Information About Cleaning A Bad Credit Score
- By Stuart Hunter
- Published 09/4/2009
- Finance
- Unrated
Stuart Hunter
Providing credit repair services since 1991, Lexington Law has helped over 500,000 clients legally take on their credit. Last year alone, Lexington Law helped clients remove over 600,000 negative items from their credit reports.
View all articles by Stuart HunterInformation About Cleaning A Poor Credit Score
The current economy highlights the importance of cleaning up your credit report, especially when lower rates for new home loans are mainly offered to borrowers with a credit rating of 750 or higher.
In the past a credit rating of 620 was considered good and anything above 700 excellent; today's threshold for a good credit score is above 700 and an excellent score is even higher. Keeping up with the increasing standards of lenders leaves many Americans looking for a way to increase their scores.
The first step to cleaning up your credit is to obtain a copy of your credit report from all three major credit bureaus: TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. You are entitled to a free copy of your credit report from each credit bureau once a year. It is important to carefully scan each report and not rely solely on the report from just one credit bureau, as incorrect information could appear on just one report, and each report does not always contain the same data.
After looking through each credit report and noting the negative items you feel are inaccurate, you can send a
html">credit dispute letter to each credit bureau disputing the item, enclosing any evidence you have that the item needs to be updated or removed. In the past a credit rating of 620 was considered good and anything above 700 excellent; today's threshold for a good credit score is above 700 and an excellent score is even higher. Keeping up with the increasing standards of lenders leaves many Americans looking for a way to increase their scores.
The first step to cleaning up your credit is to obtain a copy of your credit report from all three major credit bureaus: TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. You are entitled to a free copy of your credit report from each credit bureau once a year. It is important to carefully scan each report and not rely solely on the report from just one credit bureau, as incorrect information could appear on just one report, and each report does not always contain the same data.
After looking through each credit report and noting the negative items you feel are inaccurate, you can send a
The credit bureau is then required to verify the disputed items within 30 days by contacting the credit company in question. The credit company is tasked with proving the validity of the listing. If they fail to respond (something that happens with regularity) or are unable to prove the information is accurate, the information should be corrected or removed from your credit report. Be aware, though, that the credit bureaus can add the information back onto your report if the original furnisher verifies or re-reports the information even after the 30 days has passed.
Dedication Is Necessary to Clean Your Credit Report
Persistence, patience, and time are often times necessary when attempting to clean up your credit as it can take multiple letters to get the results you are looking for. It is because of this that many people turn to expert help from the many reputable credit repair services operating today. In fact, Lexington Law, the leading provider of credit correction services for American consumers, reports that 40 of clients attempted to repair their credit themselves before enlisting the help of the firm.