Negative items on your credit report need to be eradicated as much as possible because they are detrimental to your credit score and creditworthiness.
While data such as late payments, collections, bankruptcies, and foreclosures among others are reported on the credit report, they will greatly hurt the credit score and it will be difficult to secure approval for loans and credit cards. Fortunately, there is a solution that can help you to delete unfavorable information and enhance your credit report. Here it is – the information you need.
Review Your Credit Reports
The initial process is by checking credit reports from Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion if they contain any errors. The actual credit reports can be obtained from AnnualCreditReport. com and you can get three of them for free. Read the reports of each subject cautiously and try to find out any negative items or mistakes. The negative item to be documented includes the following, what the negative item is, the date, and the amount owed to the creditor. You will require these details once you challenge any mistakes from the credit bureaus.
Common negative credit report items include:
- Late payments
- Debt in collections
- Bankruptcies
- Foreclosures
- Tax liens
- Judgments
- Repossessions
Dispute Incorrect Negative Items
If there are any unfavorable records in your credit reports, and you consider them to be erroneous or old, you should contest them with the credit reporting agencies. Credit mistakes are possible, and credit bureaus are obliged to verify the information that has been contested.
To challenge an error on the report, you can write a dispute letter to the three credit bureaus namely, Experian, trans union, and Equitable. This must be clearly stated and followed by an explanation of why the information is incorrect and copies of the original records.
Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion must investigate within 30 to 45 days of receiving the dispute. If they cannot gather evidence that you have committed the negative item, they are obliged to delete it from your credit reports. This can lead to a nice boost in the credit scores that you enjoy and thus, can be of significant value.
Negotiate with Creditors
If there are some negative remarks such as payment delays, the most effective way to handle this is to call the creditors. They might want to negotiate on this and get some money from you or be paid any overdue balances.
The best way to start would be to reach out to the creditor and let them know your circumstances. Be polite and honest. Inquire if they are open to their credit record being amended and the removal of the negative item if you have repaid the money or are up in your payments. They are not even bound by it but most of the major creditors do have some plans as to how negatives can be deleted in exchange for consumers repaying on time.
That’s why any offer a creditor extends to you should be made in writing before you pay for anything. This will assist in avoiding instances of miscommunication later on in the project.
Wait It Out
To sum it up even if you aren’t in a position to qualify legitimate negative items early there is always hope. Revolving negative items do not fall off your credit report after a given number of years but instead get deleted automatically. Here are the time limits: Here are the time limits:
- Late payments – 7 years
- Debt collections – the statute of limitations is 7 years, starting from the time the particular debt has become past due.
- Bankruptcies – Chapter 13 has a time frame of seven years while Chapter 7 lasts for 10 years.
- Number of foreclosures – 7 years
- Tax liens – Usually 7 years, however, can remain on for up to 15 years based on some conditions.
- Judgments – Normally 7 years or the state space of the limitation whichever is longer
- Repossessions - 7 years
If you cannot get these items removed before, then it is better to wait until they drop off the clock. Vendors explain that the closer you get to the 7 or 10-year limit, the less the negative item will affect the FICO credit scores.
One point of note is that even though negative items like late payments and others are deleted from the credit report after these time frames, credit history does not disappear. However, these items could still affect how you can get credit through the starting limits and rates.
To start your credit repair process you need to apply for an SECURED Credit Card.
New credit is another useful method of reversing credit and raising your scores over time, especially new credit. However, it is important to note that people who have a bad credit record are often declined credit cards that are of the normal type.
Another option here is to apply for a secured credit card – and this is a different type of card from a regular one. Secured cards require a refundable cash deposit made at the time of applying, which ranges from $200 to $500. That deposit then serves as the credit ceiling that cannot be overshot in the subsequent transactions. Secured cards are like normal cards but they help to offset negative information by using positive payment records.
It is important to ensure that any secured card you take opens up your payment activity with the three major credit reporting agencies. It will enhance a credit limit and even lead to upgrading to an unsecured credit card in the course of using the cards responsibly.
Become an Authorized User
including oneself as an authorized user in a spouse or partner’s card account can also effectively contribute to rebuilding of credit. The main account history of the primary cardholder of the authorized user credit card is reported to the credit bureaus and is included in the scores. However, you are not legally bound to provide the debt in terms of money to be returned to the holder of the bond.
When a person wants to become an authorized user on a credit card it is important to discuss it with the current cardholder and confirm that the cardholder did not make any delayed payments on the credit card. When you get added to a credit card account it is best practice to have the account be an older card with a high credit limit and low credit utilization. This may give a balance of credit and can improve the score to a large extent.
Improve Other Credit Factors
In addition to removing negatives, there are other actions you can take to rebuild and increase your credit score: In addition to removing negatives, there are other actions you can take to rebuild and increase your credit score:
- Always ensure to pay all current bills in full – the payment history is the most significant aspect of the scores.
- Limit the amount of money that one spends on a credit card
- Restrict credit application – applying for credit will again negatively affect the scores.
- Dispute with credit bureaus on any mistakes or wrong information that may be listed in your credit reports
- Hold a valid identification document & have lived at your current address for more than one year.
- Reestablish favorable payment records even if there have been problems in the past
As stated earlier, when you have a high credit score, the negative items disappear from your report very fast. To succeed in credit repair, it is necessary to integrate several methods into a single strategy. This means that if one is consistent, they can delete those items that are negative on their credit report and improve their credit rating. Who needs credit scores when you can just continue with the credit practices that landed you in this hole in the first place
Call now for expert credit repair services: (888) 803-7889
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