If you work for a living and have a financial score, then you should know there is always some room to improve. You don’t have to change the world, just adopt a few healthy habits and you will be fine.
In fact, we are discussing a few tips for how you can start improving your credit score by paying back your debt and making sure your effort is appreciated.
Give Up Collection Calls
A big challenge when you want to fix your credit score is taking the first step. You are continuously stalked by debt collectors, and it feels impossible to get out of your current situation.
So before you start improving, you have to take your time and write to the respective collection agencies. Request that they should handle every communication via mail only.
This will give you some breathing room, and it allows you to establish a paper trail so you can start improving. You will have more energy to deal with your financial problems as you don’t have to jump between phone calls.
Review Credit Files
The first thing you need should do to undo the damage is assess its extent. After you got some breathing room from debt collections, put the extra time to good use, and review your credit profile with attention to detail.
Every year, you obtain a copy of your credit report. You need to read it to get a picture of where you currently stand and what are the important steps you have to take to make a difference. This is where you lay the groundwork.
Learn Your Weaknesses
To improve your credit score, you have to learn and understand your biggest issues. You have different entries like bankruptcy, liens, and judgments on your credit score sheet. Take care of these and make sure there are no more errors reported.
You have to find your shortfalls and learn their effect on credit sheet. Even if you don’t want to hire one, you can still get a free consultation from best credit repair company, and ask them for their advice how to deal with disputes, and where to focus your effort first.
Watch Out for Zombie Debt
As you go through the report, you have to pay attention to dates and see whether there are still negative points on your report. If there are some re-aged accounts with more recent dates, they are false, and you better report them.
This is a common practice debt collectors use to force you topay a debt that was in the past. The statute of limitations has passed on this debt. So what do you do?
Your best chance is to dispute as paying back this amount have no to little impact on your credit score.
Prepare for Dispute
You need to follow these steps to start a dispute
- Send a certified letter to request debt validation from lender
- Wait for 30 days
- If you got no response, file your dispute with the bureau asking them to remove the entry
- If you got a response, you could still dispute this entry as false information