Your credit rating is more important in 2010 than any other year in the history of America. There is less available credit than any other time in recent history. Credit card companies launched a massive wave of cut backs. You may have noticed your available balance was slashed overnight.
You may have noticed that it is getting harder and harder to be approved for a mortgage. The minimum FICO score necessary to be approved for a home loan has increased by 40 points. Additionally, the minimum score needed to obtain reasonable rates is up by 28 points.
If your credit score is less than stellar, obtaining new credit in 2010 will prove to be almost impossible.
What you will need this year is a proven strategy for boosting your credit score.
Last weekend, I decided to commit my 2010 financial goals to paper. So, I sat down and did so. I even inlcuded my desire to reach a FICO score of 775.
I hope that you have decided on some financial goals for yourself. Once you have made a list of goals, you will need a plan for obtaining success. Erasing negative items from your credit report and improving your FICO score should be included in your overall strategy. A formula for achieving these goals follows:
Credit Strategy #1: Work on Removing Negative Items From Your Credit History
You should at once dispute any questionable negative item such as a collection, late payment, charge off, repossession, and/or bankruptcy in order to remove it from your credit report.
To accomplish this, you can use the dispute form letter which you will find here.
Often some items can be quite stubborn. Charge offs, judgments, and repossession are especially “sticky”. You may need to get more aggressive than just a standard dispute letter.
Something you might try is called “debt validation.” This is where you demand that your debt be validated by the original creditor. (This is substantially different from disputing an item with the bureaus. However, it is often very effective when dealing with collections and charge offs.)
It is probably best not to attempt debt validation on your own. I tried to do it myself and failed miserably. In fact, I did such a poor job that the creditors just ignored my correspondence altogether.
However, I went to Lexington Law and then it was a different story. I was so relieved when Lexington Law was able to get Midland Credit, a big bad collection agency, to notify the credit bureaus and instruct them to remove all of my charge offs and collections.
You may not want to get a firm like Lexington Law involved. This approach is for people who are seriously dedicated to repairing their credit. If this is you, you can contact Lexington Law at (800) 636-3158 and speak to one of their paralegals for a free consultation.
Credit Strategy #2: Move Forward with Building Good Credit
Hopefully, you already have an unsecured account. If so, be sure to pay the bill on time each and every month. Establishing an automatic payment would be best. This way you never miss a payment and the bill is paid on time every month. And, saving money by not having to pay the cost of postage is an added bonus!
The bad news is for people who don’t already have an unsecured account – like a Visa/MasterCard account. It is tough to even get a card if your score is in the 500 range.
Credit Strategy #3: Don’t Get Discouraged or Let Down Your Guard
Don’t lose sight of your goal and what you want to accomplish. Rebuilding your credit will take time. The sooner you get started the better. It is wise to keep track of your credit score by maintaining a detailed log. Begin your log by noting your credit score as of today’s date and tracking it as you rebuild good credit and as questionable negative items are removed. If you are successful with your goals, your credit score should increase each month.
If things don’t go the way you think they should, don’t become discouraged. There are normally additional tactics which can be used to get something done.
Discover how I raised my credit score from 582 to 745 in four months with the help of Lexington Law. Learn the truth about quickly and effectively deleting bad credit at www.creditforcouples.com.
categories: credit score,credit rating,credit history,rebuild credit,repair credit,remove negative items,remove negative entries,build good credit,credit,debt
