Article Written By: Stanley Woods
Latest economic troubles throughout the world have left many people struggling with bad credit reports and low credit scores. Recent problems in all of the financial sectors have changed many of the rules of the past and some of the old rules are now out of date. This has left countless people not knowing what to do about bad credit and inferior credit.
Hardly any people realize just what a credit score is composed of. For example it is not common knowledge that your credit score can be reduced by inquiries on your account and by your debt to credit ratio. The reality is that you are considered to be riskier if it looks as if you are shopping for credit so inquiries reduce your score and if you have credit and use it you are also considered a higher risk. In order to have a high credit score you need to minimize your debt to less than about 15 to 35% of the credit you have available and no more.Under the FCRA or the Fair Credit Reporting Act you do have the right to obtain one free copy each year of your own credit report from each of the major credit reporting agencies. It is sensible to get this report each year so you can track your report and make sure that it is looks as positive as possible.One reason is since it is estimated that as many as 75% or more of all credit reports include mistakes and inaccuracies. These mistakes can cause you numerous difficulties if they come up when you are trying to obtain credit. You can keep away from many of these problems if you get your report every year and check it out for mistakes and inaccuracies.The FCRA has also given you a right as a consumer to dispute mistakes and inaccuracies and get them removed from your report. After a dispute is issued the credit bureaus have 30 to 45 days to show that the information they are reporting is accurate. If it is not verified within the time frame it must be deleted from the report. As many as 45% of all the disputes that are received are not verified within the time frame and a intelligent consumer can take advantage of that fact.Besides making sure that your credit report is clear of mistakes and inaccuracies every year there are also other things that you can do to improve your credit score. Debt to credit ratio is very important so you can either get your credit limits increased or pay down your debt so that your debt does not exceed 15 to 35% of your available credit. What's more you should avoid all inquiries into your report. Do not shop for credit unless you are sure that you will get it and then have the creditor combine the inquiry into the loan so that you do not show any inquiries.You can take the steps required to repair your credit on your own or you can hire a professional to aid you. If you hire a professional make sure you do your research and go with a reputable business with a good track record. Having credit troubles is bad enough without losing money to a scammer too.Credit repair can be accomplished. It is not a myth. Congress passed the FCRA to allow consumers to defend themselves against inaccuracies and discrepancies on a credit report so take advantage of that fact and do everything you can to increase your credit report.Your credit score is more critical than you may be aware of - To learn more about credit repair organization act just stop on by my credit repair blog CreditExert.com!
This Article Has Been Published on Sun, 4 Oct 2009 and Read 240 Times