Straightforward Results From Credit Repair

Low credit scores are relatively common at this time and the recession in the economy has just made it more acute. You can have a great credit score and miss just one payment and your score can dip as much as 100 points or more. One problem is that many people do not have any idea about how credit scores are measured, how they can drop and how to repair them.

Credit scores are based upon a combination of many different things. Of course, it is partly if you make your payments in a prompt manner but there are other things too. One of the most crucial things that the credit bureaus look for is the difference between how much credit you have available and how much you are using. If your credit cards and credit lines are maxed out at the limit your score is considerably diminished.

In order to increase your credit scores you need to make sure that you charge no more than 30% of the credit limit you have accessible. You can do this by raising your limits, paying down your balance or not going over the 30% in the first place. You are thought to be a lower risk if you have a extended credit limit but you are not using it.

Longer-term credit is looked at more positively than shorter-term credit so if you have older credit cards use them more frequently than the newer ones. Of course, all of the same rules apply, make your payments promptly and never exceed more than 30% on the balance. Paying it off every month rather than carrying a balance is always best.

People can dispute negative information on your credit report. As a result of the Federal government enacted the Fair Credit Reporting Act in order to protect consumers. If you have a negative mark on your report you have the legal right to dispute it. The bureaus and the creditors must then prove the validity of it within a certain period of time. If they fail to prove that the information is correct within the allotted time period, then the information must be deleted from the report.

The creditors and the bureaus have 30 to 45 days from receipt of your dispute to prove the validity of their reporting. However, the benefit you have, as a consumer is that it is estimated that as many as 40% or all disputes are never verified. That means that up to 40% of all disputed information is deleted from the reports. You can use that fact to your benefit.

When you make a credit report dispute be vigilant about keeping detailed records. Send every correspondence by certified mail and have a paper trail complete with dates. List only one dispute per letter and send separate correspondence for every dispute.

Although it may take time, energy and determination to repair your credit it can be done. You have the right to repair your credit and it is worth the effort.

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