Creating a Credit Repair Strategy
Before GPS, how did we go anywhere? When you’re traveling somewhere new, you need instructions to show you how to get there. The same is true for credit repair. This is most likely the first—and hopefully the last—time you’ve had to restore your credit. It’s understandable if you’re unsure of what to do or when to do it.
Even after watching this video, tutorials, and recommendations, you may be unsure of what actions to do. What you require is a strategy.
1st month
Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion are the three major credit bureaus from which you may obtain credit reports. You may accomplish this by visiting AnnualCreditReport.com. If you obtain your credit report online, you will receive it right away. Make a copy of it. If you buy by phone or mail, your credit report will arrive within 7 to 21 days.
Examine your credit reports, identifying areas that want improvement. You may use various colored highlighters to distinguish between mistakes that need to be challenged, collections and charge-offs that need to be negotiated, and accounts that are good as is.
Month two
Prepare letters of dispute to be sent to credit bureaus. Don’t flood the credit bureau with dispute letters; they may designate them as frivolous and discard them. Send out 3-4 disagreements per letter to each bureau every month instead. This month, if you just have 3–4 arguments, that’s all you have to accomplish. (Make copies for your proofs and include them with your disagreement.)
Go to the post office and mail your disagreement letters certified mail with a return receipt request. Make a duplicate of everything for yourself.
Debt collectors should be sent debt validation letters. Debt validation is when you ask the debt collector to provide you with documentation of the debt you purportedly owe. Meanwhile, the collector cannot collect on the debt or place it on your credit record until the documentation is received. Carry out this procedure for all of your collections. Send these again by certified mail, with a return receipt requested.
Month three
Credit bureaus have 30 days to react to your disputes, so you should be receiving mail from them this month. The credit bureaus will either respond that your items have been deleted from your credit record or that they have not. Any disputed products that have not been deleted can be added to your “Negotiate With Creditor List.” If you have any more disagreements to send, do so this month.
Examine your debt validation answers. Collectors should deliver genuine documentation of the debt—not simply a statement of what you owe—from the original creditor. If the documentation is insufficient, write back to inform them that they did not provide sufficient proof and that the listing should be removed from your credit report. You can also file a complaint with the credit bureau.
4th month
Prepare and send Pay for Delete letters for verified charge-offs and collection accounts. Send only as many Pay for Delete Letters as you can afford right now. Save the rest for a later round. Continue to email disputes, three or four at a time, until you’ve contested everything you marked at the start.
Months 5 and upwards
Examine your pay for any deleted offers. Before making any payments, obtain a signed copy of the agreement. Repeat the dispute, debt validation, and pay for deletion procedures until you’ve completed all of your accounts. Finally, you may need to take an “L” on some of these accounts and wait for the credit reporting time restriction to expire.