Discover Effective Credit Repair!

By Brad Z Smith

Countless people are struggling with low credit scores and bad credit reports and the existing economic conditions are just making it worse. Many of the normal rules of the past are becoming outdated and numerous people may not know exactly where to turn or what to do about credit problems.

Not many people realize just what a credit score is composed of. For instance it is not widespread knowledge that your credit score can be reduced by inquiries on your account and by your debt to credit ratio. The truth is that you are considered to be riskier if it looks as if you are shopping for credit so inquiries reduce your score and if you have credit and use it you are also considered a higher risk. In order to have a high credit score you need to reduce your debt to less than about 15 to 35% of the credit you have available and no more.

Congress enacted the Fair Credit Reporting Act or the FCRA in order to shield consumers from untruthful and inaccurate reporting on their credit. Under this law you have the right to obtain one free credit report from each of the major credit bureaus each year. Taking advantage of this is a wise thing to do so that you can track your credit and make sure that it is being reported truthfully.

The fact is that it is estimated that as many as 75% or more of credit reports contain mistakes and inaccuracies. These mistakes and inaccuracies can cause you great problems if they arise when you are trying to get credit. If you get your report every year and make sure that it is correct and truthful you should be able to avoid many of these troubles.

The FCRA gives you the right to dispute mistakes and inaccuracies on your credit. After a dispute is received the credit bureaus have 30 to 45 days to prove that the reported credit is accurate and true. It is estimated that as much as 45% of all disputed credit is not verified within the time frame and consequently it must be removed from the report. Consumers can use this to their advantage if they are willing to go to the effort to issue a dispute.

You should make sure that your credit report is clear of mistakes and inaccuracies each year although there are also a number of other things that you can do to improve your credit score. Because the debt to credit ratio is so important you can either pay down your debt or get your credit limits increased so that your debt does not exceed the 15 to 35% of your available credit. You can also make certain that you avoid inquiries into your report. Do not apply for credit unless you are sure to get it and then have the creditor combine the inquiry into the loan reporting so that there are no inquiries.

You can do the labor necessary to repair your credit on your own or you can utilize a professional that specializes in credit repair. Each way can be quite effective but if you decide to take on a professional just make sure that it is a respectable company with a good track record. Regrettably there are some scammers out there so do your homework and find a reliable company that has been around long-term.

Credit repair is possible. It is not a myth. The FCRA was passed for that very purpose, to allow consumer to defend themselves against inaccuracies and discrepancies on their credit reports. You can take advantage of that information and repair your credit so that it looks as good as possible.

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