How Can I go about rebuilding my credit and raise my score?

I am about to have negative items removed from my credit report and I will still have 2(negative, but paid in full), items remaining.

Public Comments

1. Pay your debts in time for about 12 months and you will be OK
2. The most important thing to do is Not to miss even one payment due, otherwise you will be back in the same boat again.Credit reporting agencies like to see consistancy in borrowers(people extended credit).
3. keep writing to the credit bureau and eventually they will be removed
4. I was in trouble and called my credtors. They told me to pay on time for 6 months and I would be in good standing. I did so aggressively (more than the amount due). I called back after 6 months and they said they would raise my limit. Naturally, I declined as thats what got me in trouble in the first place - go figure?!?
5. I'm not sure what other items are in your credit files that would affect your score but here is a goal to get to Excellent credit. Have 3-6 revolving accounts reporting with no late payments and as close to a zero balance. Also have 1-2 installment accounts(car,mortgage) reporting on time payments. After 12 months you will have raised your FICO credit score. The older the negative items are the less they are affecting your score. Good Luck
6. If you will still have those two negative items on your credit report, even if they are paid in full, contact all 3 credit bureaus immediately about those 2 negative accounts. Tell them that those are the specific accounts that you are disputing and tell them that those accounts are wrong, that they are now paid in full. Make sure to include information on the accounts such as the account numbers and the name of the company. The three credit bureaus will have to investigate and they will find that you did in fact pay the accounts and they will change that on your credit report to showing that they are now paid in full. Whatever you do, do NOT bother contacting the accounts that you paid in full and asking them to report to the credit bureaus that you paid them. They will just jerk you around and say "oh well, it says in our records that we did report it" when in fact they don't. They got your money and they don't give a crap about the rest to take the time to report to the credit bureaus that you paid them. So you will have to contact the credit bureaus yourself and let them know that it is incorrect. If you don't know, the three credit bureaus are Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian. The phone number to TransUnion is 800-916-8800, Experian is 888-397-3742, and Equifax is 800-270-3435. It probably won't be enough to call them to dispute the information, but you can call and ask for their mailing address. Then you will need to type up a letter to each credit bureau to tell them you are disputing the errors on your credit report. To save you some time getting screwed around by the credit bureaus, I recommend you include with your dispute letter a copy of your driver's license, a copy of your social security card, and proof of your current residency such as a copy of your current utility bills with your name on it. Sorry if it sounded like I ever repeated myself, but I am just trying to save you some hastle in the long run. Because if you don't include all of those things along with the dispute letter right away, the credit bureaus will just screw you around and keep sending you letters requesting more information and it will just take a longer process and you keep having to repeat the information you already sent to them. If you haven't guessed, I have gone through this already. lol But the upside of this is, the sooner you get this done, the better, and if you have any credit cards or other accounts, just keep them up and try to keep as low of a balance as you can and keep paying. Your credit score will improve sometimes within 6 months or so.
7. Why in Gawd's name would you want to get yourself enslaved again? Just learn to live within your means, and make use of debit cards instead. It's amazing how fast creditors turn around when they think you've wised up.
8. keep up wit payments, and stay away from credit cards, and in about a year or two, you will be hunky dory again.
9. always make payments on time, don't max out your credit cards, close as many credit lines as you can, settle any olds debts creating negative scores
10. pay off your debt of course.
11. The best thing to do is to get rid of all your debt(s). Save money and invest in your future(Roth IRA, 401k at work, money market account). Don't fall for the "credit trap", that you have to have a credit card and loans and should pay in time to get some bogus number called a Score. Or else they won't lend you money so you stay on that credit trap and on and on and on.
12. pay 'em all
13. 1) DRAW UP A MONTHLY BUDGET - INCLUDING UR LOAN REPAYMENTS, THEN STICK TO IT. ALSO 2) CUT UP YOUR CREDIT CARDS & Pay everything with cash. This will reduce impulse buying. 3) IF YOU STILL CANT PAY EVERYTHING OFF - AT LEASE PAY THE MINIMUM which will keep u off the dangerous "in-debt forever" species of homosapiens
14. Easy don't use them for three months! Pay it off and starting buying things with cash for full three months. Three Credits bureau has weird set of rules, they will not remove anything of negative report for 12 years. That's really harsh and sick to see it that way. Otherwise ask the government to shut it down and proof them it is effecting your life.
