By: PATSY ROSE

You may have heard that bad credit report repair is impossible or illegal.

Whether it is referred to as “problematic”, “less than perfect” or just “bad credit”, anyone with a credit score below 680 can benefit from bad credit report repair. Why? Because lenders charge higher interest rates to people with what they call “sub-prime” credit scores. How much can that amount to? A $20,000 car that is financed for a period of five years at an interest rate of 14% for someone who has sub-prime credit costs them an extra $4722 in interest. At 20% for someone with bad credit, that same car costs an extra $8593. If bad credit report repair is effective and costs around $1000 (could be less, could be more), then a person with less than perfect credit would still save almost $4000 and the person with bad credit would save about $7500. Bad credit report repair is a worthwhile investment.

None of this can be accomplished if you are currently behind on payments to your lenders, whether credit cards or loans. You may need debt management or credit counseling, but you will not need credit repair information until you can put these issues behind you. Credit counseling, while helpful when you are in over your head, is not the same as bad credit report repair. Even if you have had a bankruptcy, bad credit report repair may be helpful.

It is sometimes possible to achieve some results on your own, but it may be time consuming, frustrating and ineffective. You will also be unaware of everything that you can accomplish unless you contact a lawyer that specializes in bad credit report repair. The credit repair information available from credit bureaus and government agencies only mention some possibilities; how to report discrepancies or inaccuracies. Sometimes, items are not removed in a timely manner, even though the credit bureau says this is not true. If you cannot afford to hire a legal firm, you can begin bad credit report repair by writing a letter which disputes information listed on your credit report to the appropriate credit bureau. They have thirty days to respond. Suggestions for writing these letters and addresses for the three major credit bureaus are listed in an earlier post. You should try to keep all emotion out of these letters and put your request in very simple terms. You may have to write a follow-up letter, if the credit bureau does not respond in a timely manner. This letter should also be unemotional and simply state that you have waited a reasonable amount of time (30-45 days) and you would like the inaccurate information removed immediately and a new copy of your report sent to your home address. When you see a company selling something called a credit repair kit, check out the contents before you buy. The previous credit repair information (concerning letter content, etc) is what they are usually selling.

If you are able to achieve results, you are one step closer to bad credit report repair. If the credit bureau does not respond to the follow-up letter, your only real option is to contact an attorney.

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