How To Clean Up My Bad Credit Report
When my first application for a loan didn't push through, I was clueless of the reason why. Until I was told by someone that it is probably because of a bad credit report. This made me curious about what credit reports are and what made them bad. I also wanted to know how to clean up my credit report especially when this was the only time I ever applied for one from a bank. This is what I know for sure, you wouldn't be able to say you're made unless you can turn in a good credit report. Everyone's credit report will always affect their way of life. In my case it affected me enough to get to the bottom of this and clear my credit up- fast.
What is a credit report anyway?
Everyone's credit report is a dossier on a person's credit activity. A person's credit activity says a lot about the pattern they fa
Who is keeping track of everyone's financial transactions?
There are three companies that have made a whole lot of money digging into someone's credit report and sell what they know to finance institutions or banks or real estate financiers or even people who just want to know your spending and paying habits.
These companies are:
1) Equifax started their tracking activity and profile building as a retail company in early 1899. SO far theirs is the largest information database on recordable transactions.
2) The TransUnion is the second-biggest of the 3 agencies, and it was created to keep track of and assess credit risks of a company that were filed manually then.
3) Third in the list is Experian which is a subsidiary of a British company that has started keeping tabs on people's financial transactions.
Reading about these companies and start-ups just like them, would make anyone wonder the odds that their reports would come up the same. In the interest to clean my credit up, I went online to find out how to get started.
The first thing I did was to find out how an ordinary consumer like me could ever have given permission to anyone to go snooping up on my credit and finances. Surprisingly, since the 70's credit reporting agencies were allowed to round up and sell information without anyone's permission via the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FACRA).
I wrote the three snooping giants who have intruded, sold and made money on my information to get a copy of each of their reports on me. Patiently, I pored over pages upon pages of spending history ever since I got my first credit card. In my case, there was a discrepancy concerning my "non-payment" of a student loan. This was the glitch I was looking for, because I know for a fact that this was paid off. It took me some time to get the receipts together since all my college stuff were packed and kept in my parent's attic.
This is just half of the work I put in to clean up my credit while the second half consisted of sending several letters to the school, the credit report agencies and the Credit Report Bureau (CRB). Sending out this letters, someone in this situation could send added explanation as to why you want the credit report corrected or just state the error they made. With the letters sent, I knew I was closer to be able to clean my credit up. It took diligent follow-ups and consistently answering questions from the CRA, CRB or other entities written to.
Though most cases aren't as clear-cut, there are alternative ways to clean up credit reports. There are also companies that make this a service. Whichever way you go about your credit clean up, I assure you it is a totally a relief to know that what I did to clean up my credit was all worth it.