Five ways to help you spring clean your credit report by scanning and assessing the things that are hurting your credit score and then create an action plan to turn it around.

1. Credit Repair
5 Ways to Spring Clean Your Credit
Report

2. What are credit score based on?

3. #1- Do one scan for flat-out
errors.
By law a
copy of your
credit report
must be
provided to
you once a
year as well
as anytime
you are not
approved for
credit.
Go to AnnualCreditReport.com and
order your credit reports from all three
reporting bureaus:
Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.
 Look for accounts that aren’t yours,
that have long been closed or
otherwise are erroneously reported

4. #2- Do a scan for reporting
inaccuracies
Delinquencie
s should age
entirely off
your report
after 7 years
bankruptcies
after 10.
In particular, you’re looking for things like:
 delinquencies that should have aged off
 balances listed as higher than they truly
are
 limits listed as lower than they really are
 short sales/foreclosures that are
improperly dated, among other things.

5. #3- Dispute report errors
By law
creditors
must
respond to
disputes
within 30
days.
Follow the instructions on the
reports to dispute such report
errors immediately
 online
 on the phone
 and in writing.

6. #4- Pay the right things off BUT…
…take care
not to pay off
accounts
you need to
show your
responsible
use of credit.
•
•
•
•
accounts in collections
state and federal tax liens
past home loans or lines of credit in default
that not extinguished through foreclosure (e.g.,
second loans, home equity lines of credit, etc.)
defaulted federal student loans (for FHA loan
applicants).

7. #5- Create a plan
Real debt
help is
found only
in changing
your
behavior.
Analyze your income versus your debt.
 Create a budget and a timeline of how
you will pay off your debt
 Take settlement offers IF…
 Consider taking care of the higher
interest loans first

8. Questions?

9. Resources

Learnvest.com

Frugalgirl.com

Frugalliving.about.co
m

10. Office of Business and Community Relations
Initiative
www.oswego.edu/about/centers/obcr.html