Why Do It Yourself Credit Repair Is Best
Your credit score affects every area of your financial well
being including qualifying for loans and mortgages, our interest
rates, job opportunities, and even our insurance premiums.
Repairing your credit profile is the most important financial
decisions you can make.
Most times it just doesn’t matter who you are, how hard you
work, or what dreams you have; all that matters is that one
little number: your credit score.
Self Help May Be Best
You see the advertisements in newspapers, on TV, and on the
Internet. You hear them on the radio. They all make the same
claims:
“Credit problems? No problem!”
“We can erase your bad credit — 100% guaranteed.”
“Create a new credit identity — legally.”
Do yourself a favor and save your money. These are false
statements. Only time, effort, and a personal debt repayment
plan will improve your credit report.
Having a good credit rating is essential to leading a successful
economic life. Although most folks don’t give their credit
reports much thought, good credit allows for many things that
are usually taken for granted: credit cards, car rentals, hassle
free loans and apartment rentals etc. If you miss just one
payment to a lender, the creditor will file a report to a credit
bureau, and it will be added to your credit report. If this
happens too often, or loans go into default, you will find
yourself needing to engage in credit repair, as you will most
likely be turned down for credit cards and most other types of
loans.
Like clockwork, companies everywhere appeal to consumers with
poor credit histories. They promise, for a fee, to clean up your
credit report so you can get a car loan, a home mortgage,
insurance, or even a job. The truth is, they can’t deliver.
After you pay them hundreds or thousands of dollars in fees,
these companies do nothing to improve your credit report; most
simply vanish with your money.
Under the Credit Repair Organizations Act, credit repair
companies cannot require you to pay until they have completed
the services they have promised.
No one can legally remove accurate and timely negative
information from a credit report. The law allows you to ask for
an investigation of information in your file that you dispute as
inaccurate or incomplete. There is no charge for this.
Everything a credit repair clinic can do for you legally, you
can do for yourself at little or no cost. According to the Fair
Credit Reporting Act.
Now, pay attention closely. What you’re about to read will help
you save hours of frustrating, wasted hunting, and let you hone
in on some of the best material on this subject!
If you turn to the internet or classified ads when beginning
your research into credit repair, you’ll likely notice many,
many offers from companies offering credit repair services. Most
of them market themselves aggressively, and claim that they can
fix your credit report quickly for a fee. You should be very
wary in dealing with these companies – not only are many of them
scams, in most cases you can repair your own credit more
effectively.
It’s important to understand that there is nothing a credit
repair company can do that you can’t do yourself. In other
words: even though they may imply so, a credit repair company is
not in cahoots with the credit bureau, and cannot get poor marks
on your credit rating “erased.” What’s most likely to happen is
that the credit repair company will encourage you to obtain your
credit report from the credit bureau, and to challenge negative
items on the report.
In some cases, credit repair companies will even go so far as to
engage in activities of questionable legality. Usually they will
encourage you to start a “new” credit rating through a change of
address and banking information. This practice is against the
law,and mostly ineffective. A far better approach to credit
repair is to do it yourself. If you search online you’ll find
many sites offering step by step advice – your best bet is to
look at advice from a government source or other trusted
organization.
The best approach is to first obtain your credit report from the
bureau. Once you have the report examine it very closely, and
challenge, in writing, any errors on the report. Only challenge
items if there are genuine errors – if your report is error
free, you will have to engage in the traditional methods of
credit repair. The best way to start is to obtain a secured
credit card and use it regularly. In this manner you will be
able to slowly repair your credit rating.
Being patient and making smart budgeting decisions, you will be
able to pay your creditors on time. In doing so you will
eventually prove to them that you are suitable for credit.
Although credit repair in this way is a slow process, it is the
only truly effective one. This do-it-yourself approach will be
far more successful in the long run than employing a credit
repair company.