Thursday, January 22, 2009

Credit Repair After Bankruptcy

By Matt Douglas

With a bankruptcy mark on your report your score will be lowered considerably. However there is hope, you can remove this mark and by building some positive credit you can create a good score.

The truth is that this mark does not have to remain on your credit for 10 years. To remove it we suggest:

1. Dispute the mark with the bureaus.

This is done by sending a dispute letter to the bureau; you can do this yourself or hire a service to do it on your behalf. The bureau will then conduct an investigation into the listing. However bureaus do not check public records when they investigate a dispute, thus the listing will not be verified.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act says that any mark that can not be verified by the bureau must be removed from your report. Additionally this mark says that you the consumer can dispute any item on your report that you do not feel is accurate. Often people are concerned with the legality of credit repair, and you should know you will never be fined, prosecuted, arrested, or face any legal action for disputing an item.

Before you dispute the bankruptcy it is a good idea to make sure that all other negative marks read "included in bankruptcy." The reason is once the initial bankruptcy mark is removed you will dispute all the other negative items because you do not have a bankruptcy mark on your report. There are rumors that it is much easier to remove this mark after two years.

2. When your bankruptcy mark is erased, you can start to dispute each negative account.

You will be able to challenge the mark on the basis that your report does not show a bankruptcy. Therefore each item should be deleted by the bureaus upon investigation.

3. Build positive credit. This will help the most if you have a new revolving line of credit such as a credit card.

With on time payments you will build a positive payment history, this is heavily weighted when your score is calculated. It will also help if you keep your balance under 30% of your limit because this will help your utilization ratio. This means you will have better ratio of available credit to debt.

While it is not illegal to dispute an accurate mark on your report it may not be the most ethical thing to do. However in my opinion charging people outrageous interest rates upwards of 30% and charging late fees is not ethical either.

In sum you don't just have to live with bad credit. You can remove the items and you can do it today. You can create a high score for yourself by removing the bad items and building positive marks. This will save you; on interest rates, embarrassment from a low score, and give you the purchasing power you deserve. - 16928

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