3 Tips to Rebuilding Your Credit
If you're like most people, you have probably had some problems with your credit in the past and have likely suffered quite a few higher interest rates because of it.
Although it can be very intimidating to start monitoring your credit and working toward those higher scores, the results at the end are very worth it.
If you can get your credit score as little as 50 points higher, it could mean a whole percentage point difference when you buy your home, which could add up to as much as an extra $50,00 - $100,000 over the life of the loan.
The first thing that you need to do when you decide to take control of your credit is to pull a copy of your credit score.
You can do that for free, but maybe not through the sources you've heard of.
Don't misunderstand the commercials that you hear.
You're not really getting a free credit report at freecreditreport.
com.
In reality, you're getting your "Free Credit Report" by subscribing to their Credit Monitoring service, which will cost upwards of $19.
99 per month or more.
There is only one true place to get a free copy of your credit report, and that can be found through the link at the end of this article.
Once you have had a good look at your credit report, it's time to make sure that all of your accounts are reporting accurately, and that all of the accounts that are reported are, in fact, yours.
It's very easy to have accounts from other people show up on your credit report, and then if they default, you're the one who suffers.
Take a good, long look at your credit report and dispute any erroneous data that you find.
This is also the point where you can work on removing the negative items, but that's something that we'll have to get into some other day.
Finally, the best way to start rebuilding your credit is to establish good credit practices.
By opening a new credit account and making your payments on it, while maintaining the proper utilization ratios, you'll notice your score start to increase over time.
If you can keep accruing more positive accounts, you'll start to notice the effects of your negative accounts diminishing.
There's nothing that helps your credit more than having positive accounts reporting.
Although it can be very intimidating to start monitoring your credit and working toward those higher scores, the results at the end are very worth it.
If you can get your credit score as little as 50 points higher, it could mean a whole percentage point difference when you buy your home, which could add up to as much as an extra $50,00 - $100,000 over the life of the loan.
The first thing that you need to do when you decide to take control of your credit is to pull a copy of your credit score.
You can do that for free, but maybe not through the sources you've heard of.
Don't misunderstand the commercials that you hear.
You're not really getting a free credit report at freecreditreport.
com.
In reality, you're getting your "Free Credit Report" by subscribing to their Credit Monitoring service, which will cost upwards of $19.
99 per month or more.
There is only one true place to get a free copy of your credit report, and that can be found through the link at the end of this article.
Once you have had a good look at your credit report, it's time to make sure that all of your accounts are reporting accurately, and that all of the accounts that are reported are, in fact, yours.
It's very easy to have accounts from other people show up on your credit report, and then if they default, you're the one who suffers.
Take a good, long look at your credit report and dispute any erroneous data that you find.
This is also the point where you can work on removing the negative items, but that's something that we'll have to get into some other day.
Finally, the best way to start rebuilding your credit is to establish good credit practices.
By opening a new credit account and making your payments on it, while maintaining the proper utilization ratios, you'll notice your score start to increase over time.
If you can keep accruing more positive accounts, you'll start to notice the effects of your negative accounts diminishing.
There's nothing that helps your credit more than having positive accounts reporting.