Do it Yourself Credit Repair and Credit Restoration

Credit repair firms run banner ads promising to repair and restore tarnished credit for a price. They don't tell you that the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) lets you do the same thing yourself for free. You can't get rid of accurate negative information until the end of the legal reporting period, which is usually seven years. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) states you can still repair your record by finding and eliminating harmful inaccuracies through the legal dispute process.

Instructions

1

Place an order for your TransUnion, Equifax and Experian credit reports through the phone number or form on annualcreditreport.com. The FTC warns against going through other websites that advertise free credit reports because they require purchases. Annualcreditreport.com is free--with no catches--and allows you to get a report from all three credit bureaus once every 12 months.

2

Read through the three reports and make a list of every questionable item. Credit Infocenter, a credit repair website, advises looking for minor mistakes like misspellings, inaccurate dates and amounts. You can challenge any inaccuracy on a negative entry, no matter how small.

3

Mail a letter to each individual credit bureau with a list of mistakes and demand an investigation within 30 days. Use the dispute addresses listed on each bureau's website. The FCRA states any items you challenge must be removed from your report if the creditors don't validate them. Many do not bother, so your dispute letters can significantly repair your credit.

4

Send a letter to creditors who validate items you believe are still incorrect, suggests Credit Infocenter. Ask for proof of accuracy, and demand that the creditors stop reporting the information to the credit bureaus if they cannot provide proof. The disputed item will drop off your records if it is not reported.

5

Review one credit report every four months to continually check for and repair new mistakes. Each bureau must give you one free report a year through annualcreditreport.com. You can monitor your records continually by spacing out your requests for copies.

6

Pay all your credit cards, loans and other bills on time. This continually restores your credit because prompt pays weigh heavily in your credit score. FICO, the biggest credit score company, explains that restoring a positive payment history is one of the best ways to improve your records.