How To Repair Credit

 It's a tough situation to be in when you have bad credit and want to repair it. It's frustrating because it's not something that can be done overnight. Credit repair takes time, discipline and a commitment to improve things. The situation is not completely hopeless though. Credit repair is a possibility with a few steps.

  You can't fix what you don't know so the important first step is to obtain a copy of your current credit report. Here you can see where the problems lie and it will give you an idea of how to move forward. There are three agencies that you can contact to get your report - Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian. All of these companies are obligated to provide you with a free credit report once every twelve months.

 Once you have received your report, examine it carefully. Some mistakes may have been made and past bad credit that has now been cleared may not have been removed from your credit report. There may also be negative comments on your report. Now is the time to respond to those comments. If there are outstanding amounts to creditors, you can start paying them back. Once you make your first payment, phone the creditor and ask that they remove the negative comments from your report.

 Having a lot of debt can greatly affect your ability to receive credit. Lenders generally don't like loaning to 'high risk' individuals and someone with lots of debt already is definitely considered high risk. Start by paying off the creditors with the highest interest rate first. The general rule of thumb is that your debt should be no more than 30% of your credit limit.

 It's also a good idea to take out a small loan or a credit card. Depending on how bad your credit is, you may have to do a bit of repair before you do this. By taking out a small amount of debt and paying it off as soon as the payments are due, you are showing lenders that you are paying off some debt. This will go on your credit report.

 If you want to learn how to repair credit yourself, I highly recommend you read CreditSecretsBible by Terry Price & Ryan Wright. It's an interesting and insight book where they'll show you how to raise your credit score up to 249 points in under 90 days so you get approved for whatever loan you want to get as well as paying lower interest rates.