Credit Repair for Credit Cards

While the ease and convenience of credit cards are unmatched by cash or checks, these positives these can also lead to significant problems. Using your credit cards irresponsibly can lead to a devastated credit score and damage your chances at getting new forms of credit. While you cannot change your past actions, you can begin repairing credit card problems today by taking the right steps.

Credit Card Problems

Credit card users can fall prey to a variety of problems, though payment problems are probably the most common. In the worst-case scenarios, credit card users who fail to pay their bills can get sued by the credit card company, have their wages garnished and suffer significant damage to their credit scores. While the impact of your actions differs depending on several factors, such as how long you've gone without paying, any damage you cause will not permanently bar you from getting a better credit score.

Credit Report Information

Every consumer who has ever used credit has a credit report that details their behavior as a credit user. When you experience problems with your credit cards, these too get recorded on your report. While you cannot remove truthful information of from your report, you can inspect your reports to ensure there are no errors and demand changes if you do find errors. All consumers can view their three credit reports every year without charge by going to annualcreditreport.com, the only FTC-authorized site.

Starting Over

Your credit report keeps credit information on it for a limited amount of time, typically either seven or 10 years. While you cannot remove correct information, such as judgments a credit card company obtained against you for failure to pay your bills, this information has less of an impact as time goes by. Lenders want to know what your history is, but having a recent positive history can often impact your score more directly than a negative history that happened a long time ago.

Growing Stronger

While you cannot go from bad credit to good credit overnight, you can have a great credit score no matter how poorly you've done in the past. Your credit score depends on several factors, including your bill payment history and how much money you owe. Simply by paying down your debt and making your payments on time every month you can see an immediate positive benefit.

Credit Repair Companies

Consumers should be cautious about companies that offer "credit repair" services. These companies can often be scams, taking more of your money and often leaving you worse off than before. Carefully check out any such company by checking its history with your state's attorney general's office or through the Department of Justice.