Credit Repair Counseling - FIVE Mistakes To Avoid When Repairing Your Credit

Repairing your credit is not a difficult task although it demands attention to detail and a great deal of organisation. A credit repair lawyer can undertake this for you for a fee if you find the task too daunting.

Nevertheless, if you're repairing your credit yourself, here are FIVE points to avoid:

1. Giving Up

Credit repair, as mentioned many times on this website is not difficult if you arm yourself with the right information. However, it can be daunting as it demands a degree of organisation, being meticulous and persevering especially in the initial stages. A great deal of patience is also required due to statutory timescales involved. For instance credit bureaus are allowed by law to take up 30 days to respond to your initial dispute.

The waiting can be frustrating but sending repeated letters can be damaging to your cause. Patience, perseverance and organisation is the key. You also need a overall strategy before you even start so you can stick to it through thick and thin.

2. Lack Of Documentation

Documenting the whole process is very important. Online credit repair may seem like fast track but you'll have no proof for instance, of letters sent. You will need a simple folder to keep post office receipts in, as well as copies of dispute letters sent etc. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), credit bureaus have 30 days to get back to you with the results of an investigation on your dispute. If you do not hear from them, within 30 days, they must remove the item. This is where a receipt showing proof of when your dispute letter was sent comes in handy.

3. NOT Disputing With Credit Bureaus First

After you've checked your free credit report, you should start disputing with the credit bureaus first before accosting the creditors or those who filed the item. This alone can get up tp 30% of negative items removed! The other advantage is that, once you've filed a dispute with Transunion, Equifax or Experian, you can take your creditors to court.

4. Disputing Online

As mentioned in our credit repair guide, online credit repair is 2nd best as it reduces the opportunity to document the whole process. In addition, your disputes will be processed by an offshore company (Read about the eOscar). Further to that, you will not be able to dispute specific information within the listing, for instance, wrong high balance, wrong date account was opened etc.

5. Having Impossible Expectations

In real legal terms, there's no such thing as FAST credit repair! There may be illegal ways to achieve it but that's not what this website is about. The reality is that certain negative items are difficult to remove unless you change your identity. Items such as child support defaults, bankruptcies, tax liens, judgements etc are difficult if not impossible to remove. Bankruptcies can stay on your report for at least 7 years. For ordinary negative items such as credit card defaults it can take anywhere from 4 months to a year. As mentioned before, patience is key.