Credit Report QuickLink:

Credit Basics

•	Types of information on a Credit Report
•	Credit Scoring made simple
•	What goes in your score?
•	What to look for on your report?
•	Credit Reporting 101
•	Dispute basics
•	What Is Credit and How Does It Work?
•	What is a credit score?
•	Why Should I Check My Credit Report Regularly?

Debt Management

•	Establishing & rebuilding your credit
•	Thinking of cleaning up your credit? Think again.
•	Untying the knot
•	Different types of bankruptcy
•	Is bankruptcy right for you?
•	Rebuilding your Credit
•	Debt to Income Ratio
•	Debt Collectors
•	Debt Reduction
•	How Do Major Life Events Impact My Credit?
•	How Can I Establish or Rebuild Good Credit?

Buying Power

•	First-time home buyers tips
•	Home equity basics
•	Auto buying
•	Choose the right credit card for you
•	Why your credit cards could be declined
•	Getting the best Credit Card deals
•	What Are My Consumer Credit Rights?
•	How Should I Handle My Credit to Prepare for the Future?

Privacy and ID

•	Watch out for credit card scams
•	Common Online Fraud Schemes
•	Phishing
•	Fighting Identity Theft
•	What is credit fraud?
•	Fraud Prevention Tips
•	Why should I worry about credit fraud?

Thinking of cleaning up your credit? Think again.

"Credit Repair" as advertised on radio, TV, and the Internet tends to be, at best, a waste of money and, at worst, a scam that would simply defraud you or (perhaps worse) involve you in fraud yourself. Even if a credit repair company is legitimate, there's nothing they can legally do that you can't do yourself at no cost. This is because there really is no legal way to "repair" bad credit if the history thereof is accurate--only time can do that.

Credit repair companies can do no more for your credit legally than you can. And though they can't provide you with a clean report, some may encourage you to violate federal law. These credit repair operations work by seeking out consumers who have been denied loans or credit based on their poor credit histories, or people who have filed for bankruptcy. These repair companies promise to provide consumers with instructions on how to develop a new credit identity. This method of credit repair is called "file segregation."

In this file segregation scam, the so-called credit repair companies recommend that you get an Employee Identification Number (EIN) or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) and they encourage you to use it in place of your true Social Security number, which is illegal.

Your Legal Rights
The Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act guarantees your right to dispute inaccurate information in your credit report free of charge, so if any of the problems you've had are due to inaccurate information, you can file a dispute with one of the nation's major credit bureaus to have it corrected or removed.

If the information is accurate, however, you'll need to focus on building better credit for the future rather than trying to have it removed from your report. Remember that most lenders are primarily interested in your payment patterns for just the past two years, so if you begin now to pay every bill on time it will have a positive impact on your credit relatively quickly.

Only time and establishing a positive credit history can "clean up" your credit. One of the best first steps to getting your credit back on track is seeing what is on your credit report. This way, you can take steps to correct any inaccurate information that may be contained on your report and, at the same time, assess your current credit debt. For information on how to order your report, you can visit the Reports and Services area of our website.

The next step might be to contact old accounts that carry outstanding debt and arrange payment plans. As you begin to manage your debt successfully, you will also want to work on rebuilding your credit. Check out our rebuild tips throughout this site.

Credit report monitoring
does not lower your
credit score!