Originally written by GlamourRouge on Stripper Web 6/30/13
GR's Guide To Changing Bad Credit Into Amazing Credit In Less Than 6 Months:
Including: bankruptcies, accounts in collections, late payment history, etc.
I am not a credit expert, but I read a bunch of credit books and used the advice in them to completely repair my credit report after a medical BR. And I stalked the hell out of credit forums.
STEP 1: Ordering Reports (When you pull your own credit report, you don't get any hard inquiries, FYI)
- Pull your credit reports from all 3 main bureaus. You can pull them for free once per year at (freecreditreport dot com is a scam just FYI).
If you have already received your credit reports for the year, purchase them.
- There is a secret hidden 4th credit bureau called Innovis. Pull that one too. You can order it here for free:
- Pull your Chexsystem report too. Chexsystem monitors if you have overdrafted and not paid any fees to banks. If you are in Chexsystem, you are almost automatically denied for any credit you apply for. You can order your report for free here:
STEP 2: Filing Disputes... (You may be able to get your 3 bureau report online, but the others will only be available by mail)
- THREE MAJOR BUREAUS: Dispute EVERYTHING negative using the online system for the 3 major bureaus (Equifax, Experian, & Transunion). Just dispute it as "not mine" because it might not be yours anyway. Make sure to also delete all other names, addresses, phone numbers, and employers on file except for your current ones. Dispute everything as "not mine" first.
- INNOVIS: You will have to call Innovis to dispute because they do not have an online system available for us to use. If they can't do something over the phone, you will have to mail them a dispute. Always send it certified mail return receipt requested or they often won't take it seriously because they know you have no proof you sent it!
- CHEXSYSTEM: If you owe anything, pay it off ASAP and mail a copy of the paid in full receipts to Chexsystem's address so they get deleted. If you went through bankruptcy, all you have to do is mail a copy of the bankruptcy discharge to Chexsystem. Also, I have heard that you can try to dispute the accounts in there as "not mine" and stuff as well, just like with the major credit bureaus.
(You will now have to wait 30 days [or less, but it normally takes the full 30 days!] to see what gets deleted and/or updated. I'm guessing a lot of the negative stuff will be deleted- especially if its for only a couple hundred dollars or is in a weird name or spelled different from your own. If the company does not reply in those 30 days, it automatically gets deleted.)
STEP 3: RIGHT After Filing Those Disputes...
- Call ANY company who lists ANY of your accounts on your credit report as EVER being late! If you were late on payments like 60 days or something, they will often remove those lates if you tell them why you were late. So call them on the phone and try to get the late marks removed. Also, mail them a letter right after you get off the phone with the same information you told them over the phone, and be sure to send it certified mail return receipt requested. If they agree to do anything over the phone, make sure you tell them to mail you a letter confirming the changes they are going to make (ex.: late marks from months XYZ removed!) on their company's letterhead to your address.
- Be sure to follow up with these companies to make sure they actually remove them. If you harass them long enough, they will remove them. I had some removed, but it was actually not on error on my part- it was the company's error anyway. Once an account shows its been late just ONE time, its actually considered a negative/derogatory account for YEARS even if you are paying it on time and in full each and every month!
STEP 4: When The Bureau's Resolve Your First Round Of Disputes... (After 30 days, your credit bureaus HAVE to get back to you with the results of your disputes. If you mailed them something, they have up to 45 days, but you didn't mail them anything [yet!])
- Immediately call each bureau and have them manually remove every old address, name, and phone number on your report if all of them did not get removed.
- Do round #2 of the disputes. This time though, you will want to mail each bureau letters (certified mail, with return receipt requested!), because they do not use the automated system when you hand-mail the letters! This will give you more leverage and more likely be able to get more things deleted. Be sure to pick a DIFFERENT reason to dispute things this time. Do not write "not mine" again for the reason unless you are 100% positive that debt does not belong to you. Look for things that are incorrect. Like "wrong credit limit" or "wrong high balance" or "never late" or "incorrect terms" - things like that. Pick the most applicable one, and do round #2 of dispute. If you have any supporting document supporting your claims- EVEN BETTER! Make sure to include a copy of any supporting documentation! They will normally delete things right away if you have documentation.
(Now you will wait again... 30 to 45 days since you are mailing them this time.)
STEP 5: Paying Debts... (Make sure you read this BEFORE you pay anything though!)
- You will now decide which debts you need to pay. If you have any collections or chargeoffs, they will not automatically delete from your profile if you pay them. They will still sit on your report for 7 years, even if you pay them in full. SO, you now need to CALL each company left on your credit report, and ask them for a "Pay For Delete" where you agree to pay the balance in full within like 10 days (keep your bank statement showing the payment!!!), and they agree to manually delete that collection or chargeoff off your credit report. Win-win situation for both of you, so they will most likely agree. HOWEVER, make sure BEFORE you pay that you get this IN WRITING on their company letterhead, or keep fighting with them until they agree. But DO NOT pay it without a letter in writing stating they will delete it after you pay it in full. You can also send certified letters to them asking for this if they do not agree over the phone. Or, keep calling back, or ask to speak to their supervisor. They will eventually get annoyed and give in.
