By: Arthur Cooper
Submitted: 2011-01-12 10:52:11 | Word Count: 664
Negative credit can impact your plans for your life in a big way. If you have too much negative credit, it can be impossible to qualify for a mortgage, get a line of credit, or acquire a loan. Taking steps to remove negative credit is imperative to improving your credit score, and makes it easier to achieve all of those goals.
In order to know precisely how much negative credit you have, you’ll have to request your credit report from each of the reporting agencies – Equifax (www.equifax.com), Experian (www.experian.com) and TransUnion (www.transunion.com). It’s important to get your information from all three agencies as they all compile slightly different information. Once you have a baseline you can move forward.
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Then, go over your credit reports with a fine toothed comb. Identify any mistakes that may be in your credit report, and any potentially negative credit you would like to have removed. This can include:
* Late payments
* Accounts sent to collections
* Incorrect financial histories
* Accounts created by an identity thief
* Closed accounts that appear to be open
* Old information
* Incorrect personal information
* Improperly documented accounts
Once you’ve identified the changes you’d like to make within your credit report, you must send a letter to the reporting agency for each entry you want removed. Here’s where using a seasoned professional can come in handy. Creditelves has been helping people contact the various credit agencies and remove negative credit from their accounts for years. They understand how the system works and can help you improve your credit score quickly. They will help you compile details about the entry you want removed, proof you may have of an error, all of your personal information, and any other relevant content to help the agency understand your situation.
The agency then has 30 days to resolve the issue after they get your letter. If the original creditor doesn’t respond to the agencies inquiries about your case within the allotted time, your report will automatically be amended. This is why sometimes it can be beneficial to dispute a late payment, even if it didn’t appear on your credit report in error. However, should the agency rule in your favor it is still your responsibility to remain proactive. Follow up by requesting a second credit report to make sure the changes are reflected, and the other agencies have been notified of the change.
If the agency rules against you, and refuses to remove the entry you have a few options. You can either try again to dispute the entry with the credit agency. Or, you can contact the original creditor and ask them to remove the information from your account. Or, you can amend your credit report by adding a statement to the entry in question which explains what is going on.
