I need to fix my credit with little time, what is the best way to do that?

Question

Thats awesome information by almost all of you, but I have no credit cards. My debt was aquired when my husband left me, with a small child and NO money. Bills went haywire. All of that is on my report now and I need to get rid of it. Should I pay off the old stuff or work at new credit?

Answer 1

Get a copy of your credit report and dispute EVERYTHING. When you dispute an account or collection, creditors have to prove it with paperwork. If it's a particularly old or small charge, it'll usually not be worth the time or effort for them to do so, so it gets taken off.

Answer 2

You mentioned you have no credit cards.

What exactly is on your credit report? Utility collections? Late mortgage payments or car payments? Medical collections?

Step One: Start paying all car, mortgage or other loan payments on time.

Step Two: Find out if there are any negative items on your credit report that are incorrect. If there are, notify the creditor who put them there, get something in writing stating that they will correct the information. Dispute the same items with all 3 credit bureaus. Check your credit report again in about 60-90 days to make sure that they have made the corrections they promised.

Step Three: Establish new credit. Either a secured credit card or a card offered to people with bad credit. Make sure the balance never exceeds 50% of your credit limit (the lower the better) and make the payments on time every month. Aspire Visa offers an unsecured credit card to people with less than perfect credit. You can apply online here: https://www.aspirecard.com/app1.jsp?WEBSITE=netflip&CREATIVE=standard&SIZE=standard&PLACE=standard&MEMBER_ID=mr634564657&ProspectID=6D1802604295465880192346AE339272&BTSessionID=1153862A65884A8F9BA620D8AF8C196E

Step Four: Begin to pay off collections and charge-offs. Start with the newest ones first. Set aside what ever you can afford to start paying them off, a little at a time.

Answer 3

Do not apply for new credit of any kind within the next 6 months.Transfer all outstanding debts to the account with the highest credit limit & lowest interest rate. Once the balances have been transferred cancel the cleared accounts. Focus on the huge debt that you now owe & attempt to make more than the minimum monthly payments on time. As much as you can afford. Dont buy anything at all. Make do with what you have. Once the balance due is 25% or less of the credit limit you can consider yourself as having "fairly good" credit.

Note: building your credit takes time. be patient & focus on the objective.

Answer 4

I agree with bostonianinmo.

You can dispute the inaccurate information on your reports. When you dispute and the inaccurate information is not corrected, the credit bureaus (per the FCRA) must delete the account.

Stay away from bottom feeding cards like Aspire. They will charge you a small fortune just to open the card. You would be better off getting a fully secured card from a better company. Check with Bank of America, Orchard, HSBC.

I would suggest going to the site that I've listed. It is a "free" do it yourself credit repair site.

Answer 5

There is ONLY one thing that you can fix quickly, and that's bogus negative information in your credit file. Most credit records have invalid information in them so there may be some hope. Get a copy of your credit report and follow the credit agency's procedures for challenging false information.

You cannot "fix" legitimate negative information quickly, and anyone who claims that you can is either lying, clueless, or running a SCAM. There are plenty of all three types around -- and you'll probably here from a few of them in response to your question. Most of the other comments posted here so far are correct as far as cleaning up your credit, but none of them are quick fixes.

Negative information will remain in your credit file for up to 7 years. Bankruptcy and tax liens will remain for up to 10 years. That said, the older the negative information is, the less of an impact it will have on your overall score.

Answer 6

If it is in collections there is really nowhere else for it to go. Try to get an overdraft protection on your checking account. This is actually a line of credit that the bank will report to the bureaus. It's a start. Good luck!

Answer 7

Pay down credit cards, but don't close them! 35% of your entire credit score is your ratio of rotating debt (credit card) limits versus balances. i.e. if you have $10,000 in limits and $7,500 in balances, your credit bureau will report that you only have 25% availability in balances. Banks and credit unions want to see you around 60-80%. Closing cards will lower your total limits, creating a lower capacity.

Answer 8

Cut up your cards, pay them off as best you can and on time. Don't buy any more stuff. Don't close the cards because they'll jack up your interest. Close them when they're paid off and keep one or two only with about one third of your limit charged on it. Don't apply for any more credit also. This lowers your score.

Answer 9

Get a secured credit card or a small loan. I had bad credit and got a loan from Prudent Financial and it brought my score up in less than a year, just don't miss any payments.

Answer 10

If you own your home you can refinance your home and consolidate your debts into one loan. any credit cards, car loans etc. depending on the total LTV of the home.