Fixing My Chedit Score

S.:

You can't "fix" it... do NOT pay anyone money to fix it...

Pull your credit report...if there are things that are wrong on it - report it - that's how you fix it.

If it's all true and correct - the only thing that will fix it is time and making payments on time....

if there are things that are NOT yours - like your ex-husband's you should be able to have them removed from your profile...state in your letter to the credit bureau and to the creditor that "this is NOT my credit"...it should be listed solely under Steve Jones, social security #......blah blah

Sorry there isn't a magic wand to make it all right.

Ok the best thing in the world to do is pay your creditors on time. It also helps to pay off as much debt as you can. Both of these things will increase your credit score. Really those are the only two surefire things that will help you. It takes time, sometimes years for it to completely be on track, so don't get frustrated. We just came off of a business failure that put our credit in the toilet. So after my husband got a new job, I took over our finances. I made sure that everything was on time, and within two years we are back on track.

First step is getting your credit report. If it really is in the dumps, it will take time but you can improve it. Just do NOT pay someone. You can get your report at www.annualcreditreport.com This is the site the government set up so consumers can obtain 1 free report per year from each credit bureau. You go in and choose which one you want and then are linked to that bureaus site. You can request 1 free per year-creating a login with the bureau and have access to it for 30 days. If you space it out to one every 3 or 4 months from a different bureau, you can continue to check it to make sure things are okay. First make sure there are no inaccuracies and dispute anything that is incorrect. You can also dispute things that are really old. Each state has a statute of limitations for different bills. I had a collection account on my report from 2001. I could not prove that I had paid the co-pay since my bank could not provide me with a copy of my statement any longer and I disputed it based on the statute of limitations in IL which is 5 yrs. It came off. There was also a billing recently that I did not even know about. I thought the insurance totally covered the expense. I was able to get a bill (never received one), compare it to my visits and pay it. Then the collection agency removed it per my request to them. Work on it and you will see an improvement. Just don't expect magic.

Good advice from Cheryl O!! Not sure where you are on your day-to-day bills but working toward financial independence would have to be a big part of this for you. We took a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace course and it helped us alot. Several churches offer it in the summer. Well worth your time. Good luck, it WILL get better. One step at a time....

If you do put a big big chunk on a bill to pay it off faster make sure it goes to principle not interest. my sister made this mistake, a bank teller told her to pay the min amount and and the same month pay the chunk. cause more than half of the chunk went to interest and not principal. pay ur bills on time for a year and that should up ur credit.

i couldnt buy a used car until i paid off these 3 pain in the butt bills, mostly medical tests and an over draft, did so that month and was approved at the car finance.

My husband and I are going through this. We have lousy credit for various reasons. About a year ago we decided we wanted to buy a house. So I went and talked with a lending company, they pulled our credit report and went through it with me creditor by creditor, debt by debt, it was a huge eye opener for me. I realized a late payment was just about the worst thing you can have! We had YEARS of ongoing late payments!!
Piece of advice: make the minimum payment on one thing and a large payment on another to get it paid off sooner. Instead of making four $50/mo payments, make small payments on three and the remaining $ put on one, if that makes sense. :)

It all sounds good in theory and a plan looks great on paper. We have been working on ours for about a year and hopfully will be into a house by next summer, if we don't have anymore late payments!

Do get a credit card, if you can, make small purchases, make payments on it for a few months before paying it all off. That will increase your score...

I agree with the other ladies' response! I'll just add get a credit union credit card because the interest rate and other terms can be much better for ya than traditional bank cards. Otherwise you have to develop a spending plan and most importantly start paying on time.

Michelle Singletary has excellent advice. Check out her website.

In addition to what the other ladies have said, if you don't have a credit card- get one! Then use it for small expenses every month and pay it off in full each month. The fact that you're paying on a credit card actually raises your credit score.