A common question asked by those with less than stellar credit is, “can my credit be repaired?” The answer can be yes or no based upon a bit of research into what exactly is wrong with a credit score of less than about 680. Let’s start with the score. A score of over 740 is considered excellent and even if you have a score in the 800’s area you will probably not receive a better finance rate than those with 740.
Depending upon the company or program and type of loan e.g. home, car, boat, personal etc., scores will determine your interest rate and even if you can obtain a loan. I mentioned the score of 680 because that is near the average of all Americans and interest rates are not terrible at that rate.
Your score is determined by many factors some of which you will probably not be aware of. The key element is to pay all of your bills on time every month. If you miss a payment and it is reported, that missed payment will stay on your report for seven years. The importance of that missed payment diminishes over time so a recent late will take your score down and over time it will go back up if there were no more late payments.
If you have looked at your credit report recently and you see items that are clearly not yours, it is possible to have them removed. It may take time and in some cases great effort but they will go away because they were not yours. If however there are actually items on your report that truly are yours, those are harder to repair.
That’s where a talented credit repair company comes in. Be sure before you hire such a fixer, that you investigate them. There are fly-by-night operations out there who will take your money and send a few letters never to be heard from again.
You should know the truth. Late payments, bankruptcy’s, forclosures and similar items will be difficult and perhaps impossible to have removed. In some cases the credit repair people can get them reclassified to reduce the impact on a score.
There may be public records out there which can include defaults for student loans, child support judgements and other legal items which if they are correct will exceedingly difficult to fix. There are ways and I will not get into them here that’s why you should consider hiring professional.
Your first steps should be to obtain a copy of your credit report. You can obtain one at no cost each year by going to the U.S. Government Site
Credit scores are available from most credit card companies and mortgage companies on their website at no charge. While the scores are all over the place depending upon which type, where it originated etc., you can see if your score is in the 700,600,500;s range. The credit report should support the average of the scores.
By the way, do not use any of the scores in the belief that the score will be used by someone to grant you credit. Every credit grantor starts with one of the variety of scores and creates a profile. The free credit report will let you know what must be fixed.
Before you contact a professional, gather any and all documentation for items on your report that are not yours. If there are items that are yours but you want them gone to increase your score, give the professional all of the history behind the entry e.g. late payment, they tried to collect etc. Explain any IRS liens and anything else that is not reporting as paid as agreed.
A professional can do a better job with good input. Be prepared to be disappointed. You hire a professional and they can only do so much. Generally it’s worth a try as a very low credit score to buy a home for example may be approved but you could be paying hundreds per month more.
if it’s time for you to contact a professional, call or email me
In addition to helping you repair your credit, I can assist you in obtaining a loan for a home, or other purpose with your new credit score.
