If I start listing all the ways that a good credit report can help you in, there may be no end to it. Therefore, to cut the long story short, you need good credit to make sure that your financial standing stays strong. It will eventually aid you in scoring good credit cards, good loans offers, and more. Even if you are into using mobile apps like zelle canada for money transfers, there is a need to link credit or debit cards and that requires you to have a good credit report to bank up their applications and approvals. So what can you do to improve the look of your credit report?
Stick To Making Timely Payments
Before you explore any trickier methods to fix your credit report, the first and the most simple step should be to clear all payments in a timely manner. This applies to credit card fees, loan due payments, and more. Late payments can have an adverse effect on your credit report and ruin your credit score in less than a month.
In this regard, it is better to stay ahead of time. If you are someone who would forget about the due date, choose to set alarms or notifications on your mobile or a calendar reminder on your office desk. Although late payments are taken off the credit report after 7 years, that is still a long time for your score to suffer.
Keep a Check On Your Credit Report From The Three Major Credit Bureaus
You can review separate credit reports from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. In fact, obtaining a credit report from them once in a year is completely free. Once you have the credit report, you should review it thoroughly to check for any mistake or past record that should have been removed. You should also take notes of credit inquiries, payments, due bills, etc, that you should clear as soon as possible. Keeping tabs on your credit report would help determine the factors that are pulling down your score.
Dispute Errors on Credit Report or Seek Professional Help
Although credit bureaus are keen to only add correct and authenticated information to your credit report, there may be mistakes. If these go unnoticed, your credit score may suffer wrongly. In fact, statistics have pointed out that about 34% of the consumers were able to point out a mistake on their credit report which was important to address.
You can use such errors to your advantage. Users are allowed to dispute any mistakes on the credit report and request for the removal. There are also professional companies that can help you eliminate the errors but, obviously, charge a fee for doing so. Moreover, this can take up to a month or more for the information to be disputed, verified, and updated on your credit report.
Take-Home Message
Keeping a credit report in good shape demands a lot of attention and you will have to put in quite an effort. You can begin by simply developing the habit of checking the report once in a while and making timely payments. These habits may take some time to develop but eventually you will get the hang of the process over a couple of months.