If you have struggled to budget your money wisely, can’t afford a vacation, car or other regular stuff, then you might know the struggle of overcoming bad credit. Without a good credit score, buying a house might seem out of reach, life’s little curveballs that get thrown at you might seem overwhelming. Without good credit, there might seem to be very little that you are able to get right in this world.
However, there is some good news for you. Repairing your credit does not have to be expensive. It also does not have to be incredibly complicated. You can repair your credit on your own without paying an expensive service to boost your credit score. While this method might require that you pay back some debt, it will not require you to pay a third party service.
Add Up the Debt
The first step to repairing your credit is adding up all of the debt that you owe. You can understand a great deal about how to fix your situation if you know what is going on with your credit in the first place. Understanding where you stand is the first step to building that score back up so that you can use your credit once again.
Dispute Errors
More often than not, when people take a look at their credit score they make an error in some form or another. You can file a dispute against any errors that you find directly through the credit reporting agency that you discovered the error. Be sure to check with all of the agencies because disputing an error will Transunion will not fix an error with Equifax.
Pay Down Credit Cards
One of the fastest methods for boosting your score is to pay down credit cards. First, be sure that any credit cards that are over your limit are paid down below the spending limit. Once you have done that, begin working on having all of your credit cards fall below the 30% usage mark. This will boost your score very quickly, many people find that this one step can boost their score up to 100 points.
You can read about the best installment loans if you need cash to help you consolidate the debt you have in credit cards.
Negotiate Debts In Collections
Debt that is already in collections is going to affect your score more profoundly than other debts. Go ahead and call the collection agency and attempt to negotiate a deal. Some agencies will even remove the collection entirely from your report if you agree to pay the debt. Be sure to get whatever deal you strike with the agency in writing, though as they sometimes do not follow through with their promises.
Final Thoughts
These are some of the easiest ways to fix your credit report quickly and without spending money on a credit repair service. In fact, credit repair services often follow these exact same steps to boost your credit but they do it through charging you a fee to make sure you get the credit boost.