How To Fix Your Credit

In todays hard economic times, having good credit is an important part of living an average American lifestyle. In some cases you can't even get that job you want without having to go through a credit check. It's almost hard to believe that a good strong handshake was enough to tell if someone was a credible person a few short years ago. Now with all that said, knowing that credit reports are so vitally important, what should you do if your credit is bad? Well, there are a few things:

1. Start fighting false items on your credit report - A uncommonly know fact about credit reports is that over 70% of them have at least one error. If there are any errors on your credit report this could harm your credit score. Look for any thing that is reporting past due and make sure that you recall the item. If you don't send a letter to the credit reporting agency and explain that it should not be there because you know nothing about it and they will start the investigation process. Also, look for other things that could be hurting your credit score as well. Believe it or not, one of the major factors in your credit is your debt to credit line ratio. It is not uncommon for a credit card company to report the wrong credit line which could have an adverse effect on your credit report. Make sure that your credit report reports the correct address, job, and income as well. I know it doesn't seem too important but when you fill out that application for credit and the bank sees that your credit report says you make $27,000.00 a year and you wrote down $50,000.00 a year this could pose a problem with you getting the loan or credit card that you are applying for. With all of this said, this is very important, please make sure your credit report reports the correct information about your credibility!

2. Start paying off past due debts - I know I know you haven't made a payment to these debts in 2 years why start now. Well the answer is simple, because they are able to report this bad debt for a minimum of 7 years if you want it to disappear, pay it off. I won't say it is not possible but I will tell you that it is extremely hard to get a new loan if you have any loans out that have gone unpaid.

3.Open new credit cards - The first question I get from a client when I ask them to open a new credit card is, how will this help me? Well it's actually a pretty simple question to answer. If you only have bad debts or you don't have any debts, how will lenders know that you are a credit worthy consumer. Revolving credit lines are the best tools for banks to gage how credit worthy a person is. I personally advise Discover credit cards because they are the best with customer service and they report to all 3 reporting agencies often.