Dispute Your Credit Report – Credit Repair on a Deadline
Disputing negative credit information usually cannot be done all at once. It is better to challenge the most severe items immediately and then move onto less severe items.
Negative credit listings are not created equal. Some items, such as late payments from a few years ago, usually have a minimal impact on your credit score. Other items like recent judgments or collections can be cold-blooded credit killers.
Here is a complete list of the negative credit items along with how much impact they have on your score.
Public Records/Bankruptcy are the most severe. Public records include tax liens and court judgments. These items are allowed to remain on your credit report for 10 years – as opposed to the seven years limitation rule that applies to other items.
Included in Bankruptcy also falls into the most severe category. If you filed bankruptcy these items are referred to as those discharged in the case. They are just as severe as the bankruptcy listing itself.
Collection items are very severely damaging. Try to negotiate with the agency for a complete deletion. You do not want to have a paid collection, or settled collection on your credit file.
A foreclosure and a repossession can prevent you from getting credit for a home and/or car in the future. These are looked as very severe.
Charge Offs, especially recent charge offs are indications of a very severe credit risk. A charge off can often lead to multiple negative credit listings. The original creditor will list the “charge off” as well as the subsequent collection agencies that purchase the debt.
It is shocking how much a single recent late payment can reduce a good credit score. Your best move is to negotiate with your creditor to have this deleted from your report. A recent late payment is very severe.
You can sometimes convince a creditor to remove a 30, 60, 90, or 120 day late payment. However, make sure that your account is current and in good standing.
You should ignore old late payments if you have any items that are more severe. Leave these items alone until they are the only negatives that remain.
Incorrect Personal Information such as a wrong address or employer is not important. The credit scoring formula does not use this information to generate your score so it is less important compared to the items above.
In order to quickly clean up your credit report, you must challenge the most severe items first. It does no good to focus your time and effort on insignificant items like your employer or address.