(You can google templates for your dispute letters, and for your Pay For Delete letter, because there are many like this: )
STEP 6: Repeat Step#4 Until Your Report Looks Much Better! (Dispute, dispute, dispute!)
- Keep disputing once disputes are resolved each and every time, until you've got as much deleted as possible. By now, hopefully you've got some late marks removed off late accounts (if they have 0 lates, they are considered good accounts again!) And hopefully you got a bunch of bad stuff deleted. Keep writing to bureaus (certified mail return receipt requested) until your report is as good as you can get it!
- While you're at it, stalk the FUCK out of credit board forums and google. (These are my personal favorite forums: and ). You can learn a lot there, and see other people's experiences with certain cards or certain things like bankruptcy or collections and stuff.
STEP 7: Building New/More Credit.. (Credit cards and loans are not bad! Sadly, they are needed.)
- Pull your credit scores for all 3 major bureaus. Just to get an idea of where you're at. You can get them at MyFico () and sometimes from just one bureau () Some people say they are not accurate because they use older models.
- You will now be applying for more credit now that your Chexsysem is clear and your credit reports are as good as you can get them.
BAD CREDIT AND/OR BANKRUPTCY:
---> If your credit score is still BAD, you will probably need to go the secured credit card route. I recommend this one: It is by far the best secured card out right now, and Capital One keeps buying out all the other secured cards for some reason. They will ask for a $49, $99, or $200 deposit and then will give you a credit limit of $200, $500, or maybe even more. You can always add money to increase your credit score (which I recommend!).
(And a secured card, for those that don't know, is where you give a deposit in exchange for getting the credit card. You get the deposit back when you close it, but I don't recommend closing accounts!)
---> If you already fucked up with Capital One, there are other cards out there. Target, I hear, is pretty easy to get, even if you have no credit at all. They have some kind of in-house approval (I guess they are their own bank so they can be more lenient?) Barclay's bank is another one. And both are bankruptcy-friendly. (Capital One is bankruptcy-friendly too FYI.) In fact, this is a good list of bankruptcy-friendly credit cards: (read from the last page to the first page since it will be most recent!). A bankruptcy is not a deal-breaker for good credit AT ALL. Its a myth. Its a lie. You just have to know which cards are bankruptcy-friendly, and there are many of them.
---> Take a loan out from the bank. By this, I don't mean applying for a loan. I mean, walk in, tell them you are trying to build your credit, and hand them $500 or $1000 or something and tell them you want to give them that amount, and then take out a loan for the same amount, and have the monthly payments automatically withdrawn from a savings account attached to it. He/she will know what you are taking about. This loan will start to build your credit.
---> After a few months, your credit will be good enough (or should be!) to apply for another card. Wait 6 months if you can. And don't apply for too many cards at once because you don't want lots of hard inquiries. If you get a pre-approval offer in the mail, that's even better! That will save you a hard inquiry. Too many hard inquiries lowers your credit score, but they do delete after 1-2 years. And some say the inquiries stop counting after 6 months even.
---> A few companies will automatically deny people with anything less than amazing credit already. American Express is one of them. Again, search the credit forums or google to find out what the approval criteria the card you are interested in is. Sometimes its just random though.
FAIR OR GOOD CREDIT:
---> If your credit score is DECENT or GOOD, you can probably get approved for most cards, so you won't need a secured card. They may give you a lower limit, but they will raise it quickly if you keep the balance under 20% at all time! If they don't raise it after a few months, CALL THEM and ask them to raise it! They probably won't if you have been charging more than 20% of the credit limit though.
---> Even with good credit (unless you already have a bunch of loans in good standing or something), I still recommend this step too: ---> Take a loan out from the bank. By this, I don't mean applying for a loan. I mean, walk in, tell them you are trying to build your credit, and hand them $500 or $1000 or something and tell them you want to give them that amount, and then take out a loan for the same amount, and have the monthly payments automatically withdraw from a savings account attached to it. He/she will know what you are taking about. This loan will start to build your credit.
IF YOU GET DENIED FOR A CREDIT CARD:
---> Do not fret! Google the company's name + "backdoor number" and call the #s listed until you can get someone on the phone with that company. Ask them why they denied you, and beg them to approve you. Be really nice. They will probably manually approve you. You can also do this with credit limits too! You can call and ask for a higher one, which you might as well do. Especially if they have a 0% APR offer. Just tell them you want a higher limit so you can take advantage of the 0% APR or rewards offer, and then they will likely increase your credit limit. But don't actually ever make that large purchase! Genius.
(**NOTE: You can google most cards you are interested in having, and typically find out which credit bureaus they pull. Some pull all 3, but many only pull a specific one. This is really good to do if one of your credit reports is horrible but the other 2 are really good!)
(***NOTE: Make sure to always keep balances before like 20% of the credit limit if you are ever expecting a credit limit increase!)
STEP 8: Time...
- Wait for time to pass and build up good credit history! You should ideally have a mix of credit. A couple major credit cards like visa/mastercard (they are just called "credit cards"), a store card or 2 (they are called "revolving" or "charge accounts", various loans (student loans, car loans, personal loans, etc.), and I guess real estate helps but isn't necessary if you can't afford it or don't want it. Gas cards can be good too, but they only typically report to one bureau just FYI.