If any one has any tips on how to get rid of bad credit on credit reports, it would be greatly appreciated. (i.e. websites, ect..) THANKS!
125500
Below are my best links. This will help you out.\n\nMy battle cry!   You are about to go to war.  Do NOT fight these guys unarmed.  Knowledge of the law is your only weapon.  Read the links below and get armed!!!!  \n\nKeep a few things in mind before you begin your battle.  If the reports on your credit report are accurate, there is nothing you can do to remove them.  \n\nYou can get some of the items removed by going through a precedure set by the Fair Credit Reporting Act.  It involves the following:\n\n-Dispute the listing with the Credit Reporting Agency (CRA).  They have 30 days to verify the debt with the creditor.  If they get no response, the listing must be removed.\n\n-If they do get a reply, and the listing stands, you can request that the item be disputed, and a message will appear on that listing for future creditors to see (and usually ignore).\n\n-Send a "validation demand" letter to each creditor.  They have 30 days to respond by sending copies of contracts, letters, bills, and anything used to calculate your debt.  They must prove that they have a valid debt, and you are legally obligated to pay.  Many times the creditor doesn't have the records, doesn't want to spend the time to search, or pay the manpower.  If they ignore this request, send a copy of the letter along with another demand to the CRA to remove the listing.  If they fail to do so, they can be held liable for a lawsuit.\n\nYou can sue for any failure to comply with FCRA law in small claims court (check with your state to see exactly how, as each is differant).\n\nKeep logs of phone calls, send all letters by certified mail, and keep copies of everything!  Carefully study your credit report for any errors.  Is the date they claim you defaulted correct?  Are the balances and credit limits correct?  Challenge all of them!\n\nGood luck
507389
fixing your credit is difficult but there are ways around it. The 1st thing to do would be to check your report to make sure it is consistent with your actual history.\n\nSometimes you will find errors on it from agencies that can actually be repaired by calling the debtor and explaining your situation.  Or disputing errors by filing a claim with experian
613653
Nonsense. Any credit line that you pay ON TIME consistently is good credit. What's killing your scores are the negative tradelines. Those will stay on your reports for 7-1/2 years from the date of first delinquency. You can try disputing anything that is older than that or that is not 100% accurate and you might get lucky and have some deleted. \n\nThere are loan companies that will give you a loan with lousy credit, but they are going to kill you with interest. That is the penalty for bad credit.  \n\nYou can probably qualify for a secured credit card to help rebuild your credit. That means you will have to give them some amount of money up front, as security, and that amount will be your credit limit. Most will convert from secured to unsecured after a period of on-time, never late payments. \n\nClean up the baddies and your scores will get better. Keep your current credit clean as a whistle. Live within your means.
502863
I am ever so slowly working on repairing mine. I went from having bad credit to no credit and now I have recieved offers from about 4 different places (two of which are department stores, the other two are regular credit cards), so I am just at the bottom, but I am going the right way! (My bad credit was caused by my getting married too young and having an ex who got me to sign checks that we knew would bounce...I'm just damn lucky I didn't end up in jail!) But I don't know how good your credit score has to be to get one of those home loans. I'm not to that point yet. My personal near future worry is paying off student loans since I will be finishing up a masters degree, so I won't be able to think about a house for a while yet. But it sounds like you (and me) are going the right direction! Good Luck!
151895
Yahoo just had something on the homepage about devious "junk buyers" buying old debt for pennies on the dollar and then trying to make you pay even after the statute of limitations had passed-I know there is limits but as to what they are I can not 100% tell you.  \n\nAnd actually it is never 'removed' from your credit report, but companies only 'pull' a 7-10 year history, so it does not show, the debt is always listed on the report, so it never really disappears, just hanging out in old debt land, and if you go for a Senate Hearing or something they will pull it up.\n\nThe report said something about the basement buyers buying the debt and then reporting it as a 'new' debt to get it back active on your Credit Report, which is against the law.  The report also said they target those that paid some debt, because they were more worried about the ramifications of the credit report.  I will research and see if I can find the article-it was an informative read.
