WHY YOU SHOULD FIX YOUR CREDIT REPORT
Credit problems cannot be ignored. It doesn’t matter how much money you make or how well you’ve done for yourself, if you have made credit mistakes, those mistakes will continue to haunt you until you face them and fix them. It will take patience, time and a lot of determination, but YOU CAN fix your credit.
The first thing you need to do is face your fear about the debt you have. No matter how much you owe, you CAN get it paid off and start fresh, debt free (or nearly so), with good credit and no more hammers hanging over your head. It will take planning, and again, it will take determination; but, it is a problem that will never go away until you handle it. You’ve taken the first step already by reading this article, and you should be proud of that.
Second, you should be aware that you are NOT alone. Cardweb.com states that $51 MILLION American households an average balance of $12,000 in credit card debt. What’s even worse is that we pay more than $24 BILLION, THAT’S A “B”, in FEES, including late fees and over-limit fees. So, it’s clearly not just YOU….it’s a lot of people paying a lot of money.
At this point, you may be wondering, “why be all that concerned?” If everybody is doing it, why should you put in the extra effort to do anything about it? Well, consider this: If you have even LESS THAN HALF of the average debt, let’s say $5,000 in debt at 18 percent interest. If you make only the minimum payment, you will not pay off that measly $5,000 for TWENTY-SIX years. AND, you will pay over $7,000 in INTEREST ALONE.
If that doesn’t scare you, than consider that having bad credit, may, and often does, cost you money and opportunities in COUNTLESS ways. It’s harder to get a mortgage, harder to get a car loan. And IF, IF, IF you even CAN get someone to lend you money, it’s often at high interest rates that simply perpetuate the problem of high debt and poor credit.
Alright, enough with the “Debbie Downers”. Chin up! You CAN fix this, you CAN become attractive to lenders, you CAN stop the credit / debt rat race in your life. This article should be invaluable to you in understanding it all.
At the end of the article, I will put in some links to people that can offer you competent help. Because, let’s face it, if it wasn’t overwhelming, there wouldn’t be so many “credit assistance” companies in business.

We live in a time of frivolous lawsuits, fear on the part of service providers of even APPEARING to be prejudicial or discriminatory in any way, and scam artists. Our society is trying to negotiate new rules for how we treat people and systems to ensure that prejudice and discrimination are eliminated. We obviously do not have it right yet; but, what the “powers that be” have decided is to try and use a system of numbers and a series of formulas to calculate your ability and willingness to repay a loan.
So, it doesn’t matter what your story is. You could have lost a job, or been in a bad relationship that hurt you financially. The person processing your loan may CARE; but, they CANNOT allow themselves to base their loan decision on those details. As I said, it doesn’t work very well, but, it IS the system we all have to deal with until we come up with something better.

And of all of the formulas and calculations made, your credit history is by far the most influential thing they use in determining your “credit worthiness”.

YOUR CREDIT REPORT – HOW TO GET A COPY, MAYBE EVEN FREE, AND WHAT’S IN IT ANYWAY?
The “credit report” that we have been talking about is basically a history of your entire financial life-from your first credit card or loan to now.
There are three companies that keep track of your credit. They are call credit bureaus. They are: Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian. They all keep SIMILAR records of your credit history; but, they ARE NOT identical to each other. Because of this, when you are checking your records, you must check your records with ALL THREE companies.
When a lender is processing a credit or loan application from you, they will “pull your credit” (report) and based on the information contained therein, will decide whether or not to take a risk in giving you credit or a loan, how much credit or loan value to give you and at what interest rate.
The phone numbers and addresses to the credit bureaus are listed below. Please take a minute to print or write this information down and keep it in a safe place. It’s easy to find this information; but, having it handy is one less obstacle for you to navigate. And you will need to contact each one more than once, most likely.

Equifax Information Service Center
800-685-1111
P.O. Box 740241
Atlanta, GA 30374-0241

Experian Information Solutions, Inc.
888-397-3742
P.O. Box 2002
Allen, TX, 75013

TransUnion Corporation
800-888-4213
Post Office Box 1000
Chester, PA 19022


It’s possible that you may qualify for a FREE copy of your credit report from each of the three agencies.
The new legislation passed in Congress, the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, allows one free copy of your report, from each company, once each year. You can either call a toll free number or go to a website to get your copy. The number to call is: 1-877-322-8228.

The website is: www.AnnualcreditReport.com.

 

I HAVE A COPY OF MY CREDIT REPORT, NOW WHAT?
The first thing you need to do once you have copies of your reports is to READ them over CAREFULLY. Use a highlighter and mark anything that is in error on your reports. According to some reports, up to 79 percent of reports have errors on them. Credit management is difficult enough with-out having the added problem of mistakes to contend with.
To help you to understand the reports, there are very good instructions on each bureau’s website.
Ok, so now you have gotten your credit reports from each of the three major bureaus. You’ve read them each carefully, marking mistakes, if any, on each report. IF you have found mistakes, which we have already established, is likely. What next? Now you have to dispute any errors you find on your reports. You have to do this by writing a letter. You can find sample dispute letters at the Federal Trade Commission website.
The bureau that has the mistake is required to investigate the error. They will contact the business or individual that reported the mistake and that company or individual then has 30 days to respond.
If it agreed that the information is in fact an error, the person reporting the information is supposed to correct it with all three bureaus. However, it’s best if YOU take charge and make sure that happens.
If they DON’T agree that the information is in error, you could sue them; but, most likely that isn’t worth your time and money. So, the next best thing to do is to ask that a short statement be included next to the information you disagree with. At least then, your side of the story will be right there for anyone looking at your report to see.
Finally, you cannot dispute accurate negative information, such as a bankruptcy. ACCURATE, negative information will only disappear with the passage of time. Which is exactly why it is so important to take charge of your credit NOW. Get that clock ticking!