OT: Anyone have any good tips for cleaning up the credit report?

JakeT. · Oct 27, 2008

I haven't really paid much attention to it but there was no night game tonight so I went to annualcreditreport.com and checked it for free.

There were about 10 more things on there than I was aware of and my credit score can't bet that good even though most of them are less than $100. I even though a $1200 towing bill from a year ago that I had to dispute since I've never had a tow in my life.

Crazy stuff.

Anyway, going to start paying off the stuff on there just to get it taken care of and wasn't sure if it was better to go through the actual company or the debt collection company listed on the report? I've also heard about places that help you out and cut out like 50% of your debt... are those places legit?

Any other tips?

Thanks in advance.

BadCo · Oct 27, 2008

Up top should be a dispute icon.

Dispute them all and most won't respond and they will be taken off.

Those that do pay them.

Also dispute all the inquiries.

tatehill2000 · Oct 27, 2008

You gotta do it on all 3 services,,,,,,,

tater

$tinky · Oct 27, 2008

pay what you owe, is the best tip anybody ever gave me

steaktartar · Oct 27, 2008

$tinky said:
pay what you owe, is the best tip anybody ever gave me

JakeT. · Oct 27, 2008

$tinky said:
pay what you owe, is the best tip anybody ever gave me

Yeah that's the plan. I'm not trying to get out of legit debts, just trying to figure out if it's going to be better to go through the company or the debt collection place they got sent to.

TTinCO · Oct 27, 2008

This stuff can be touchy. Even if you pay them off, you still have the negative items on your report(they just aren't as negative as being unpaid).

What you want to do is deal with them & basically say that you'll pay it off if they remove it from your report. I don't know exactly how you go about that, but that's from a mortgage broker who specializes in credit repair.

Also, as already mentioned, you can dispute each item. If they don't respond within 30 days-poof, it's gone like it never even existed.

Even if you aren't looking to buy a house right now, get in touch with a couple local mortgage brokers who do credit repair. I'm sure there are all kinds of little tricks that they pull off-and it's probably worth paying for.

BadCo · Oct 27, 2008

Going through a debt agency hurts your credit.

I'm sure your mortgage broker will give you advice,thats how I know things on how to clean up my credit.

OK TT beat me but yes what he said.