Be Compassionate Towards Your Own Journey to Repairing Your Credit Status

There are basically a core of six Steps you can take to start repairing your credit. Nothing is more as gratifying than spending the time and energy to a do-it-yourself credit repair program. Below is an outline of the Steps to take if you wish to increase your fico score.

• Step one) Sign up for a credit report !

  Sign up for your free credit report. From the three credit bureaus: a Equifax, trans-union and Experian. Find out and create a table to write down your credit rating for each credit reporting agency.

• Step two)
  create a table, below is an example of one you can draw out paper or other software spreadsheet program. The first row would contain all the erroneous personal information. You'll also want to verify that your home address, place of employment and how much you earn is all correct on your credit report. If not, highlight the items that are incorrect on your table below.

  The second row would contain an itemized list of derogatory items. What does derogatory meaning. It means, a record on your credit report. Due to life circumstances you might've paid a bill 30 days, or 60 or 90 days late. A record showing where your car loans, credit cards were written off by the loan provider.

  The third row would be a listing of unauthorized inquiries. What are unauthorized inquiries? This often happens when you walk into a department store in some cheerful man or woman is handing you a cheap gift to entice you to fill a look a department store application form for you to apply for a store credit card. All you did was give the card promoter your name and phone number and that's it. You did not complete the application form that was given to you. An unauthorized credit inquiry is where the department store credit department inquired about your credit rating without your authorization. You may already know this, that too many credit inquiries on your credit report makes the loan officers stomach queasy. He or she is suspicious and wondering why you want so much credit. Those are 3 examples of what derogatory items mean.

  List of derogatory items from the three credit bureaus

  	Equifax	trans-union	experian
  payment history: 30 days, 60, 90 days late
  write offs for loans, credit cards
  list of unauthorized inquiries

  Review the payment pattern for every record showing up on your credit file. Ask yourself is it really showing exactly your credit payment history? Are there any errors?

• Step three )
  Compose a letter and write to the three credit bureaus to dispute the errors on your credit report. You want to add this phrase, "these inaccuracies or injures to my credit report" and "my credit score has been negatively impacted/affected by these inaccuracies". How should you write this letter? Put into your frame of mind, you are not writing a letter to your best friend. Leave out all the personal history, unnecessary information please. Please be straightforward and go right to the point and include any: bills, copies of checks, credit card statements or anything else that would support your case.

  Perhaps you don't have a lot of money on hand, and would just like to send this package the credit bureau via regular mail. I would not advise that. It is worth paying a little extra to mail this dispute letter with the waybill number attached to it. That way, you'll be assured it will get their and it doesn't fall into the hands of identity theft. Registered mail is also another good option.

  Give the credit bureau at least six to eight weeks to look into your case. By law, the credit reporting agencies must investigate or reinvestigate all the items you have disputed on your credit file. In addition, the law says the credit bureaus must respond in correct disputed items unless they are willing to defend their refusal in a court room.

• Step four)
  This is the fun part where you can go shopping at your local stationery store. If you are an individual that likes different colors, go ahead and buy three different colored file folders. One caller for Equifax, one color for Experian, and another color for trans-union. It is really important to keep all your information in one place and really take an approach of good organization skills. Any correspondence received from any of the three credit bureaus needs to be put into one of the colored folders. Otherwise, if you just let everything sit in a pile, and you have many other piles around the house. You will stress your self out further by spending endless hours looking for these different paperwork, and perhaps collapse and give up and not finish your credit repair program.

  In each of your colorful file folders, hang on to a copy of the dispute letter you cents each credit bureau. Make a note or get a date stamp of when you mail about these documents. Also, hang on to your FedEx, UPS, fax copy, postal receipt showing that you have sent a letter to the three different credit bureaus. Right on a blank piece of paper, if you had a conversation with any of the credit report agencies. Write down: who you spoke with, on one day, etc.

• Step five ) Sign up for a credit monitoring service
  Now, you'll have to wait between six to eight weeks. It is important to continue to monitor monthly your credit score. The credit monitoring service will allow you to access your credit score at any time you wish. Many credit monitoring companies offer unlimited access to your credit score. They also alert you if there's been any identity theft or fraud as the occurrence comes up via e-mail. I would highly recommend a company called Equifax.

