How to Do a Quick Credit Clean up

Credit clean up is not a fast process. It is, at best, somewhat lengthy. However by the time many people learn that credit clean up is even possible, they are already working with a deadline in which their credit score absolutely has to improve. Cases like these are not hopeless. If you need a quick credit cleanup you do have options.

Instructions

1

Clean up old tradelines. Pull your credit report and take a look at the dates on the tradelines. Are any of the negative accounts more than seven years old? If they are, a simple call to the credit bureau that is reporting the debt should clear it up. Let the bureau know that the debt is past the legal reporting period and that you would like it removed. Don't worry, you aren't in for a fight. They have to remove old debts after being reported for seven years, its federal law. Sometimes you can even dispute a debt as being too old when it is a few months away from dropping off and have it successfully removed.

2

Dispute your old addresses. Does your credit report list an address where you never lived? Are any of your old addresses even the slightest bit incorrect? Get these addresses removed. You may be surprised the negative information that tends to vanish when the address it was originally connected with vanishes.

3

Look through the inquiries on your credit report. Call each company and ask them to remove the inquiry. If they won't remove it, let them know that they need to provide you with proof that the inquiry was permitted, otherwise they are in violation of federal law. Most companies would far rather remove the inquiry than deal with the potential of a lawsuit. Some will do so just because you asked. This is the last bit of clean up before the waiting game begins.

4

Wait. The credit bureaus that you disputed with will contact you with the results of your investigation. Hopefully, you will receive these results and a cleaner credit report before your deadline, but you may not. Hopefully you will see a jump of a few points because of old addresses falling off, an inquiry or two being removed and the disappearance of some negative tradelines. The few very lucky consumers will be bumped right up into a better interest rate bracket.