Top Credit Repair Myths DeMystified

Myth #1 - Checking your own credit will cause your credit score to lower

This is false. Checking your own credit is a soft-inquiry and does not count against you. You can actually check your credit for free (albeit once per year) at www.annualcreditreport.com. Many companies offer 3 bureau credit reports as well as credit monitoring services allowing you to view your credit report multiple times over an extended period of time. Along with credit monitoring is the capability of watching your credit score and Identity Theft alerts.

Myth #2 - You need to wait for negative items to be removed from your credit report

Why this will work, there are other ways to remove negative items from your credit report. Be wary of offers to immediately fix your credit. This usually entails creating a new credit file and can be considered fraud. Many advanced techniques used by the pros are explained in the Credit Secrets Bible which will surely shave off the time required to re-establish good credit.

Myth #3 - You can always file for Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy is something to avoid at all cost. Other options might be consolidated loan payoffs or negotiating with creditors on an individual basis. Although bankruptcy might seem like an option, please make it your last resort.

Myth #4 - You have to hire a lawyer to fix your credit

You might be surprised to find out that lawyers and credit repair agencies don’t have any more clout in cleaning up your credit than you do. What they do have are the right forms and strategies for attempting to remove negative information from your credit report. You too can have access to the the same strategies and forms the pros have here.

Myth #5 - Paying off and removing old accounts will help my credit

This might help and it might not. With each account comes a history of payments in your credit report. This is your credit history. Older accounts actually show that you have established a credit history and therefore help your credit score. When you remove an old account, you only remove the history associated with that account and not any negative data associated with that account.