Can you really repair bad credit in a short amount of time (less than 2 yrs.)?

Answer 1

You can greatly improve your credit, yes. There is already a good answer on here for this, and remember: STAY DISCIPLINED!!!

You can do it!

Answer 2

Best way I know how is to call creditors to work out a payment plan and ask them to reduce the amount owed (offer $300 if you really owe $3000, etc), then make good on those agreements. Also, get a secured credit card (credit unions are the best source that I have seen - stop in and ask them for help), and NEVER charge over 50% of your available credit, and pay it off each month (at least make min pmts ON TIME!). If you own a car, approach a local bank or credit union to see if you can get a loan against the car (assuming you don't owe anything on it now). If you borrow less than 50% of the value of the car, the bank should be happy to do the loan. If not 50%, then maybe 25% of value. The key is to establish credit by making payments to creditors who report to the credit bureaus. Also, make all of your payments by check (not money orders or cash!). Even if you don't have a checking account, you can deposit the cash into your savings account, and the bank or credit union can issue a "Bank Check" from your account. This shows the future lenders/creditors that it was indeed you that was handling the money, and it makes them feel better about your ability to manage money and payments.

Answer 3

I am going to assume "repair" to mean improve and the answer is yes, you can begin repairing your credit in as little as a month. Now increasing your score from 500 to 800 within a month is nothing short of impossible, but understand that increasing your credit score is not an overnight process. First you need to contact Transunion, Equifax and Experion to receive your credit reports. Purchase a report from each company and not all three reports from one company. Each of the three companies use their own versions of the Fair & Issac's credit equation and not all companies report to all three credit reporting companies. They are now supposed to begin using the same Fair & Issac's equation sometime this year I beleive, but it's better to get your report from each company. When you get your reports, look them over in HIGH DETAIL! Look for amounts that aren't correct, old debts still showing up as owed, someone using your name, etc. Remember it takes approximatly 2 months for information submitted to be reported, so your credit card debt on the report might not be correct today to the penny, but it is what the company reported you owed between 1 to 2 months ago. If anything is wrong, write to the companies and report there is an error. Per the Fair Credit Reporting Act, they have to take the item off your credit report and inquire with the comapny in question. The comapny has to respond within 30 days with a correct or up to date balance. If they don't, it will not be placed back onto your credit report. Now that you've made sure everything is at least up to date and fairly correct, you need to structure your debt. If you have 3 bills, pay the minimum on the highest two and all your extra money into the smallest bill. Paying extra on each bill will just kill you in long term interest expense and drag out your payments longer. Once you're eliminated the smallest debt, you focus all your extra money on the next smallest payment (you will notice you have more money to use to pay it becasue you no longer have that third bill to pay). Now you've been paying your bills and your score hasn't exploded upwards....why?? Credit reports are on a criteria basis, call it a "staircase basis". You're on the bottom step with 10 other people and you've eliminated some of your bad debt so now you're the best credit person on the bottom step. Shedding some of that bad debt doesn't qualify you to be on the bottom step anymore so they move you up to the 2nd step. But NOW you're beign compared to the other 10 people on step number 2 and you may not be the best person on that step so your score will go up accordingly. 2 years is an arbitrary legnth of time because it depends on your debt situation but it isn't impossible.

Answer 4

Sure, I did it, but I was a victim of identity theft, so first off, set up a plan to pay off all your debt, little by little, cause you need a record showing you paying on something, then, marry a man with great credit and get things together and finance them. It worked for me. My credit score went from 635 to 813 in only a year

Answer 5

It really depends on how bad your credit is. You improve your credit by:

1. Paying your bills on time every month
2. Paying off debt you owe/balancing your debt-to-income ratio

These things take time. Be wary of any company that tells you they can "fix" your credit quickly. It's not true, unless there are errors on your credit report. You should pull all 3 of your reports to make sure they are accurate.

Answer 6

There is some good info here.