How to Remove Negatives on a Credit Report

Maintaining a good credit report and high credit score mean a lot in today's world. Oftentimes it is impossible to buy a home, a car or even rent an apartment without good credit.If your credit reports have negatives on them that are keeping your score low, removing them may help your score jump into a higher category. The process of removing them can be done by oneself, instead of paying a firm to remove them for you.

Instructions

1

Order your credit reports from all three credit bureaus. If you have not obtained one in the past year, you can get one at no cost. Also, if you have applied for credit and were denied in the past 60 days, you can also obtain one at no cost. Otherwise, you may have to pay a small fee to receive your credit report.

2

WIth a highlighter, go over each credit report and highlight each and every account that is having a negative impact on your credit report. Items such as late pays, collections and currently past dues are the most damaging.

3

Write a letter to each individual credit bureau, outlining the negatives on your report. Explain why they should not be on there, such as, "The account is not mine," "I was never late," or "The account is past the statute of limitations." The statute of limitations is the length of time a negative is allowed to stay on your report. Each state is different.

4

Include a copy of your driver's license with your letter. This is to help speed up the process of identification.

5

Mail the letters by certified mail. This step is important because this is your receipt of the date you mailed the letter. By law, the credit bureaus must respond to your letter within 45 days, by either verifying the data, or removing it from your report.

6

If the data is verified, try again. You can repeatedly try this process every 30 days. Keep a detailed log of the dates of all your mailings. With each response from each bureau, you should receive a new credit report, as well.