Wednesday, August 6, 2008

What You Should Know About Credit Report Repair

By Ray Lam


When doing credit report repair, you can find all kinds of advice on how to send your letters. If you are surfing the web looking for information about credit report repair, you will find free credit report repair letters at several sites, but you will also find that there are software programs with "fill in the blank" type letters. Before you buy one of the many credit report repair kits that are available on-line, there are certain sites you should visit to view and print the information that is included on your credit report.

According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, consumers can dispute mistakes in their credit report for free. It can be a little time consuming to pull your report, document the error, type up a letter and send it in, so many people hire credit repair agencies to do the boring work for them. There is no real reason, other than the issue of time, to pour out money for work that you can easily do yourself.

If you have any "proof" that the information is inaccurate, (statements, cancelled checks, the "proof" depends on the individual item) list it here and enclose a copy (not the original). Online credit repair services, as the name suggests, help customers improve their credit ratings by removing inaccurate, false or misleading information from their credit reports. Consumers have the right to dispute any information contained on their credit reports that they believe to be inaccurate, misleading, outdated or unverifiable.

Don't fall for the ads that claim an agency can erase bad credit from your report. The only thing by law that can be changed on a credit report is inaccurate information. If you have had a bankruptcy, the only thing that will legally remove it from your credit report is time. Credit repair agencies charge anywhere from $400 to $2000 for their services and the reality is they are not doing anything that you can't do for yourself. For $30 you can obtain a credit report that lists your history with all three credit bureaus. The rest of the investment in cleaning up your credit report is in the value of the time it requires.

The next step towards credit repair is to report inaccurate information to the credit bureau. It is legal to attempt to repair your credit rating on your own by having false, out-dated or inaccurate information from your credit report. A legitimate credit repair company with legal professionals who specialize in credit issues can request that damaging information be removed from your credit report.

About the Author:

No comments: