A lot of people are in the dark about credit repair and there are a lot of misconceptions floating around about the practice. Credit repair can be done, but there are a lot of methods that people think have an effect that could actually do more harm than good. In this article, we’re going to give you a few credit repair tips that have been proven to work.
1. Verify Your Credit Report
The first thing you should do is verify your credit report. Very few people know that credit bureaus can commit errors on your credit report that could hinder your chances of accessing credit. In other cases, errors could affect which type of interest rate you’re getting. However, by requesting your credit report and verifying and then correcting any errors that were made by either the credit bureau or a third party, you could improve your credit score immediately. You are entitled to one free credit report per year from the three major credit bureaus. To request your copy, just visit www.annualcreditreport.com and make sure you have your address, name and social security number ready for identification. If you find anything wrong with your report, you can take legal action and dispute erroneous entries on your credit report.
2. Have Credit Reminders Set Up
A lot of people end up being late on payments because of negligence and forgetfulness. One of the best ways to counteract this is by getting payment reminders set up through your bank. Most banks have payment reminder options through their online services. You could also have automatic payments set up on your accounts. However, be careful to always have the funds on hand for payments as bounced checks can also affect your credit negatively,
3. Correct Your Payment Situation
You shouldn’t be discouraged if you had an old habit of always being late on payments. If you are current now, stay current and try to not miss payments. Older accounts won’t affect you as much and you don’t have to worry about them haunting you forever. Over time, old accounts start to lose their power, and your current situation will dictate your credit score, so it’s never too late to turn your situation around.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are some simple tips that can help you improve your credit efficiently. The first thing you should do is check your credit report and see if there are false entries on there. Just correcting your credit report can make a huge difference to your credit score. Second, make sure that you have either automatic payments or payment alerts set up on your account to make sure that you never miss payments. Negligence can have a disastrous effect on credit scores and is easily avoidable. And last, but not least, try to correct your current situation and stay consistent, older accounts lose their power over time and simply staying on track with your payments can work wonders on any credit score.
