Debt Consolidation Credit Counseling In Phoenix

Regardless of your track record or credit history, you can take some simple steps and do your own credit repair. You can begin right away, and it won't cost you anything - but the improvement can be gigantic!

The first step is to get copies of your credit report, read them, and understand them. There are three credit reporting agencies, and there can be differences in your file between them.

The law entitles consumers to a free copy of the credit report, one from each of the three agencies: TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. You are able to get one from each bureau every year.

There is a website set up by the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) specifically for this purpose: annualcreditreport.com. Be leery of any other sites claiming free credit reports - there will be strings & fees attached.

You can begin your credit repair efforts once you have your reports in hand. You will want to go through them carefully, line by line.

The reports will either include a "dispute" form, or give you a web address where you can download them. This is where you will begin fixing your credit score.

For every entry that is incorrect, inaccurate, or outdated, you will be filing a dispute. Provide the correct information, or why it is incorrect, such as a debt that has been paid but not removed.

By law, the credit reporting agencies have 30 days to verify the information being disputed. If they cannot verify it, or don't do so within the allotted 30 days, those entries must be removed from your credit report.

By taking this simple step, you will find some of those negative entries will come off your credit report, and as such no longer contribute to a low credit score. In some cases, this can boost your score by hundreds of points!