Funds Blog

Erase Bad Credit

You do not have to just wait for negative marks on your credit report to fall off. You can remove them and improve your credit score.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act that was passed by Congress gives you the right to dispute any item on your report. This act also makes it law that if the item is not verified by the creditor then the bureau must delete it from your credit report.

You can dispute an item through the dispute process. This is done yourself by writing a dispute letter or you can hire a service to dispute items on your behalf.

Once the bureaus get your letter they will investigate the dispute. They will contact the creator of the item and get them to verify the account, the account balance, and the dates on the account.

If the creator is unable to verify the account then it must be deleted from your report. The easiest items to remove have been learned to be a charge off, repossession and a late payment after they have aged for two years.

This is because the creditor has gotten some form of payment for your debt. For example with a charged off credit card the creditor has sold your debt to a debt collector. Therefore the creditor has no reason to save records of your account.

Recent delinquent accounts, tax liens, judgments, and bankruptcies are more difficult to remove. If you have one of these marks then hiring a service is a good idea, because they have advanced dispute tactics.

If you have a service and your disputed item is verified then they can use advanced dispute techniques to remove the item. The techniques include; creditor direct intervention, escalated dispute information requests, and debt validation.

In addition it will help your credit score if you open a revolving line of unsecured credit. I suggest a bad credit credit card. This will help you build a positive payment history which is very important when your score is being calculated.

In sum you do not have to wait seven years to repair your credit. You can have a good credit score by removing derogatory items and building a positive payment history.