Happy New Year everyone!
Let’s hope this year will bring the start of a recovered economy and better lifestyle for all of us. Let’s hope the average credit score in America for 2012 goes up and helps Americans get the things they need.
More Americans will be hoping to buy a home in 2012 now that the prices have dropped and there are great deals on good homes.
Which leads me to our topic of 5 credit repair tips and techniques you can use to improve your lifestyle, save yourself thousands of dollars and make your life easier.
5 Credit Repair Tips & Techniques:
Tip #1
Buckle Down
Now that the holidays are over, it’s time to buckle down and save as much of your hard earned paycheck as possible. The holidays can take a lot out of your pocket, but luckily the first quarter of the year helps make up for it. Before summer hits, use this time to put away a portion of your paycheck each month. That money might go towards a new car or your dream home! If you need help with your budget, there is a specialized Budget Guide that comes with the Credit Repair Doctor®. The budget guide is easy and quick to use and it takes the lameness out of budgeting. It also helps people keep their payments on time.
Tip #2
Get Access to Your Credit Reports
Now that all the excitement is over with the holidays, it’s time to get your credit reports. Be very careful where you access your credit reports:
- Some credit reports come with credit scores, many do not
- Some credit reports will come with a credit score called VantageScore® which IS NOT used by 90% of lenders out there. You want your FICO® credit score, which is what 90% of lenders DO USE.
- Some companies will offer you a free credit report but you are actually charged a monthly fee for it.
To get your credit report for free without a membership fee or credit card needed, visit HERE to get instructions on how to access your credit report in less than 5 minutes.
Tip #3
Review Your Credit Report For Errors and Negatives
Many consumers don’t realize they can get a negative item deleted off of their credit report if it is
- Inaccurate
- Incomplete
- or Unverifiable
So once you get your credit report you want to look for inaccuracies and incomplete information on your credit report. Also remember if they can’t verify that particular item or detail on the credit report, you can request they delete/fix it. These can include anything from:
- An account showing a late payment that was not late (or they can’t verify it was late)
- A bankruptcy reporting that is not yours (Your father’s, son’s, person with similar name)
- A reporting date that is incorrect
- A balance amount that is incorrect
- A loan limit that is missing or wrong
And the list goes on… The point is anything you can find on your credit report that is wrong, even something as simple as the wrong amount or date, can be disputed.
Tip #4
Dispute the inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable information
When you are ready to dispute items on your credit reports, make sure you do it in writing and mail the letter to the credit bureaus. Using their electronic system eliminates the paper trail you need and also removes some of the responsibility the “credit bureau” normally has with written documentation.
Keep your dispute letter short and to the point. There is no need to bad-mouth or bring emotions into the letter, no matter how frustrating it may be. Stick with the facts and ask to have the item deleted or fixed.
Handwrite the letter so that it is not as easily scannable by their OCR technology. This technology scans your letter and tries to match it up with the millions of letters they receive yearly. It then gives your letter a simple 2 or 3 digit dispute code and sends out a response to you. If you handwrite it, you increase the chance that a human employee (unfortunately overworked and outsourced worker) will then give it a quick review (They are required to do each review in 4 minutes or less) and send a response letter to you.
There are 43 dispute letter templates included with the Credit Repair Doctor® which make it easy and fast to craft up a dispute letter. If you want to watch the video about credit surprises and information on the Credit Repair Doctor, visit The Credit Repair Doctor
Tip #5
Protect Your New Credit Rating
Now that you did the work to improve your credit rating, you want to protect it so that nothing bad ever happens to it. Here are some tips to protect your credit rating and your financial well-being:
- Prevent Identity Theft Fraud with Credit Monitoring. The FBI named Identity Theft the Fastest Growing Crime in America. Last year over 9 Million people were victims of identity theft. Visit the Credit Resources page to find the best credit monitoring companies in America.
- Photocopy the front and back of everything important in your wallet. If your wallet were to get stolen right now, do you have the contact info for your credit cards, bank ATM card, license, and other financial documents? Photocopy the front and back of your credit cards, license, insurance card and any other important items and keep them in a safe place… like a safe 🙂
- Don’t let other people have access to your private accounts. This means that when you’re online, you need to only access your accounts when you’re on your private computer.
- Have a strong anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall installed. Also, if you’re using any kind of router, you need to make sure that it’s password protected and change that password regularly to keep potential hackers out.
- Make sure you shred anything that has your personal information on it. This can include something that has the last 4 digits of your card number to something as simple as your date of birth. It doesn’t take much information these days for ID thefts to accomplish their evil tricks. If you do not have a shredder, you can always rip it into smaller pieces and flush down the toilet or put down the disposal. There is no way they can get it then!
So there are 5 tips to have a great year!
Share this with friends, family and co-workers to help increase the average credit score in America!