Nobody wants to go home to a dirty and cluttered house. What is the difference between a messy credit report and a cluttered room? Sometimes, we ignore the fact that we are showing it off to lenders, utility companies, prospective employers and other interested individuals when we transact business with them.
You may say, “My credit report isn’t really cluttered-I am a responsible debtor. I’ve just been so busy that I forgot to update my payments or to ring my creditor about it”. Sometimes nonpayment is not the real problem. It just happened because you are too busy, too tired or too focused on other things. So by the end of the day you let the paying and the checking of your accounts fall on the way side.
Here’s a fact: Whether you like it or not, a cluttered credit report is much easier to clean up than you might actually think. Sometimes, the overwhelming credit file with various credits, outstanding and dormant accounts and overwhelming debts only need some organisation, updating and a little bit of dispute.
Start by checking up the mess
Get your credit report and check each entry. If there are many entries that need to be studied, don’t worry. You may start from the most recent ones to the oldest or vice versa.
Don’t worry about finishing up as fast as you can. You don’t want to miss a tiny piece of information that can cost you a thousand dollars or more, right?
Do a couple of entries one day, then the next day until the weekend comes rolling around, and you’re done. If you see some errors, like unknown credit card number, a transaction you never had or wrong names and address or personal information, resolve yourself to tackle these entries one thing at a time. The important thing is, don’t just skim over the page and call it “done” when you haven’t really figured out what is wrong with your credit file. And remember, in between the checking and cleaning up your credit-pay your bills!
Dispute
Go through an entry. Pick up some information that signifies that the account or the transaction does not belong to you. Maybe some people charged it on your account, or the lending agency wrongly deducted from you. List them all. When you have finally listed all the errors, call the collection agency, lender or any company or person involved. If it is a case of identity theft, notify the authorities immediately to stop any future transactions.
Categorise your debts
Group the debts according to type, loan amount, length of loan and interest rates. Is your list full? Check which of these financial obligations you are able to repay with your cash at hand. Resolve to pay all your outstanding bills, especially high-interest debts to avoid accumulation of interests. You can also apply for a debt consolidation loan to roll all those small and big loans into one so that you won’t find it hard to repay every single month.
You may also think about balance transfer, cutting your credit cards and closing high interest accounts, while keeping the longest and most “healthy” or well-paid account.
After you have cleaned up your credit, perhaps you may consider creating a budget or a financial plan that can help you keep your credit file healthy, meaning well-paid and less cluttered (or updated).
Stay Focused
Don’t get distracted with the huge amount of debt. A big deterrent at cleaning your credit is getting distracted, worrying too much or avoiding confrontation with reality.
Your doubts are not going anywhere else. They will stay there. No matter if you look at them or not. So, you might as well take time to trace where you are going wrong when it comes to your financial obligations. Don’t be sidetracked when cleaning up your cluttered credit. No matter how busy you are, give time to clean up-and you will definitely feel better.
Do you think you’re drowning in debt and you don’t know where to begin? Whether it’s due to poor budgeting, spending and borrowing habits, identity theft -many borrowers struggle under the burden of debt. Multiple debts or debt clutter can clog opportunities for employment, renting, business and many other things. It imposes heavy costs on your finances, strips you of the right to enjoy low interest and perks of good credit and deprives you of the pride of having a stellar credit.
Time to clean your credit! When you’re peering over unpaid debts, dormant accounts that do nothing to boost your credit score and new accounts that seem to be slipping out of every corner of your file, it’s hard to know where to begin. That’s why Clean Credit helps you cut the clutter in your credit file all at once. It removes wrong entries, corrects and updates records and removes stacks of financial stuff in your file that do nothing but clutter up your credit record.
Enjoy a decluttered and healthy credit by calling Clean Credit on 1300 015 210 today!