Credit Repair and Credit Card Repair - The First 6 Steps to Repairing your Own Credit History
By: Ash Bowkett | Posted: 02nd February 2008
Repairing your credit history yourself is actually surprisingly easier than you may have thought. Good, good, you might be thinking, but how exactly do I make a start on this?
Let's get straight into the details with Two Steps.
Step One
1. If you think there is inaccurate information contained within your credit report, tell the consumer reporting company (CRC) - Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion. Send copies (NOT originals) of documents that support your position. Your letter should clearly classify each disputed item in your report. State the facts, and give your explanation as to why you are disputing the information. Request that the information is edited or removed. Enclose a copy of the report with the disputed items circled in ink; keep things simple and to the point to avoid any potential mis-communications.
2. You should send your letter by certified mail, "Return Receipt Requested". This will allow you to document what the consumer reporting company now has about you. Keep all copies of everything in a safe place.
3. The CRC has to investigate each of the questioned items, usually within a month. Sometimes a dispute is consider frivolous, in which case they will not make changes or remove items from your report. The CRC will forward all disputed data to the information provider that entered this data into your credit report to begin with. This company must then investigate and review the relevant details of the dispute and report back to the CRC. If the information is finally considered to be inaccurate or incomplete, then the CRC must notify all three CRC's so that the information on your file is updated across the spectrum.
4. Once complete, the consumer reporting company (CRC) must mail you with the results of the investigation in writing and send you a free, updated version of your credit report so that you can ensure the corrections have been sufficiently dealt with. In the same mail, you will receive notice of the information provider's name, address and telephone number. You may also request that the CRC send details of the corrections made to your credit report to anyone else who received your report in the previous 6 months. For employment purposes, you can have a copy sent to anyone who received a copy within the previous two years.
5. Finally, if this communication doesn't resolve the dispute, you can ask that the CRC include a note of the dispute in your credit report and future reports. This additional statement may also be sent, at your request, to anyone who received your report in the recent past. However, there is a fee for this particular service.
Step Two
You may alternatively, or as well as, tell your creditor or another information provider, in writing, about any item that you wish to dispute. Again, include copies (NOT originals) of supporting documents you mail. Look up the correct address to send this information to. Any provider that reports the disputed item to a CRC must note your difference of opinion. If the information you reported is found to be untrue then the information may not be reported again by the information provider.
Fixing your credit report using just the above steps is at the very least a good start to improving your credit report. Read another popular article I wrote recently in my Expert file below, called "7 Ways To Improve Your Credit Score", and discover that bad credit is not 'the end of the world' but merely one of life's ups and downs.
Wishing you well and good luck!
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Ashley Bowkett has been headhunting and recruiting quality personnel and working communications professionals alike for more than 5 years into the television industry. With expertise in television and media marketing both offline and online, Ashley simply loves to devise new and smart ways to squeeze every last percentage point out of the deal!
And as an almost full time internet marketer with unique expertise on marketing and doing business in and across China, Ashley seeks to address the concerns of entrepreneurial people of any age, from any background.
When Ashley isn't writing articles and setting up another international joint venture, he is a chief development director of a television network responsible for offices in New York and Beijing.
About the Author
Occupation: TV Network Programming Director
Ashley Bowkett has been writing professional copy for the purpose of business development for more than 4 years. With many hundreds of satisfied company clients from around the world as a result of his work, Ashley has developed his own brand of communications strategy.
Clients in government, multinational organizations and in the television media industry seek qualified, pro-active individuals to lead their business to new heights. Ashley aims to instill some of these leadership skills into people of all ages.
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Tags: two steps, safe place, relevant details, equifax, credit report, experian, credit history, spectrum, repairing your credit, certified mail, information provider