589998
Keep paying minimum payments on the CC then use everything else to go toward collections.  \n\nThen the credit card.\n\nYour credit isn't too good now, but this will help it from getting worse.
218305
Your local consumer credit counseling agency may be able to offer advice and possibly assistance.  \n\nI would try the one that is actually called CCCS rather than one that may advertise as credit counseling.  CCCS is non-profit and offers free advice.
14698
Usually you should try to make a payment schedule.  Tell them you'll pay so much to them every paycheck or once a month.  Tell them the dates you will make payments or call in your payment so they can see that you actually are attempting to pay this off otherwise they think you are just yanking them.  As far as your credit score, I would obtain a credit report from the credit companies.  I think you can get them online.  See if there is anything on your report that is wrong--I've had this happen before where I paid off something and still showed up on my report as owing them--and then attempt to get it cleared off your report.  Either contact the credit company or the company with the misinformation.  If your credit is low because you have alot of credit cards, try getting one card and transferring all balances onto one card instead of having like 5 or 6 cards.  Then close the other accounts.  Having alot of credit cards open even if they aren't being used looks bad.  Try working on paying off your debt, with the littlest one first.  Then reward yourself (don't go overboard) when you do pay one off.  It will take time, comittment, and focus to do this, but once you are out of debt, your credit score will get better.  And the most important thing to do when trying to pay down debt is to quit using credit cards.  Put those dang things in the freezer if you have to.  Or lock them up and give someone the key so you have to ask to use them.  Make it hard to access them.  Credit companies can be a pain in the butt, but try to work out a schedule with them and see if that works.  If they see you are trying, maybe they'll be more willing to work with you.
283824
People like Zandelia need to be spanked for constantly referring freecreditreport to people.  I'm getting more convinced they get kickbacks by sending people there.\n\nGo to http://www.annualcreditreport.com and get a FREE, NO GIMMICKS credit report.  This is the site that was set up to handle the government mandated free credit reports.\n\nOnce you have your report, it will show all of the delinquent accounts you have, and their contact information.  Contact them and negotiate a settlement.\n\nBE SURE that you get them to agree IN WRITING to remove any negative information that they placed on your credit report.  Remember, the reason you are paying your debt is to fix your credit score.  It does you no good to pay them if your credit will still reflect these unpaid balances.  You will find that once they have your money, they will be very uncooperative in fixing your report.\n\nAlso note that just placing "paid" on your account does not remove the negative information such as late fees, or collections.  They must either show on your account "Paid as Agree, Never late", or simply remove the listing entirely.\n\nYes, it's legal.  They may tell you they can't do it, or it's against the law, but they are lying.  I've done it, and I've helped many others do it also.  Nothing in the Fair Credit Reporting Act prevents a creditor from removing their own reports.  \n\nGood luck
84293
I'm going to assume you have unpaid debts that went to collection.  Start by going to your creditors, and giving them a plan to have the money you owe them paid back.  Then stick to that plan like your life depends on it.  Once repaid, they'll clear your name, and report your debts paid to the credit bureau.  \n\nAll the while you do this, keep all payments up to date.  Now this is going to take some time, but the number one and two things lenders look for with people who had previously bad credit are your resolve to pay your uncollected bills, and your resolve to have learned from your mistakes, and keep all payments up-to-date.  Good luck!
184676
I have horrible credit myself and couldn't even get a credit card. However, I could buy a car at one of those buy here pay here places that does in house financing. I have the payment taken directly out of my checking account and I'm sure once I pay off my Cadillac, my credit will be somewhat ok. The interest rate sucks but it is well worth it to repair my credit. If I don't I will never be able to buy a home. Even try one of those rent a center places.