  I would not recommend signing up for another credit report and having to pay the fee every time you sign up for another credit report. It is wise to save your money and use a credit monitoring service instead. Go ahead and compare your recent credit report to the first one that you receive. Notice if the disputes have either been deleted, corrected or have a notation attached to them. If you see that nothing has changed on your second credit report from all the three different credit report agencies, it is time to repeat the Steps:3,4,5, over and allow six to eight weeks for the credit bureaus to respond to your dispute letter. Make sure you make a photocopy of the second letter and keep it in one of your colorful file folders.

  An important point here is you must insist fully reinvestigation and ask for proof from the subscriber. You're probably wondering why some disputes get deleted and some stick to your file like come on the bottom of a sneaker.

• Step six ) Who Is the Subscriber?

  This is the party that originally reported the disputed information to your credit reporting agencies that you see on your credit report. If all else fails, get a hold of the subscriber directly. Therefore, you can speed up the process and make this less agonizing for yourself. If after your second repeated dispute letter and there's still no change on your credit report, it is time to take a more aggressive action at this point.

  Call the subscriber and asked to speak to either the office manager or the person in charge and make an appointment to meet with this person face-to-face. If you all the subscriber/company money, you'll have to sharpen your negotiating skills and pay the debt off. If it brings you great anxiety to speak with the subscriber directly, you have three options: you could hire a lawyer, professional negotiator, or an accountant. Have one of these professionals negotiate on your behalf in order to wipe the debt off your credit report. This is called debt settlement !

  If you owe the subscriber for example, $3000 , offer to pay them either .40 or $.50 on the dollar. If you're getting a professional to negotiate on your behalf, it is a good idea to ask for a package deal where you pay the professional negotiator a set fee (or an all-inclusive package fee) instead of an hourly fee for him or her conclusion on your behalf. Otherwise, you can end up with a humongous bill to pay off your lawyer, accountant or professional negotiator. Once both parties has come to an agreement, how much will be paid back and how long will take for you to pay it back. The subscriber will fulfill your wishes if you asked courteously for them to add a notation to your credit file. "debt paid in full or call the merchant for a current update".

  If you're disputes are either write offs or late payments, the subscriber may not be able to change that. The subscriber can add to your credit file that the status of your debt was paid in full and that will make all the difference in the world. It may also be helpful when you apply for a mortgage or a loan to take the release letters along with you. A release letter a document you will receive one's your debt has been paid in full from the subscriber. This document shows that the debt has been settled and that you have a good character and have made efforts to be responsible for your debts.

After You Have accomplished your debt settlement program, and all your release letters are filed in your possession. It is time to celebrate!

Alternatively, if you are a busy work at home mom and don't have any spare time to repair credit report, then consider hiring professionals such as Lexington Law to do it for you. Last year, over 602,879 negative items were removed by this credit repair company.

Here Are Some of the Emotional Pick Me up Tips :

• write a forgiveness letter and forgive yourself for hardship you have caused yourself. Then, burn the forgiveness letter outdoors preferably. Be careful when you do this, that you do not burn down your house or apartment.
• congratulate yourself and do whatever it that will nurture you. Whether its: a foot massage, dinner out with friends, vacation, concert, live theater, or anything that fancies you. Reward yourself for accomplishing this six Steps. Pat yourself on the back that you didn't have a nervous breakdown while you are doing this. And this this is a humongous obstacle that you have overcome. And do not take it lightly the weight of how this will impact your life.
• promised yourself you will increase your financial literacy and read books written by Robert Kiyosaki, Wayne Dyer.
• hang out with cheerful, upbeat folks to stay away from whiners and pessimistic to people. These folks can drain you completely of your energy.
• join a club: hiking club, chess club, debating club, investment club in open your arms out to meeting more folks.
• jot down include pictures of magazines and created a collage of what you with like next in your life to happen. What type of goals do you have? Hang this collage where you can see it visibly everyday!
• if you hear a lot of self judgments babbling in your mind, say stop. And keep saying stop over and over again.
• lastly, seriously consider hiring a life coach, or a body somatic center therapist to support you through life's ups and downs.

Whatever happened to you that led you deeper into debt, forgive yourself. Be compassionate and gentle toward yourself. Instead of concentrating on your lack of funds in the bank or in your pocket. Seek support and allow your coat/therapist to guide you through fear. Walk to the fear with someone witnessing you know, a less fearful that the other end. It has been a great privilege to share this information if you. I hope it will help you understand the Steps required to repair your credit report. Happy living !