Removing Bad Credit History is Easier Than You Think
When you think of credit history, what do you think of? Are you scared to think of the one time you didn't pay your mortgage on time? What about the library fine you missed? Did you pay your phone bill before you moved? What about the credit card payments? If you think of any of these situations you aren't alone.
Most people have made mistakes when it comes to handling payments on various accounts in the past.
Sometimes these aren't intentional Things like this happen not because we intend them to.
The simplest explanation is that life just gets in the way.
Unfortunately, these blemishes on your credit history can affect your credit score (most do).
That's the bad news.
The good news that you can take steps to clean up some of this.
This isn't something I just pulled out of thin air.
This is something that I have done successfully and gotten my credit score from the low 600s to the 700s and finally at an 800 this past month.
The specific steps I took are as follows: First, get copies of your report from ALL three bureaus.
Even though you have only one credit history.
Some of the late payments or other bad items show up only in one report and not the others.
That's why your scores in all three bureaus is not the same.
When I first checked my report a couple of years back I had a score of 600 with Experian and 650 with Transunion and Equifax.
That's because a utility company had reported a late payment to Experian and not to the others.
I had moved out of state and forgot to switch off the electric for a few days after I had moved.
This brings us to the second step.
Second, pay down any delinquent accounts in the recent past if you can afford to.
I called up the collection company that was handling my delinquent account and made the payment.
I asked them to mail me a letter confirming that I had paid down the balance owed and asked them to report this back to the Experian.
After about 60 days I checked in again with Experian and my account was showing up as paid.
The impact on my score was minimal at the time but I knew that any creditors looking at my history in the future will not like to see accounts that haven't been paid down.
Third, enroll in a credit monitoring service.
Enroll in a service that sends you regular alerts whenever some activity takes place with respect to your credit.
You should get alerts each time you open up a credit card, shop for a mortgage etc.
As part of this service, sometimes you get the option of checking your credit score every month or couple of months.
Keeping on top of your credit through such a service is critical to improving your credit history.
Most people have made mistakes when it comes to handling payments on various accounts in the past.
Sometimes these aren't intentional Things like this happen not because we intend them to.
The simplest explanation is that life just gets in the way.
Unfortunately, these blemishes on your credit history can affect your credit score (most do).
That's the bad news.
The good news that you can take steps to clean up some of this.
This isn't something I just pulled out of thin air.
This is something that I have done successfully and gotten my credit score from the low 600s to the 700s and finally at an 800 this past month.
The specific steps I took are as follows: First, get copies of your report from ALL three bureaus.
Even though you have only one credit history.
Some of the late payments or other bad items show up only in one report and not the others.
That's why your scores in all three bureaus is not the same.
When I first checked my report a couple of years back I had a score of 600 with Experian and 650 with Transunion and Equifax.
That's because a utility company had reported a late payment to Experian and not to the others.
I had moved out of state and forgot to switch off the electric for a few days after I had moved.
This brings us to the second step.
Second, pay down any delinquent accounts in the recent past if you can afford to.
I called up the collection company that was handling my delinquent account and made the payment.
I asked them to mail me a letter confirming that I had paid down the balance owed and asked them to report this back to the Experian.
After about 60 days I checked in again with Experian and my account was showing up as paid.
The impact on my score was minimal at the time but I knew that any creditors looking at my history in the future will not like to see accounts that haven't been paid down.
Third, enroll in a credit monitoring service.
Enroll in a service that sends you regular alerts whenever some activity takes place with respect to your credit.
You should get alerts each time you open up a credit card, shop for a mortgage etc.
As part of this service, sometimes you get the option of checking your credit score every month or couple of months.
Keeping on top of your credit through such a service is critical to improving your credit history.