If you have an overdue student loan, years of high credit card balances, collections, then you probably know that you are under the radar of bad credit.
With poor credit, you may not be able to get approved for new credit products like credit cards. Which means your dream of buying a new car or a house may remain in your dreams. At such time some credit repair companies may entice you to fix your credit in no time. But, don’t fall for scams promising easy, overnight credit repair.
If you want to fix your poor credit, you can do it yourself or could take help from an established credit repair expert. Here are five steps towards building better credit that you can do yourself:
Know where you stand
Before you start this mission of credit repair, get copies of your full credit reports from all three bureaus- Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. You can get your reports free once a year. Other websites may claim to offer free reports but don’t depend on them as they are often deceptive. With these credit reports, you can get a clear idea where you need to focus and work.
Dispute Any Errors
The next step in credit repair is to dispute incorrect information on your credit report. Bad credit is your fault but sometimes there can be errors or incorrect information. If you do see any errors, even if small ones, it’s worth cleaning them up. For that, review the list of credit cards, outstanding debts, and major purchases. Make a copy of the report, highlight the error and submit to the specific credit reporting agency.
Pay Your Bills on Time
If you want to fix bad credit, you need to start paying all of your monthly bills on time. On-time payments are the single most important factor to maintain your credit score. Here it is crucial to know that your credit won’t improve until you can consistently pay every bill on time.
Pay Down Credit Card Balances
Take charge of your credit cards by paying down their balances to have a healthy credit score. If you have any outstanding balances, make room in your budget to pay down these debts little by little, every month until they are finished. Know your credit limits and try to stay under the maximum when charging items.
Don’t Apply for New Credit
Don’t get tempted to apply for a new credit card, even when a store offers a discount on your purchases for doing so. Each time you apply for credit is listed on your credit report as a “hard inquiry” and if you have too many entries in two years, your credit score will suffer.
In Conclusion
In order to repair your credit, you will need to limit your use of credit. It may take months or even a couple of years for your credit score to improve, but with the steps shared above, you can achieve a good credit score soon. If you feel stuck at any step you can take help from a professional credit repair consultant like Richard Kramer, who has been helping people fix their credit scores and giving them right financial advice from past 35 years.
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