You can often be your own credit repair person if your credit report contains a long list of negative things. The law prevents you from removing them if they are legitimate, but, if you can find any type of mistake, these negative items are fair game for erasure. You need to be creative and know your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). You can use the law in your favor to remove many of the harmful items.
Step 1
Get copies of your credit report through AnnualCreditReport.com, the site created by a provision in the FCRA. The law entitles you to one free report every year from TransUnion, Experian and Equifax, which are the three, big credit bureaus. You can order your reports individually to fix your credit one report at a time, or you can get all three reports at once.
Step 2
Seek out as many mistakes as possible in every negative item. Some of the items may be flawless, but many will have minor errors, states CreditInfocenter.com. Look for old or misspelled lender names, transposed account numbers and wrong credit or payment amounts. The bureau might even have the wrong status attached to some of the accounts. Any of these things may allow you to remove the item.
Step 3
Demand an investigation into all of the mistake-containing items. All the bureaus let you do this online, but the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) advises doing it in writing, so you can mail it by certified mail and get proof of its receipt. Your letter should state you want all the listed items investigated within 30 days, which is the FCRA's designated time frame. Explain you want them removed if they are not validated by the creditors within that legally mandated period.
Step 4
Enclose proof with your demand letter if you have anything appropriate. It is not necessary, but billing statements, cashed checks, activity printouts, contracts and similar items strengthen your position. Create a packet, and send it out from the post office, so you get your dated receipt.
Step 5
Review the credit bureau's response and a new copy of your credit report, which you are entitled to for making a dispute. The bureau most likely will not have been able to validate all the negative items within the 30-day period. The items should no longer show on your credit report if the validation was not done.
Step 6
Find new grounds to challenge any remaining negative items. You can keep asking for their removal as long as you can find new mistakes. Anderson, Ogilvie and Brewer, a California legal firm, reports up to four out of five credit reports contain mistakes, so your chances are good for finding other ways to dispute the same items.
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