Why should you repair your credit?
Good credit will allow you to get a loan or a mortgage on a house. Bad credit can prevent you from getting
a mortgage on a house or getting a loan for a car or for your education.
How do you get "bad credit"?
You can get bad credit by not paying your bills on time. If you owe money to a hospital, clinic, credit
card company, or utility company, etc. and have either made late payments or have stopped making payments
altogether, you could have bad credit. You should review your credit report periodically to know your own
credit situation.
Is there any easy fix for bad credit?
Some companies promise to repair your credit in exchange for large fees, however, only regularly making
payments on your debt can fix your credit. Occasionally, there are errors on your credit report that you
can fix by contacting the credit-reporting agency that issued the credit report to you. For example, your
credit report might list an unpaid bill that you in fact did pay. In order to remove this error from your
credit report, you would have to provide proof to the credit reporting agency that you paid the bill, by
providing a cancelled check or a copy of a money order you used to make the payment.
The Fannie Mae Foundation puts out a free guide called "Knowing and Understanding Your Credit."
This guide explains how to get good credit and what to do if you have bad credit. Call
(800) 599-5300 to get a copy of this guide or go to
www.homebuyingguide.org.
In addition, several non-profit organizations provide one-on-one credit
counseling for people that have credit problems. The following are
non-profit credit counselors in New York City:
| Your Nearest: Credit Counselors |
Please enter your ZIP code so that EBO
can find credit counselors in your area.
|