15. Speaking from personal experience, you're in for a major financial overhaul. My first suggestion is that you make a list of all of your creditors, citing their names, addresses, phone numbers, your account number, the amount you owe, and your monthly payments to each of them (it helps to have this information handy). Then using that information draw up a budget that allows you to pay them each and also put some on the side for savings and incidentals. Pay your creditors on time, every time. I cannot stress that enough!!! Do not deviate from your budget and whatever you do, don't open any more new accounts. When possible, get a second job, if need be. If you find that your bills are more than you can handle, you may benefit from a credit counseling agency, like I did. Stick with it and when it gets hard, remember that you're working for your financial freedom. I highly recommend Cambridge Credit Counseling, they have wonderful tools to help you create a budget and manage your credit, as well as reading materials to educate you about becoming credit saavy. Good luck!
16. change ur identity
17. Pay them all
18. Pay yourself first.
19. Capitol One specializes in helping people with past bad credit get back on their credit feet. Look into how they can offer you a secured credit card from which you can quickly build up. Once established, make sure to charge a couple things a month then pay them in full PLUS a little extra. Doing so will help you get good credit FAST. Good luck. I've been in the same boat. TGW
20. To establish a good score you need to have all the Accounts showing a positive remark.Do not delay in payments. Do not go for credit cards. Normally a delinquent A/c (if not paid remains on the report for 7 years). but since you have paid them you can start using these cards for normal purchasing and within 2 years time they will become a positive A/c on your file. After a bad history on a credit report it normally takes above 1 year to establish a good report. Another way out is by talking to the concrnd banker,coz at times they pull out bad account when amount is paid in full. Keep a track of your credit report to make sure that you are paying on time.
21. aswer lots os questoin
22. According to experts on Oprah yesterday, pay off small bills first not higher interest rate one. Don't miss a payment!!!!! Don't be late with a payment!!! If you can afford it, pay few dollars "extra" on payment.
23. Always pay your bills on time, paying late affects your credit and keep your charge cards to a minimum. A lot of credit cards in your name sends out bad vibes if you apply for a loan on a major item....house, car, furniture, etc.
24. the best thing i can tell you is to have bills put in your name and/or go to some rent centers (such as rentway/rentquick) and purchase some item with a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly payments
25. http://answers.yahoo.com/search/search_result;_ylt=AigNl6_ZWy_dxi1gpXem9N_py6IX?p=build+credit
26. Always pay on time or early and keep it up.Don't use all the credit you have.Live within your means.
27. Seems like everybody says pay your bills on time, but not much mentioned about every time you request credit will actually lower you credit score also, be careful about applying for credit too often. Sometimes that will keep your score down even if you pay your bills on time
28. Pay your bills on time and wait... eventually it will get better.
29. get a current copy of your credit report. if you have any cards that are still open or loans that are still open make sure you pay them like a shot! if every thing is paid down..charge something small...like a tank of gas...and pay it immediately. its not just about having everything paid off..its about showing that you can borrow and repay responsibly.
30. If they are paid in full, make sure you have some sort of receipt or letter stating that it is paid in full. Send copies of these to all 3 credit reporting agencies. Usually, the credit bureaus will delete these items from your credit report, or they will at least show that the items have been paid in full. Then start rebuilding your credit with something small, department store credit card, or even a secured credit card, and begin making your payments on time. This will rebuild your credit in no time! If you have items on your report that are not yours, or that have been there for several years, you can pull your credit reports from each of the bureaus, and dispute these items to the bureaus. They have 30 days to reach the original lender and get back to you with an answer, and if the lenders do not reply, the bureau will delete these items from your report. You can do this several times, lenders dont usually defend these items after so long.
31. pay off old debts if possible;if not pay on them consistently and don"t make any new bills
32. just get a credit card mate, and keep the payments up ! also a contract mobile give you a good score but again keep the payments going
33. If you keep paying on your bills, even SOME money, it will show the credit /bill companies that you are trying to make things better by making an effort. It is FAR better to pay something than to pay nothing and let interest and penalites accrue.
34. hope this helps i was in the same situation once,when you have paid the accounts,use an old bill and pay too much only about £10.00,they will write to you to say you've overpaid!copy and send these letters to the credit agencies,this will recover your credit very quickly,then ask for the money back and they will send back the money,its cost nothing, Rob
35. Pay off all of your bad debt (collections, charge-offs, etc), and ensure that your credit files are updated to reflect the payments. You may even be able to negotiate with creditors to have the negative info removed (only they can initiate that if it's legitimate debt). Then, pay everything on time.
