There has been no time in recent history when your credit score has been as important as in 2010. The vast reduction of available credit in the form of cut backs perpetuated by the credit card companies is the predominant reason for this. In fact, maybe you noticed that your available balance was drastically reduced overnight!
It is much more difficult to get a mortgage. The minimum score needed rose by an average of 40 points and the minimum score required for reasonable rates is up 28 points.
If your credit score is less than stellar, obtaining new credit in 2010 will prove to be almost impossible.
What you will need this year is a proven strategy for boosting your credit score.
This past weekend, I sat down and committed to paper my 2010 financial goals. I even included my goal of increasing my FICO score to 775.
Your financial goals may not be the same as mine. However, I hope that you have given them some thought. Whatever goals you may choose, it is important to include improving your FICO score and removing negative items from your credit history in your overall plan. For a simple formula to help you achieve these financial goals, see below:
Credit Strategy #1: Work on Removing Negative Items From Your Credit History
You should immediately attempt to remove any questionable late payment, repossession, collection, charge off, bankruptcy, or other negative item, by disputing the information.
To accomplish this, you can use the dispute form letter which you will find here.
Often some items can be quite stubborn. Charge offs, judgments, and repossession are especially “sticky”. You may need to get more aggressive than just a standard dispute letter.
Something you might try is called “debt validation.” This is where you demand that your debt be validated by the original creditor. (This is substantially different from disputing an item with the bureaus. However, it is often very effective when dealing with collections and charge offs.)
Debt validation is probably not something that you would want to take on yourself. The fact of the matter is, I tried it once and did such a bad job that creditors just ignored my letters.
However, I went to Lexington Law and then it was a different story. I was so relieved when Lexington Law was able to get Midland Credit, a big bad collection agency, to notify the credit bureaus and instruct them to remove all of my charge offs and collections.
Lexington Law’s services are not for everybody. It is more for people who are deadly serious about their credit and have some immediate financial goals for 2010. If you are one of those people you can get on the phone with a paralegal today by dialing this number: 800-636-3158.
Credit Strategy #2: Move Forward with Building Good Credit
The good news is that this is easy to do if you already have an unsecured account. Keep paying those accounts on time. In fact, I suggest setting up an auto payment system so you never slip up. Plus, this saves postage so you are saving twice!
The bad news is for people who don’t already have an unsecured account – like a Visa/MasterCard account. It is tough to even get a card if your score is in the 500 range.
Credit Strategy #3: Don’t Get Discouraged or Let Down Your Guard
Don’t lose sight of your goal and what you want to accomplish. Rebuilding your credit will take time. The sooner you get started the better. It is wise to keep track of your credit score by maintaining a detailed log. Begin your log by noting your credit score as of today’s date and tracking it as you rebuild good credit and as questionable negative items are removed. If you are successful with your goals, your credit score should increase each month.
Don’t get discouraged when things don’t go your way. There are usually different ways to tackle a problem.
We raised our credit scores from the upper 500 range to 745 and 763 in under six months and got approved for our dream home. Discover the one rule you must obey in credit repair by seeing proof at www.creditforcouples.com and get the real truth about lexington credit repair.