Credit Repair Blueprint - Part 1

If you have made the decision to repair your credit, you are not alone. Almost 80 million people in the U.S. have poor credit. So, can you do it yourself or do you hire a credit repair service or possibly an attorney to help? A typical service will charge you a monthly fee. My personal experience and others I know that have tried a service yielded marginal results at best. The speed at which things happened was like waiting for ice to melt. And who can blame them, they are charging a monthly fee. If you are reading this then most likely you have decided to do it yourself, and I hope to give you the tools and resources you will need for the journey. I have found that it’s not only possible to fix your credit yourself, but you will be able to do it better than any service can.

One of the first steps will be to get copies of your credit report from each credit bureau. There are three major credit bureaus and each keeps a credit profile on you. You might be surprised that your credit report is not the same at each bureau. Therefore you will want a copy from each bureau so you will know exactly what you needs fixed and what doesn’t. And with each bureau comes its own credit score. There are several scores available, but the most important is the FICO score. This is the score lenders will use to grade you on your credit.

If you are in the process of repairing your credit or in the market for a new home or car loan, you are going to want a copy of your credit report and a FICO score from each credit bureau. Luckily this can all be assembled for you in one neat package from MyFico, the creators of the FICO score. MyFico can provide you with a 3 bureau credit report and FICO scores from each bureau. Equifax also has some nice packages available, so you may want to compare.

On your credit report at each agency will be four main sections:

The first section highlights personal information about you such as the spelling of your name, any aliases you might use, current and past addresses, your social security number and any other pertinent information.

Section two will typically be the largest section and will contain all of your past and current credit line information. Credit lines are your home, auto and other loans in your name as well as revolving credit lines like credit cards. This section will show the lenders name, account number, credit limit, payment history, late payments and also the status of the loan (closed, open, inactive, paid or sent to collections).

The next section is Public Records. This section has foreclosures, bankruptcies, tax liens and other judgments against you. Depending on when these judgments took place, these items will most likely have the most impact on your credit score.

The last section deals with Inquiries. Each time a lender views your profile to approve you for credit it is noted in the Inquiries section. A few points may be taken from your score each time this happens. If you view your own credit, you will not be assessed any points from your score.

That’s it for Part 1 of this series. Check out a review of 3 bureau credit report services here when you are ready to purchase your credit reports and scores.