Credit Repair Secrets

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Are there any secrets to repairing your credit record?

The first secret is knowledge. Before you can repair your credit report, you need to know what is in the credit report. Request your report from one of the big credit agencies eg Experian - they will charge you a small fee to see it (about $2).

Once you have the report, look for anything listed that can hurt you:

details that are incorrect
indications of arrears
indications of default
court rulings against you

Armed with this information you can take action.

If there is anything incorrect on your account - wrong addresses, people listed as connected to you when they arn't, etc - contact the agency to have it corrected. Speak to them on the phone in the first instance, and then back up in writing (keeping a copy of your letter for your records). Once they have received your letter, they will place a note on your account that to saythat you have corrected your report, and will list what you have changed.

With existing debt, the agencies score your payment record (and the scoring goes back thirty-six months). That way, any any lender can tell how many months in the last 36 you were late with your payment, or defaulted. The easiest way to begin to correct this is to start paying on time and paying the exact amount due. That way you should build up a lot of "green" months, when your record was satisfactory. Within three years of exemplary behaviour, the bad months will have dropped off, and you will show a record of thirty-six green months.

If you have defaulted or are on an arrangement, it will be harder to repair your credit report. Once you have settled the debt it will disappear from the record after six years. So settling the debt is the main imperative - the sooner you do it, the sooner your record starts to improve.

While waiting for items to drop off your record, make sure that you don't get into further trouble. Don't apply for any more debt (the application will get recorded), and make sure you meet your existing obligations on time.

Those looking for easy Debt Cures will be disappointed with this article. But the honest truth is there is no easy way to repair your credit report. It takes determination and discipline - and those who realise this get out of debt faster than those who look for the easy answers.