Do It Yourself Credit Repair is not as easy as it seems. Many so-called experts and snake oil salesman promise that it’s easy…so long as you buy their $99 e-book. What you won’t learn from the do-it-yourself credit repair folks are all the pitfalls you can fall into which will only make matters worse.

There are traps the unsuspecting consumer can fall into.    Unless you are aware of the intricate maze you are about to enter into, there are mistakes you should never make when trying to repair your credit.

First, writing a dispute letter to all three credit reporting agencies, which are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion will get the ball rolling.   Make sure you include the name of the creditor in question, the amount of the debt, and proof as to why don’t owe the money (canceled check to show payment, incorrect name, etc.)

WARNING: Do not file your disputes online. There is a very, very, good reason to mail all correspondence to the bureaus.

Secondly, always make copies of all your correspondence and mail them with return receipts and certified letter requests.   This is your only proof that you have sent the letters and can challenge the agency if the bureaus ignore your letter and later state they never received your letters.   If they were delivered, they have them, and you can show that.  Its time consuming and people get frustrated, so they just send the letter in the mail.  There goes your proof.

Thirdly, if you are still having a problem getting through to the bureaus and are ignored entirely, you may have no choice but to contact a third party – this would be the credit repair agency.  Make sure you pick one with a good reputation and excellent customer service.  Look for feedback and they are a legitimate company.  Lexington Law firm is one of those companies with an excellent reputation and industry recognized standards.

We used them after making some mistakes trying to repair our credit. We found that they offered a mountain of expertise and little known secrets from their attorneys you won’t find on the Internet.

If you still want to handle the correction of inaccuracies on your credit report alone, make sure you don’t become frustrated and give up by the slow response (if any) that you will get.  You must persevere to get the results you deserve.

Lexington Law is a credit advocacy firm specializing in repairing consumer credit.  Although there are laws in place to protect debtors, there are still pitfalls consumers must avoid when trying to fix their credit on their own.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 6th, 2010 at 1:07 pm and is filed under credit strategies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.