Fast Credit Repair (Pipe Dream Or Reality?)

Fast Credit Repair (Pipe Dream Or Reality?)

Contrary to popular belief, credit repair does NOT have to take months or even years to produce results. With a little know-how, fast credit repair is definitely possible.

As a financially-savvy consumer (hey, you’re on this site, right?), doubtless you know how important it is to have good, healthy credit: Poor credit means you can pay tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra interest over the life of a home loan and you can also pay more for car loans, credit cards and insurance. Bad credit can even have an impact on your ability to get a job.

You probably also know that keeping your credit as healthy as can be is a lifetime commitment. And it follows, then, that credit repair can take a long, long time, right? Not always. Your credit score is influenced by a lot of factors, and while one of the main factors – the length of time you’ve had credit accounts – can only be improved with time, there are other factors that can respond pretty quickly to good behavior and improved spending habits. Here are a few areas to focus on for quick results:

• Account balances:Ideally, you want the balances on each of your accounts to be no more than 20% of the credit limit for that account. So, that means that for an account with a $1,000 limit, you’d want to owe no more than $200.
• Don’t cancel old credit lines:Turns out that wine and cheese aren’t the only things that improve with age: Your credit does, too. Each credit line you have contributes to the age of your accounts, and the older your account age, the better you’ll look to creditors, so avoid cancelling existing lines – especially the older ones.
• Avoid taking out new credit:Similarly, new credit lines decrease your overall account age and they can also make you look desperate for money. If you’re trying to improve your score for an upcoming loan, avoid taking out new credit for now.
• Payment history:True, the longer you pay on time, the better it looks. But even a few months of on-time payments can improve your score big time.

So while it’s true that time can provide the greatest healing to a less-than-perfect credit history, it’s also true that steps you take today – right now (hint, hint) – can also have a pretty significant effect on your credit. Most importantly, by showing responsible behavior with your existing credit lines, you demonstrate to potential lenders that you’re a good risk.

How to get started? It’s actually pretty simple: To jump-start the credit repair process, contact a credit repair company like CreditRepair.com for an initial consultation. In addition to helping you establish an actionable plan to improve your credit, they’ll even give you a free credit score and credit report summary so you have the most accurate picture of where you stand.