Steps to Planning a Personal Credit Repair Program
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Before you can begin to plan any type of credit repair program, you need to determine two things. The first is who you owe money to, and how much. The second, is what current state your credit history is in.
In order to determine what exactly is on your credit history, you will need to obtain a copy of it. If you have recently applied for a loan or credit card, you can request a copy of your credit report from whomever you applied to. If you have not, then you will have to seek one from one of the three credit reporting agencies, or through another independent company. The best way to do this is to search online. Try searching for "credit report". This should yield a number of results that can assist you.
You must also gather up all your most recent bills, whether they be a credit card statement, or for a loan you owe on. Put these all together and determine how much money, who you owe it to, and what your current interest rate is. This will help you organize things so you can attempt to pay each of your debts off as quickly as possible, as this is a major part of any credit repair program.
Planning Your Credit Repair Program, Step 2:
Once you have done the two things mentioned above, it is time to analyze your income. Paying off your debts will depend on the amount of money you can apply towards these debts. Determine what your total monthly household income will be, and then decide what percentage you can spare to put towards debt (preferably in excess of the total monthly payments you must make).
Once you have done this, you can decide where to allocate the extra money. Try not to spread it around equally, as that will not help you get out of debt any quicker. Instead, your credit repair program should be designed to apply this extra money to one debt at a time, until that debt is fully paid off.
Try starting with the lowest debt you have first. This will allow you to pay it off quickly, and that will give you a great boost in morale. By paying off that debt, you will have one less payment hanging over your head. Then the extra money, plus what you were paying per month to that debt can be applied to another debt!
Stay Committed to Your Credit Repair Program (Step 3)!
Only you can cause your program to fail. If you wish to succeed, it is important to be committed and stick with it. Your debt will not vanish overnight, but if you persevere, they will slowly shrink until you are debt free. When this happens, your credit score will rise dramatically. This is the most effective way to repair your credit.
In the end, all your hard work will be worth it, but only if you are willing to put forth the necessary effort.
Posted by jonathan on February 03, 2005 at 06:45 PM