Repairing your credit report can be a daunting task. I am going to give you the FACTS and resources about repairing your own credit report for FREE.

Over the years I have learned what really works to get your scores up quickly. Since I am a lender, there were many instances where I had to get a borrowers credit scores higher in order to secure financing for them. Here are the steps:

Pull your credit report – Obviously you need to know what is on your credit report so you can assess the damage. Don’t be scared, just pull it.

Look for inaccuracies on your report – You can dispute information that is not correct.

Look for collections on your report – I am sure you have heard that all you need to do is dispute a collection. Well this is not completely true, you can dispute that collection and it might temporarily be removed. You really want permanent results not temporary results. The best solution is to find the collections on your credit report and calculate how much you owe for each debt. Make a check list of these collections and balances owed. Also get the numbers to call these collection companies which is on the credit report.

Determine your budget to negotiate these collections – This is the best practice. Pay off the collections by negotiating pennies on the dollar. You will be surprised what these collection companies will settle for. Typically you can settle between 60 and 70% of balanced owed. Make sure you meet the agreement you arranged with the collection company.

Get all documentation in writing – After you have paid off the collection, make sure you get a letter from the collection company stating that you settled or paid in full on the debt owed. You will need this letter if you later find that the bureaus have not updated properly.

Re-Establish credit – In order to have good credit scores you will need at least 2 to 3 lines of good credit reporting in your name. Typically if all your good credit has gone to collection, the quickest way to re-establish is to get a couple of secured credit cards. If you don’t have any credit scores, this credit scoring process will take a minimum of 6 months to get scores. It is important to make sure you re-establish credit if you don’t have any credit….

Re-pull your credit report after 60 days – Once you have settled on your collections and reestablished new credit if needed, re-pull your credit report 60 days afterwords. This time frame will allow the creditors to update the credit bureaus properly. If you find some of the collections agencies have not updated the credit bureaus, call them and let them know.