Recovering your Good Sense of Credit

It seems that all around us there is talk of debt and credit ratings. The government cannot keep themselves together, nobody can decide upon a budget, and America’s credit rating went down, causing the other countries around the world to fall just as hard. But, even in the private sector, people are seeing their credit go South. So, what can we do?

Identify The Problem

Any life skills coach will tell you that in order for you to start fixing a problem, you will need to identify it. This life lesson can be applied to more than just skills. Perhaps you decided to take out a loan on your house, before things started to get rough, and now you are struggling to make ends meet. Perhaps you really, really, absolutely could not live without that brand new sports car, so you bought it, without looking at the fine print on the contract. It might have even been a typographical error on the part of the credit bureau, that they did not fill out the paperwork properly, or mishandled your file. Maybe you don’t even have credit, but because your parents have a bad score, you are made to suffer.

After you’ve identified the problem, then you can go ahead and fix it.

Fixing the Problem

So, you are not sure where you went wrong along the credit highway, so you want to find a credit report. You can get your credit report one of two ways. First, you can request it straight up from all three credit bureaus, once a year. Or, you can skip some of the paperwork, and order the reports through an authorized agency. Should the agency not be authorized, then you will be taking a huge risk, as unauthorized agencies can steal your identity, and make your credit even worse from what it was before.  So, please, make sure you use an authorized credit agency.

So, you’ve found the problem, and it is much worse than you thought, and you have no idea on how you’re going to solve it. Some people turn to debt counselors, people who know the ins and outs of debt, who are comfortable around large numbers, and who will help you formulize a plan to recover your good sense of credit. They will propose credit plans that can take anywhere from one to five years. If your debt isn’t that substantial, then you can make out a payment plan based on your income, and how much you are spending. And, if your problem is that you have no credit at all, then get out there, and sign up for a new credit card.

Provisos

In most states, you cannot completely eliminate your debt. To omit something from you official papers would be against the law. What they can do, however, is make a note that you did pay it off, and that you are able to get another loan. As in everything, it is all in the wording.