How to Repair a Bad Credit History

 Worldwide Capital Mortgage Corp. is always worried about our costumer's credit and we always said that no matter how bad your credit is, you can take steps that will make it better.

Steps

 1. Pay all of your bills on time. Late payments (payments that are 30 days late or more) have a negative effect on your credit rating.

 2. Reduce the number of credit cards you carry. Write to your creditors to request that they close your accounts and report this status change to all three credit-reporting agencies.

 3. Avoid bankruptcies, tax liens (a lien for not paying state or federal income taxes or property taxes) and collections. A bankruptcy stays on your credit report for up to 10 years. Collection accounts and paid tax liens stay on for seven years, and unpaid tax liens will haunt you forever.

 4. Request in writing that your creditors reduce the credit limits on your accounts to lower your amount of available credit. The total amount of available credit is considered by lenders even if you owe nothing.

5. Ask a family member or friend to co-sign on a small loan or credit card to help you re-establish credit. Make your payments on time and remember that that person's credit will be affected by the payment history as well.

 6. Get a secured credit card to help re-establish your credit. You will have to keep a designated amount of money in an account that will be sufficient to cover your charges. Make payments on time.

 7. Get a yearly copy of your credit report to catch any errors.

 Tips

 - Don't apply too often. Credit ratings are usually slightly lowered each time an inquiry is made about an individual's credit history. It's a good idea to avoid applying too often for cards.

-Dispute every negative item on all your reports; keep on disputing until the creditor removes it.

-Dispute any late pays as "pays as agreed" or payment never late. If the creditor does not respond within 30 days, the bureaus are bound by law to remove the negative listing from your file and you file will read "pays as agreed" and "payment never late" which will turn a negative item into a positive one.

-Keep the balance on all your credit cards, or revolving credit, under 25%. If possible, get the balance down to 0 at the time of the month the creditor reports to the bureau's. You can ask the creditors and they will usually tell you. This is huge and can impact your score up to 80 points.

-If you don't have any credit cards, apply for 2 secured credit cards that report to the bureau's. Use them to buy a cup of coffee or some other small item once a month and pay the balance immediately. Make sure it has a 0 balance owed at the time it's reported to the credit bureau's.