438854
You have just stumbled into the trap that I have tried warning people about for months now!\n\nThere are only two ways to get a negative item removed from your credit history.\n\n1) The creditor must remove it\n2) The creditor fails to respond to a credit bureau investigation request.\n\nOnce you have paid the creditor, you are going to find it extremely difficult to get them to cooperate in fixing your credit.  \n\nThat is why I warn people who are going to pay off old debts...make the creditor agree IN WRITING to delete the entry once the bill has been paid off.  Don't pay them a dime unless they agree to do it.\n\nNow you are broke, and you still have bad credit.  Is that fair?\n\nAll you can do now is start the dispute process.  Note that even though you paid off this debt, the creditor is only REQUIRED to show that the debt has been paid off, but it will still show reports of late payments, charge offs and collections.  It will still be a negative report. \n\nBut it at least should show the bill is paid.  Failure of the credit to update your credit history is a violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.  If they don't update the listing, you can sue them for $1000 in small claims court.\n\nSend a dispute letter to both the credit bureau and the creditor.  But note that it sometimes takes a couple of months for these updates to show up on your report, so you need to be patient.
278420
I am in the business of helping people with credit and I can tell you the fastest, most effective way to do it. First, get the addresses for all 3 credit bureaus. They are Equifax, Experian and Empirica. Once you have their addresses, make copies of all documentation and send it to them. Explain everything to them in full detail. This is the most direct way to get it off your credit. All 3 bureaus must be contacted to guarantee the removal. If you want to go online through their website then you'll have to scan your receipts and do the same thing. Happy trails!
391724
Be very careful with credit counseling agencies.\n\nThere are good ones out there - and there are bad ones out there.\n\nAny that charges YOU the customer - is not a good deal.  Then too there are those that have you send them your money and then you never know what happened to it.  No one gets paid and you never get it back.\n\nThe only one I can tell you for sure is legit is "Consumer Credit Counseling".  It appears to be the most respected one in the credit industry.  \n\nKnow too that lenders do not have to abide with whatever a credit counseling agency tells you the creditor will do.\n\nPLUS - talk to the creditor first is a good idea.  Explain to them that you are considering this option.  You may find that your creditors will work with you to resolve the problem you are experiencing.  My company does that.  At no cost to anyone.\n\nGood luck.
142545
Once your bankruptcy is cleared, make sure that the credit reporting agencies, all 3 of them delete the bankruptcy completely from your credit report. Do not have alot of inquiries on your credit report, (ie: credit card applications, new car applications, furniture etc.) Inquiries lower your score. Alot of places want to run credit reports on you when u go to buy something, DON'T LET THEM UNLESS U REALLY THINK U MAY BUY FROM THEM. Always pay your bills on time, in advance or completely off as soon as u can. All of this looks good on a credit report. It will take awhile for your report score to go up, but remember when it does go up, the better rates you will get on almost anything u would want to buy especially the really big purchases car or house.
70865
Do you have copies of your credit reports and know what is in them? \n\nIf not go to www.annualcreditreport.com where you can get all 3 for free once a year and it won't hurt your credit score.\n\nReview your files for accuracy. You have the right to dispute any item that you believe is inaccurat or unverifiable. The investigation will take about 30 days and you will get back the results:\n\n1) the item will be deleted.\n2) the item will be updated(could be more negative)\n3) the item will be verified as currently reported.\n\nThe FTC is cracking down on Credit Repair companies(see my link below) and I would be very careful about who you choose to help you.\n\nIf you choose not to try and "clean" up your credit yourself then I would look at a company like lexington law. They make sure they are in compliance with the law and make wild claims.\n\nGood Luck
216470
I wish people would stop recommending these sites where you have to subscribe to some service to get your credit report.\n\nIn 2004 Congress passed a law requiring the 3 credit bureaus to give every one a free copy of their credit report once a year.\n\nThat site is www.annualcreditreport.com.\n\nALL OTHER SITES CHARGE YOU!!!\n\nGood Luck