How to begin repairing your credit

The basis of repairing your credit involves three processes: Disputing negative entries on your credit report, having those entries deleted, and rebuilding your credit.

There is also a method of behavior that you must follow and observe throughout each of these processes: Persistence, politeness and persuasiveness.

Here are some things you should never, ever do:

• Explain why and how the negative credit came about.
• Claim that your file has been mixed-up with someone else's.
• Verify the negative credit in any way (such as the actual date of the derogatory entry).
• Write a dispute letter that is more than a page long.
• Show uncertainty about what you want done with the negative entries.
• Quote the FCRA or other legal matters in your letter.
• Repeat a dispute that you recently made.
• Threaten to sue.
• Use foul or abusive language in your dispute letter.
• Show any signs of weakness or hesitancy in your dispute letter.

Now, it is important to realize what actually happens once you send your letter of dispute to a credit bureau.

• Your letter is first read by a lower-level employee called the "checker".
• If your letter is too long, complex or vague, the checker may decide to throw away your letter, write you back telling you that your dispute is frivolous, or send you a letter asking for more information.
• If your dispute letter says the right things and avoids the wrong things, your letter will get past the checker, who will pass it on to reinvestigation.
• Once your dispute goes into reinvestigation, you will find that the thirty-day dispute period is very rarely observed. It is not unusual for credit bureaus to hold your letter for thirty days and then send you a letter soon thereafter informing you that they will begin investigation. There is nothing you can really do, but wait.
• After the investigation is complete, and the lender has not verified the disputed entry, the credit bureau will delete that entry. This is known as a "soft delete". This means that the negative entry will be reinstated if verification eventually arrives.
• In the case of courthouse records such as bankruptcies, judgments, or liens, the credit bureau must send someone to the courthouse to verify the listing. Usually, however, a credit bureau will contact one of the lenders in the case and verify the court document through them.
• In the United States, there are also hundred of smaller, "pass-through" credit bureaus who act as local agents for the three larger credit bureaus. These pass-through bureaus have a very thorough method of investigation and must be handled in a unique and special way. If a pass-through bureau labels you as a persistent and regular disputer, they will soon come to ignore all your disputes. This is why they must be handled carefully.
• Once your dispute is accepted, you will find that about one-third of the derogatory entries are deleted or improved to perfect. Once they have been deleted or improved, the credit bureau will send you a notice of these changes, along with a new credit report.

Now that you are fully aware of the entire process, let us begin undertaking your credit repair.

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