Are you in the need for quick credit repair or a quick score boost? Many consumers need quick fixes to boost that FICO score to where it needs to be to get the best interest rate for an automobile or home purchase. It will vary by situation, but many of these techniques can raise your score as many as 100 points in as little as 5 days. Below is a simple guide to quick credit repair.
The Rapid Re-Score:
All mortgage companies have the ability to request a rescore. The only drawback is they have to pay a fee of about $30 per agency to make it happen. Usually this fee will be transferred on to you. As long as you are willing to absorb the cost, you have a good chance at inflating your score with these quick credit repair tactic.
Unfortunately, this method isn’t as simple as stating ‘I want a re-score!’ You need to compile your evidence of how the data is incorrect on the report and why it needs to be updated. This takes some effort on your part and some money, but it is money well spent. In addition, there are techniques where no money is required to achieve positive results.
We will break down the techniques by priority and by what is most impacting your score. Make sure to go over each one carefully.
Isolating the Problems Impacting Your Score:
The goal of this chapter is to raise your middle credit score. Most lenders will use the middle of the three credit scores. Let’s say your TransUnion score was 670, Experian was 617 and Equifiax was 640. The lender would use the Equifax score of 640. Therefore, when a lender pulls your credit report, they pull what is known as a tri-merged report, so they will have information from all three agencies.
The first step is to determine why your score is low. The FACT act requires the score factors be disclosed to you when you are applying for a mortgage.
The Most Common Factors that Require Quick Credit Repair are:
Credit Card balances
Excessive inquiries
Late payments
Collection accounts
Public records
Of these five factors, only public records cannot be addressed in a timely manner, so we will not spend any effort on those. The other four, however, can be handled swiftly.
Compiling Your Quick Credit Repair Evidence:
Anything you attempt to accomplish with a re-score will need evidence to back up your claim. Agencies will require letters from a creditor with the following guidelines:
Usually dated within the past 30 days.
Written on company letterhead.
Account information (name, address, account number)
Specific stated request on what needs to be updated.
Signature from a creditor representative.
The Agency Will Not Accept:
Receipts or cancelled checks
Letters without letterhead
Letters without contact information
Third party documentation
Paid receipts
Since time is not on your side, you will need to do your best to get the creditor to fax you this information. If needed, keep escalating though the red tape and find somebody to buy your sob story.
Quick Credit Repair Fixes That Don’t Require Money:
Inquiries. Every time you apply for credit, a company will perform a hard inquiry. These impact up to 10% of your FICO score and will have impact for a year afterwards. On average, a fresh inquiry will lower you score 5 points. Try contacting the company who pulled the inquiry and see what the reason was for. Try convincing them you didn’t realize you gave them authorization. Try to get them to remove it from their system and send you a fax attesting to this. Remember, every point helps!
(Warning: Inquiry removal could lead to improper fraud alerts being placed on your fail. Be careful when attempting this form of quick credit repair)
Credit card balances. Credit card balances can impact your score of upwards to 30%! While you will not be able to get your credit card company to report your current balance directly to the agency, you can have a representative fax you a letter indicating what your current balance is if it is substantially lower. When they agency does the re-score, they will factor the new balance. This could raise you by 50 points or more if your balances are substantially lower.
Late payments. You should contact every creditor that is reporting a late payment. If you have maintained a good relationship, you may be able to have them remove the late payment. This is especially helpful if the late payment happened within the past 2 years. On-time payment reflects 35% of your FICO score. Try calling and speaking with a representative. They might be able to take care of you on the spot. If they do remove it, have them send you a fax indicating it has been removed.
Quick Credit Repair Fixes that Require Money:
Credit card balances. If you are showing high balances, you need to bring these down as fast as possible. Many mathematicians claim that the best possible FICO score with credit card balances shows all but one account needs to show a zero balance. The one account showing a balance needs to have less than 9% utilization ratio. If you have money to knock these down, go down to the local branch and make a payment. After payment, ask if you can have a revised statement or a letter showing the new balance.
Collection accounts. As previously mentioned, you can always attempt to pay for delete of any collection account. The only catch is you may have to speak with someone on the phone and then have them fax over a letter indicating this trade line should be removed. It won’t be easy, but it is possible. Remember, quick credit repair requires thinking outside of the box!
Also, it should be worth noting that any account listed as disputed could cause a problem with the lender, so you will need to contact the agencies and have them remove any note that indicates an account is in dispute.
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