 Credit Repair in a HurryMonday, September 22, 2008 - Article by: Jim Kemish -
Credit Repair and your Credit Reports Credit repair is all about knowledge, and your credit reports are the key. There are three credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion, and they each provide their reports in a different format. In addition, there are many tri-merged reports available which blend the information from all three credit bureaus in a different format. The tri-merged reports are designed to be user friendly and may be your best bet for credit repair. The Real Score There is another credit repair resource that gets less notice, but is arguably the most important. This resource is MyFico.com the website for Fair Isaac Corporation the creator and owner of the Fico credit score. The credit bureaus sell their own scores, marketing them with no visible disclosure that they are not the scores that lenders use. These bogus scores are deceptive and bear little resemblance to the genuine scores available at MyFico.com. The Right Credit Repair Set Up So, if you want to benchmark your scores, get the scores that count. Ah, but there is a twist. Although you should get your scores from Fair Isaac, their credit reports are the least useful for credit repair. So, I'm sorry to say, but if you really want to do it right buy your scores from Fair Isaac and a good tri-merged report for credit repair information purposes. Proof Reading for Credit Repair Once you have your credit reports it's time to put on your reading glasses and get down to the business of squinting through all of the data that the credit bureaus attribute, often wrongly, to your life. I suggest that you clear your desk or kitchen table, get a pad of paper and a highlighter and make a note of everything you see that is even vaguely questionable. Here are some of the most significant things to look for. Pushing it to the Limit Credit card issuers often under report your high credit limits. This seems innocent enough; most people don't think to look for this innocuous little tidbit, but it has the potential to knock 100 points off your score. Gasp. Check it out. The FICO scoring model places great weight on the relationship between your balance and your limit. If the credit card issuer erroneously underreports your limit your score may be artificially depressed. Gone but not Gone Another problem often overlooked are accounts that have been closed and paid but continue to report as open with balances. This is very common and can overstate your current debt load. It is not unusual to spot two or three of these accounts, ranging from mortgages to little store cards. You can easily eliminate these obsolete accounts for a nice little credit repair boost. |
|
