How to Repair Your Own Credit

One of the most debated topics I’ve seen online surrounding credit repair is whether to try your hand at improving your credit score on your own, or if it’s a better idea to let a credit repair service take over for you. The simple fact is you certainly can repair your credit yourself. Plenty of credit repair companies would like you to believe you can’t improve your credit score and settle your outstanding accounts all on your own; that only they have some magic “tried and true” method for fixing bad credit, but the truth is, they don’t. In fact, there IS no magic formula for fixing credit errors and improving scores. Like any goal worth achieving, all it takes is a little work and patience on your part. This isn’t to say that all credit repair services are a waste of time. A really good credit repair company will be able to show you the safest way to fixing your bad credit and improving your credit scores goes well beyond disputing everything and hoping at least some of your negative accounts fall off (an approach favored by a lot of credit repair services). They’ll be able to advise you on when to dispute and when to settle, how many credit cards you should have open to optimize your credit score – things you might not normally consider when working on your own to fix your bad credit. To start your attempt at self credit repair, you’ll want to make sure you have a recent copy of your credit report. Finding a place to get a free copy of your report can be tricky, but we recommend Annual credit report (it’s the only Federally-approved website that allows you a free look at your report every 12 months). We also recommend checking out your FICO score to get a better idea of what exactly goes into building your credit score. Comb your credit report for any errors you can find – anything from a misspelling of your name to the wrong dates on an account – and send a dispute letter for any errors you find. If you find that everything on your report is completely accurate and you just need to polish up your credit history, have no fear, that’s do-able too. It’s simply a matter of addressing the bad and rebuilding positive. Most other credit repair services will shy away from helping you beyond simply disputing your negative accounts, but again, this is something you can do on your own. Collectors just want the money that’s owed to them, and some are even willing to settle for much less than you owe. Many of them will even can be negotiated to delete the item once you pay it off (see pay for delete letters). Credit repair on your own can be tricky (keeping up with the myriad of laws alone can seem almost impossible), but it can be done.