While you may have developed a healthy credit score over the years, there may have been a rough patch when your payments were late or your credit suffered for other reasons. These errors may be affecting your current credit score, but fortunately, you have the power to erase them from your credit history permanently.
First, you need to know where you stand in regards to your credit. Due to COVID-19, the three reporting agencies are currently offering free weekly credit reports until April 20th, 2021. When reviewing your credit history, take note of any strange or negative issues as you will most likely need to describe them in detail.
Now that you know what you want removed from your history, you need to go about actually doing it. Here are some steps you can take to get these errors or outdated information removed from your history to increase your credit score.
- Contact the credit bureau to file a dispute
- Contact the reporting business to file a dispute (often credit card companies, banks, or credit unions)
- Consider working with a credit counselor
- Write a “Letter of Goodwill” to the credit bureau
- Consider working with a professional credit repair company
- Pay off overdue bills in exchange for removal of negative credit issues
- Simply wait, sometimes up to 7 years, for the issues to be removed
While there are numerous ways to increase your credit score, the above 7 options offer quick results when preparing for a larger loan or mortgage application. To review these choices in more detail, feel free to see this Money.com article on removing negative items from your credit report.
