Hello bureau-ga,
Unfortunately, I doubt you are going to be able to fix your credit in
a week. Just consider paperwork and processing of new information to
start with. That right there is longer than a week in most cases. Let
us talk a little about how credit scores work to begin with.
I personally belong to a service called CreditInform. Every 3 months
they send me a copy of my credit report broken down. I started this a
couple of years ago when I wanted to fix/build my credit score up. I
HIGHLY recommend them if you would like to track and raise your score.
In 2 years, I have raised my credit score over 300 points.
https://www.mycreditinform.com/gs/english/index.asp
There are three main credit bureaus:
Equifax, based in Atlanta, Georgia
Experian, based in Allen, Texas
TransUnion, based in Springfield, Pennsylvania.
These three agencies are going to be where you file any disputes
regarding your credit and who reports information to lenders when you
apply for credit. These ?Big 3? do not exchange info with each other,
so, depending on whom the lender pulls information from, they can get
a different picture of your credit history, giving you a different
credit score. Credit Inform pulls all three into one report to give
you the most accurate picture of your credit. I chose to use them for
that reason alone in the beginning.
How long do things remain on your credit report?
Public records and collection items stay on your report for seven
years with the exception of bankruptcies, which stay on for ten years,
except successfully completed Chapter 13 bankruptcies, which are also
removed after seven years.
Unpaid tax liens remain for 15 years.
Positive information remains indefinitely, although agencies can
remove it after seven years.
Inquiries remain for two years.
If there is inaccurate information on your credit report, you can
dispute it. This process can take up to 30 days for the initial
dispute. Here is a Sample Dispute Letter that you can use to dispute
charges
https://www.mycreditinform.com/gs/english/Credit_Dispute_Letter.asp
Credit scores range from 350 to 850.
350-475 is considered Very Weak
475-550 ? Weak
550-630 ? Fair
630-740 ? Good
740-850 ? Excellent
As far as your late payments, here is what Credit Inform has to say about that?
?Some cases of late payments are worse than others. If you have not
been late with any payments recently, lenders may think you are
responsible and do not (or will no longer) miss payments. Lenders
realize that many people occasionally pay late. Therefore, being late
with a single payment is typically not as harmful as being late with
two or more consecutive payments. Similarly, being late on many
accounts is typically worse than being late on one. In addition,
lenders may view late payments as a more serious problem if you have
collection accounts or negative public records such as bankruptcies or
court judgments. These types of credit records indicate a pattern of
credit problems. Finally, it may not be as harmful to be late with
your payments if the past due balances are small, because lenders
stand to lose less money if they remain unpaid.?
Also, from another site about late payments?
?Your payment history makes up 35% of your total credit score. Your
recent payment history will carry much more weight than what happened
five years ago. Missing just one months? payment on anything can knock
50 to 100 points off your credit score. Paying your bills on time is a
single best way to start rebuilding your credit rating and raise
credit score for you.?
http://ezinearticles.com/?Fix-Your-Credit-Quickly&id=336002
I recommend in order to raise your score overall (and it will take
longer than a week) to get a copy of your credit report from all three
major Agencies and check it over. Are all of your closed accounts
actually closed? Are all of your payments reported correctly? Are the
accounts all yours? Credit Inform also has a tool where you can
propose a scenario and it tells you how that will affect your credit
score. IE: Paying everything on time for 6 months, applying for a
loan, etc.
You also have to be aware that some Credit Repair places are scams.
??Credit repair schemes are a big problem for consumers,? said Eileen
Harrington, Deputy Director of the FTC?s Bureau of Consumer
Protection. ? Credit repair promoters generally charge hundreds of
dollars, but do not deliver on their claims. The fact is, they cannot.
No one can legally remove accurate and timely information from your
credit report.??
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2006/02/badcreditbgone.htm (FTC - Credit Scams)
Bad information cannot be removed from a credit report if it is
legitimate information. If in the process of trying to raise your
score, you encounter anyone who says they can get rid of info on your
report that is legit info (IE your 2 late payments) it?s a SCAM. It is
also ILLEGAL.
The purpose of the above article is?
??is to alert consumers that there is absolutely no reason to pay for
credit repair ? ever. Despite their claims, there is nothing that any
credit repair firm can do for you for a fee that you cannot do for
yourself at little or no cost.?
Hence why I say if you want to influence your score, it WILL take more
than a week and please do not fall into an expensive trap.
From the same site:
# Avoid any company that wants you to pay for credit repair services
before they provide any services. It is against the law.
# Avoid any credit repair company that will not tell you your legal
rights and what you can do, yourself, free.
# Avoid any credit repair company that tells you not to contact a
credit reporting company directly.
# Avoid any credit repair company that advises you to dispute all of
the information in your credit report.
# Avoid any company that suggests creating a ?new? credit identity ?
and then, a new credit report ? by applying for an Employer
Identification Number to use instead of your Social Security number.
That is against the law. If you follow illegal advice and commit
fraud, you also may be subject to prosecution.
?The FTC advises that only time, a conscious effort, and a personal
debt repayment plan can improve your credit report. The first step is
to learn what information is in your credit report. If you find errors
or mistakes, federal law gives you the right to have them corrected ?
free of charge.
Federal law requires that the nationwide consumer reporting companies
? Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion ? provide you with a free copy of
your credit report once every 12 months, if you ask for it. To order
your free report, visit annualcreditreport.com, call 1-877-322-8228,
or complete and mail the Annual Credit Report Request Form. Other
credit repair information is available on the FTC?s Web site,
http://www.ftc.gov.?
Once again, the link to this site is:
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2006/02/badcreditbgone.htm
For example, this site says it can raise your score in 24 hours by
knowing the ?secret? phone #?s and tricks of the Agencies.
http://www.thebestever.net/credit/creditscore1.asp#weekorless
It?s plain BS. It is impossible. Changes that affect your credit score
have to be reported to one of the three agencies, processed, and
updated. It is just not possible. A day, a week?nope, not going to
happen. Honestly, the best thing to do would be to spend a year
getting your credit back in order and raising your score, and then try
buying the house if you are that concerned. That, or refinance once
you get your credit score raised after the initial purchase.
Here are some more sensible, legit articles on how to improve your score.
http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/21/pf/debt/credit_scores/index.htm
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/credit-scoring/20040128a1.asp
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Banking/YourCreditRating/BeefUpYourCreditScoreIn5steps.aspx
http://www.myfico.com/CreditEducation/ImproveYourScore.aspx
http://www.truecredit.com/static/improve_credit_score.jsp
I think at this point, your best bet is to get copies of your credit
report, check them over for accuracy, dispute anything you may have a
concern about, and go from there. There is no surefire, reliable way
to raise your score in a week. Even if you did, it could take up to 30
days for the three agencies to report it on a current credit report.
You can try to quickly up your credit score by paying off debts,
getting your credit card balances between 40-50% of the credit limit
on them, etc. However, that does not mean a lender will you give you
the best rate. All factors are considered in a credit report, and
those two late payments do state that for some reason, no matter how
good the rest of your credit, you were late the last 2 months.
Google Searches Used:
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fix credit in a week
If this answer requires further explanation, please request
clarification before rating it, and I will be happy to look into this
further.
Nenna-GA
Google Answers Researcher |