36. You don't explain how the negative items will be removed, but congrats on getting to a place where they are. One thing you can do is not get into credit card debt again, and waiting a few years to re-apply for major credit cards will help. When you apply, and are rejected, that is noted and recorded by the credit card companies, in the same way as bad debt payments are. You certainly can rebuild credit ratings over time by not going into personal bankruptcy, stay away from strore credit cards, fuel credit cards, and of course the major ones. I'd suggest not even trying to get a secured credit card, IE: You pay a fee and they allow you a card with a limited dollar amount of credit. The other thing you can do if you haven't already, is open a bank account. If you have one,,,keep it in good standing. Many banks today will not allow opening a checking account if your credit score is unacceptable. By having a decent checking account you should be able to get their version of a Visa check card for instance. It allows you some freedom in purchasing, but comes from your checking account. Certainly that can have negative effects, such as over drafts, but at least it allows you to get a better grip on your funds, in so much as you know how much you have, how much you can spend, when the bills are due, when the statement is due each month, etc. On another note, Any bills or obligations you have, no matter how minor they may seem, should be paid by the due date. Even store credit, which I already advised against, should be paid on time even if not in full. Paying your debts on time eventually enhances your credit rating. Think of it this way: Assume that you miss payments on your electric bill. Usually you're allowed a months grace, perhaps with penalty fees, but continued non payment results in shut off, added fees to reinstate service,,if they allow that, and the no pay or slow pay can either be reported to the 3 credit agencies or go to collections, which garauntees it will go to your credit report. Anything you can do to appear reliable will eventually help. You may also have to write letters, and or wait a certain number of years to allow any negatives to fade. Believe this: They never go away! AND now you have experienced what millions of us have, which you see can be so devestatingly damaging. Good Luck, Bene Fortuna Rev. Steven
37. pay your bills : ) (sometimes easier said than done : )
38. all pay on time each month, any problems you having with making payments contact the company straight away,they can help. dont keep using your cards if you know you wont be able to keep up with the payments,finally if all else fails just cut the cards up and pay of what you owe,dont be tempted by taking out other loans to repay what you owe,it just ends up as a vicious circle!
39. Make your Insurance paid up ;)
40. look up clarkehoward.com..consumer advocate,radio show for about 20 years.lots of good info free
41. Peace your mind 1st, then focus on what thins should come and go 1st. every thing in this world are start from what,where and why. so just do it step by step and you will not lose track. every things are negotiable and nothing comes with free. be what you should be!
42. get secured credit cards and pay it on time. also, car loans that are paid on time pulls the credit score.
43. get a secured credit card. you will put down a deposit and then what you buy, you will pay off. the deposit is in case you don't pay it. after about 6months they will either increase your amount of purchase ability or give you back your deposit. buy something and pay it off in several payments, yes you are paying high interest, and you can pay over what they want for the low monthly installment, but you are building credit. once this is done, then you can apply for a cheaper rated card.
44. buy small things with a credit card and pay them off right away
45. Join a debt management program, and get rid of all those credit cards ... except maybe one for emergencies.
46. Pay all your bills on time.
47. Go to the following page which is Experion, one of the largest credit reference agencies in the world and they will give you a free 30 day trial of a credit monitoring service which shows you when you were blacklisted and by who and then more to the point the fstest way to clear your credit. They also give excellant advice on how to avoid future blacklistings as well as other excellant info. http://www.experian.co.uk/
48. You have the right to put an explanation on your credit report explaining why these payments were late,(maybe due to divorce, illness or getting laid offand to explain that as soon as the circumstances changed they were paid.Many creditors will look at this when they are making a decision. On bills that are still upaid you can ask for verification of the debt, if they cannot provide that then they have to have it removed. This works better on older accounts because sometimes they have put the records in storage or misplaced them. Also make sure you pay any new accounts on time every month to begin rebuilding your credit history because the newest accounts being paid on time shows that you are now responsible and have the means to pay your debts.
49. My husband and I are in pretty much the same situation right now and the best advice we received was... 1. Make sure you clearly know what is in your credit report. 2. Stay current on all of your current bills. 3. Get a secured credit card and make small purchases (do not exceed 50% of your credit limit) and make sure to make all payments on time. This will create a positive line of credit and boost your credit score. Finally, if you have made any purchases such as a car or student loans that the payments were made on time that have not been added to your credit report, contact the lender and ask that these things be added to your report. Positive lines of credit build your score and as long as all of your payments (including utilities and rent/mortgage) are current and no late payments, you should be in good standing with in 12 to 18 months. Good luck to you!
50. You should try to get a secured credit card from a bank. You pay up front, and it is more like an account than a card, they can help you raise your credit score quickly.