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All rights to this publication, whether electronic, print, video, or audio, including the rights to reproduction in whole or in part are reserved by the author Charlotte Moore and HowToRepairYourOwnCredit.com. Copies may be transmitted only with the express permission of Charlotte Moore.

ISBN: 9781483547848

Disclaimer: I am NOT an attorney, nor did I consult one in the writing of this book. My knowledge of credit reporting and scoring comes from my personal experiences and research. I have relied greatly on information found on the website www.FICO.com and other sources listed at the end of my book. This book contains my opinions and ideas as the author. The information in this book is from public sources and can be located by anyone willing to spend time researching online or through books and laws written on the subject. I have just done the leg work and packaged the information in one convenient place. This book is intended to provide helpful and informative material on the subjects that are being addressed. It is sold with the understanding that I am not engaged in rendering legal advice or other credit repair services through this book. The reader should consult with an attorney or other competent professional before relying on any of the suggestions in this book or drawing inferences from it. I specifically disclaim all responsibility for any liability, loss or risk, personal or otherwise, which may be incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the content found in this book.

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Book

I. My Story

If I Knew Then What I Know Now

New To Credit

Repossessed

My First Bankruptcy

Repairing Begins

Trouble Again

Credit Counseling

Help from My Lenders

Near Foreclosure

Second Bankruptcy

Conclusion of My Story…For Now

II. The Credit Reporting Process

What’s in Your Credit Report?

What is a Credit Score?

How Your FICO® Score is Calculated

What is a Good FICO® Score?

III. Your Credit Score

Payment History - 35%:

Utilization - 30%:

Established History (Aging) - 15%:

Mix (types) of Credit - 10%:

New Credit - 10%:

IV. How Lenders Use Your Credit Score

(1) Missed Payments

(2) Inquiries

(3) Open Credit Accounts

(4) Maxed-Out Credit Lines

(5) Debt-To-Income Ratio

(6) Bankruptcy,

V. How to Repair Your Own Credit

Review Your Credit Reports

Pay Your Bills on Time

Remove Inaccurate Information from Your Report

Remove Accurate Negative Information from Your Report

Add Positive Accounts to Your File

Diminish the Impact of Accurate Negative

Request Modified Payment Plans

Close or Consolidate Your Credit Cards

File Bankruptcy Chapter 7 or 13

Pay Down or Off High Balances

Catch Up on Missed and Late Payments

Reduce High Available Credit Limits

Reactivate Inactive Lines of Credit

Defer Student Loans

Add a Statement to Your Report

VI. Avoiding Credit Repair Agencies

Consumer Credit Rights

VII. Consumer Credit Counseling

VIII. Lessons Learned

IX. Final Words

X. Resources Relied Upon

Introduction

Congratulations on taking the first step to take control of your credit and to learn strategies that can lead you to lifelong positive credit management. After reading this book, you will not only be able to repair occasional errors on your credit report, but also be able to rebuild your credit and effectively manage it to improve and maintain a strong credit score for a lifetime.

You will not find in this book ways to cheat the credit reporting system, insider secrets to remove accurate negative information, or promises that by applying certain techniques you will increase your credit score overnight by hundreds of points.

The goal of this book is to share information with you that I have learned through my own experiences and extensive research into the topic of credit repair and reporting, as well as to teach you real strategies about credit management and how to increase your credit score.

Credit repair requires knowledge of the credit scoring and the credit reporting processes. If you do not understand these basics, you will always be victim to your credit score. The information I have provided here is readily available to anyone at any time. I have simply packaged the information in one convenient location, and presented it in a manner that is easy to understand and can be easily applied.

I begin with my personal story so you can see that I am a real person who has been through my own credit ups and downs. You may also be able to relate to some of the things I did, and learn from my mistakes as well as from the solutions I found along the way. I confess that even today, my credit is not perfect. My past credit mismanagement, which led to a car repossession, two bankruptcies within a 10-year period, and a near foreclosure, is part of my credit history. However, through the credit repair process I have laid out here, I have been able to manage my credit in such a way that the positives now outweigh the negatives.

I set the foundation for your learning experience by first telling my story, then explaining the credit scoring process, and how lenders view your credit. Then I explain how to legally repair your credit, and end by warning you not to rely on credit repair agencies. If you already know the basics, feel free to jump around and read the sections that interest you most.

Ultimately, I hope this book will help you understand the credit reporting system, what you do to affect your credit score (negatively or positively), and how to repair your credit and maintain effective credit management strategies. No matter how bad you believe your credit is, you can rebuild it from where you are. The techniques found in this book worked and is working for me, and can work for you also.

Read on, learn, and apply.

About This Book

This is NOT simply a credit repair book. Repairs alone are temporary fixes that do not necessary hold, and usually have to be fixed again. Although you can achieve positive results through some of the methods presented here, the techniques are not quick fixes but permanent solutions that will take time to achieve. In fact, the most powerful components of credit repair are time and lifelong credit management.

This book IS a tool to help you to improve your credit score and to avoid common mistakes frequently made through uninformed credit use. You will learn that even after having a bankruptcy or foreclosure, you can still get new credit to begin repairing your credit score.

This book IS written for people who, like me, accept that we have made a few credit mistakes and as a result, have wrecked our own credit. We accept that because of our actions, we have accumulated accurate negative information on our reports, and now we just want to stop the bleeding and move forward.

This book IS also meant to provide you with helpful information that will teach you to effectively manage your credit behavior and improve your overall credit profile. You will learn how the credit reporting agencies rank your credit history, what lenders consider in determining your credit worthiness, and how you can position yourself to appear better to lenders.

Finally, this book IS written to educate you so you will not fall prey to credit repair schemes that end up taking your money, oftentimes leaving you with no results or poor results that can further hurt your credit rating.

In other words, after reading this book, you will be able to immediately start legally repairing your own credit, and rebuild it from where you are now and begin to effectively manage your credit for a lifetime. You will also discover some practices that you should avoid and others you would be wise to adopt. Read on and apply the principles you find here and you will be able to repair your own credit.

I. My Story