Clean Up Credit Report
Evaluation of your credit file is one way for lenders and financial institutions to check your worthiness as a future borrower . That being said, having a FICO score of less than 650 can put you in that situation where you are given higher interest rates and your charge cards will have lower limits on the amount that you can borrow. Before you agree to that rate though, try to clean up credit report by following the steps below.
Who knows? Better credit scores mean you will pay lower interest rates which means more money in your pocket every month .
The information that is found on your consumer reports can be exhausting and time consuming to clean up. Often, you will need to wait for more than a month for the records to be updated because most lenders and financial institutions only report changes every 30 days .
The best thing to do if you are starting a credit report repair program is to request for a copy of your credit report from each of the national agencies that gather personal financial information about you . Presently, there are 4 agencies doing this: TransUnion, Equifax, Experian, and Innovis.
These consumer reporting agencies are mandated by law and are required to respond to your free copy every year. Get those free copies and read through the pages .
If you want to do it yourself credit repair you may want to check the AVAIL Credit Coach, the best self help credit repair on the market.
Here are critical issues to look for when looking at credit report.
1. You will have different information in each credit file – some financial institutions only send updates to one or two consumer reporting agencies. It’s in your best interest to check to see that all information you see is accurate and that it is the same on all of the reports . Dispute false information and make sure the changes are reflected as soon as possible .
2. Check the hits – people looking at your reports to evaluate your worthiness as a borrower can also harm your FICO score. Make sure that all the hits on the reports are accurate. If you did not give a certain company permission to check your information, clean it up by having their names removed from the list.
3. Ensure the accuracy of the information – sometimes, you may have already closed an account or paid it off but it is still being reported against you. Dispute this false information and have them set the record straight . For closed accounts, make sure it says closed by consumer request to make the distinction that you made the move to close the account rather than the lender closing it for you. Check the accounts you have charged off or made a settlement payment on. Make sure that it is reflected as paid in full to gain points on your FICO score.
It is better to take steps to clean up the credit report as early as possible and start redeeming yourself in the eyes of the lenders and financial institutions. Doing this shows that you can be responsible and it will be a great help when you do need to take out a loan or refinance your house. Just make sure to keep your credit report clean and watch your score slowly but steadily go up.
