If you’re new to credit, and you don’t have a record of paying bills to creditors then creditors are reluctant to extend credit because they don’t know anything about you.
If you have a bad or poor credit score, though, the big issue is most likely they do know something about you — and what they do know about you makes them unlikely to think you will pay them back.
That’s why rebuilding credit can be different from building credit and usually takes longer. But the steps — primarily paying on time and using credit lightly — are largely the same.
Start by checking your credit reports, we would recommend annualcreditreport. You’re entitled to a totally free credit report from each of the three major credit reporting agencies every year and you can view them at annual credit report.
The reports can look very complicated and complex at first. But it’s important to check for information that could hurt your credit score: inaccurate information or debt that is too old to be reportable (longer than seven years since an account first went late, assuming no further activity on the account, for example).
If you see an error, with your report dispute it, the credit bureu must respond to the dispute. Your credit score is only as good as the information used to calculate it. So if someone with a similar name has been late with bills, don’t let that hurt your score.
Make sure to budget your monthly bills and stay on top of any planning you put in place. Even though you made mistakes in the past its time to move forward and put effort into fixing your financial situation.
If you prefer to get one-on-one help from a professional, consider giving us a call.