Assessment

• Assess your credit reports for mistakes that need to be fixed because they are hurting your credit rating. Get them from AnnualCreditReport.com because this site does not charge for them, according to the Federal Trade Commission. The Fair Credit Reporting Act makes Experian, Equifax and TransUnion give you free reports once annually through that designated website; you can space out your requests so get a report every four months. Look for misreported items that are hurting you, such as payments that were not really late, balances reported as more than they really are and accounts that do not even belong to you.
  
  

Repair Process

• Fix your credit reports by disputing all the incorrect data that is hurting your credit history. The three credit bureau websites explain where to mail disputes or how to file them online. The FTC advises that mailed disputes are better because you can get delivery proof from the post office. Send individual letters to Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, asking them to review your complaints and fix your reports within 30 days, the time allowed under the FCRA. This time frame gives the bureaus a chance to contact the creditors from which they received the questionable information and ask for validation. The data gets removed if the creditors are unresponsive or cannot supply proof of accuracy.
  
  

Results

• The credit bureaus alert you to whether your attempts to fix your credit were successful by telling you their investigation results. You see which questionable items were verified and which ones were marked for removal. Experian, Equifax and TransUnion give you new free credit reports, too, so you can verify that they followed through with updating your records. All unvalidated information should be completely gone. The FCRA allows attaching a personal statement to your reports if you disagree with anything in the investigation results, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Your explanation is limited to 100 words.
  
  

Damage Control

• You can ask lenders who recently rejected your applications to re-evaluate your credit once you fix your credit reports. The State of New York Banking Department explains that you can ask the credit bureaus to send corrected report copies to any creditors who reviewed your records within the past six months. You may get approved if your initial rejection was based on incorrect information that was purged from your reports when you fixed them.