the risk of late payments that would hurt your credit score, getting a credit card that is prepaid will give you a very safe way to employ credit. This shows lenders that making payments is a priority for you, and that they should lend to you.
Credit Score
Opening too many lines of credit negatively affects your credit score. As tempting as it can be, do not a new credit card. If you continue to increase your debt, your credit score will continue to drop.
It is illegal for companies to threaten you during collections. Take a written account of it to pursue action against them. There are consumer laws which limit the things that a collection agency can do to you.
Eradicate your debt. Potential creditors will look at your debt to income ratio. If your debt exceeds your assets and income, then most creditors will view you as being too high a risk. You don’t have to pay off your debt in full right away, just get a plan and stay with it to pay off your debt over time.
Following these simple tips can help you get on the road to repairing your credit and keeping it healthy. It is always worth your time learning how to fix and maintain good credit, since it has a major impact on most of the larger financial deals you will make.