When it comes to your financial future, you will want to make sure you do something about your credit before it is too late. One of the best ways to do that is through credit repair. If you don’t act quickly, you can soon find yourself in a very tight spot with your credit and no way to get out from under it.
The first step to take is to order your credit report from all three major agencies. This will help you find out what information is on it that may be making you look bad. You will also find out if there are any errors on it. If you find any, then you need to dispute it.
The next step in this Real Estate credit repair guide is to dispute every item on your credit report that is not correct. There are two main reasons that items on your credit report may be inaccurate. First, the creditors may not have kept track of your payment history. If this is the case, then they may have mistakenly reported a late payment or two onto your credit report. Also, sometimes the creditor itself makes mistakes, and these are also going to be reported.
In addition, some creditors or companies report incorrectly how much debt you actually owe in order to qualify for lower rates or better terms. This is why it is so important to order your credit report from all three agencies. Once you have done this, you can dispute each error on your report individually.
The most common error is reporting that you have paid off something when you actually still owe on it. For instance, if you have financed a house but it has gone into foreclosure, this will still show on your credit report. So, instead of removing the foreclosure entry, you may want to dispute this item. You can send a letter to the credit bureaus informing them of your new information. They will investigate with the creditor and hopefully remove the negative entry.
There is another error that you can try to dispute. Many companies report inaccuracies by including items that do not exist. For example, they may list a previous address for the property that is incorrect. To remedy this, you should send them a letter detailing the last name, address and phone number of the owner. They may not remove this entry right away, but eventually it will be removed.
Another option for dispute is contacting the reporting agency. If the item is on your credit report because of identity theft, you may contact the company responsible for giving you your credit to see if they can verify the information. They are required to do this within 30 days, so make sure you take action quickly.
In the end, your report is a document that is not only used for purchasing things, but as part of your overall credit score. Real estate credit repair is a long process and takes time. However, if you stay firm, it can improve your credit score in a few months. Good luck!
I almost forgot to mention. You should dispute every item that is incorrect. If you have a problem with a creditor, don’t wait to call them. Call them right away and dispute the charges. Once the item is removed from your report, it will not come back unless you dispute it again.
It’s important to remember that you are the best judge here. Real estate credit can be very tricky because it is complicated. So, if there are any inaccuracies, get them corrected.
Finally, when you are working through a real estate credit repair, you should always ask for help. There are plenty of resources to help you. You may need a mentor or an attorney. Regardless, you can find help in many places.
The most important thing is to be persistent. Keep up with the actions. As you work to fix your credit, you will see your credit rating improve over time. As soon as you begin to build credit, you can borrow more and you can get better offers on loans and other items in the future.
