rights remove judgment from credit bureau

Ten Steps To Building A Good Credit History
By Drahcir Semaj, Thu Dec 8th

Ten steps to building a good credit history

By Drahcir Semaj

Are you thinking of buying a house? Do you want to buy a new carto replace that old wreck? Trying to get insurance on you home,auto, or life? In each of these situations, what's on yourcredit report will determine if you can get a loan or insuranceand what rates you'll have to pay.

If you're trying to build or repair your credit history, youhave a daunting but not impossible task in front of you. Lots ofpeople have been where you are and today they have good credit.With time, discipline, hard work, and by taking the propersteps, you'll be able to build a good credit history too.

To build or rebuild your credit history you need to take certainsteps:

1.Develop a budget and live by it. Whether your building creditfor the first time or rebuilding credit, you need to know howmuch money you have coming in each month and how you're spendingit.

Start by listing your income from all sources. Next list allfixed expenses (rent, mortgage, car payments...). Finally listall of your variable expenses (entertainment, recreation,clothing...) no matter how small they are.

Writing down and tracking your expenses will help you tounderstand your spending patterns and you'll be able to seewhere you can save money by making lifestyle changes. 2.Open achecking account and use it responsibly. Lenders want to knowthat you have a relationship with a financial institution andthat you have a checking account available to pay your bills.Don't overdraw your bank account; in addition to possibledamaging your credit record, you'll be charged fees.

3. Pay your current bills on-time and pay them in full. Payingyour bill on-time puts positive information on your creditrecord. Late payments or missed payments count against you.

4. Review your credit report annually. Contact Equifax,Experian, and Trans Union to get copies of your credit report.You should get a copy of your credit report from all threereporting agencies because some creditors don't report to allthree agencies. If you're a member of a credit union, check tosee if your credit union offers discounted credit reportordering for its members.

5. Fix any errors on your credit report. If you find errors onyour credit

report, contact the credit reporting agency and thecreditor (in writing) to get the errors fixed. Check your creditreport to make sure that negative information like latepayments, delinquencies, liens, and judgments against you havebeen removed after 7 years; bankruptcies should be removed afterten years.

For more information on how to dispute errors on your creditreport, visit the Federal Trade Commission website at:http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/crdtdis.htm.

6. Apply for a credit card. If you're rebuilding your credithistory, consider applying for a secured credit card. To get asecured credit card, you'll need to deposit funds with thecredit card issuer and your credit limit is usually equal to theamount you deposit. A secured card can be used the same way asan unsecured card and your timely payments will help to improveyour credit history.

7.Apply for a department store or gasoline card. These cards areusually easier to get than major credit cards and they come withsmaller credit limits.

8. Establish an account at a credit union and take a loan out onit. This is a secured loan. You'll have to pay interest on theloan, but if your payments are reported to the credit bureaus,the small interest fees will be worth the positive informationthat is added to your credit record.

9. Don't max out your credit cards. Maxing out your credit cardscan hurt your credit score. Try not to use more than 30% of thecredit you have available to you. Part of your credit scoremeasures the amount of credit that your have available to youand how much you're using. The more credit you're using, themore negative impact on your credit score.

10.If you get into trouble with your credit, get help. Don'twait until creditors send your accounts to debt collectors. Ifyou can't make a payment contact the creditor and makearrangements to make the payment. If you feel that you're overyour head in debt get help from a debt counselor

You can contact Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union at:

Equifax: http://www.equifax.com/ Experian:http://www.experian.com/ Trans Union: http://www.tuc.com/

About the author:About the Author Drahcir Semaj is a freelance writer. You cancontact him at drahcir@drahcirsemaj.com. Or visit his website athttp://www.drahcirsemaj.com.

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