If you are cleaning up your credit report you realize how important your score is. This three digit number will directly impact your quality of life.

You are judged solely by employers and lenders on this three digit number. This number can prevent you from being hired for a job or being approved for a credit line.

When you apply for credit most lenders will look at nothing more than this three digit number. They will not take into account any reason as to why a derogatory listing is there.

There are two parts to credit repair that you should focus on.

1. Removing negative items from your credit report.

Negative marks will cause the most damage to your credit score. However these marks can be removed before waiting 7 years.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act allows you to dispute any negative listing on your credit report. When you file a dispute you are telling the bureaus that this mark is inaccurate or invalid.

To file a dispute a dispute letter must be sent to each credit bureau. In this letter you must include why the listing is inaccurate. Common reasons are; not my account, item is out of date, account paid in full. Upon receipt of your letter the bureaus will investigate the disputed listing.

If the mark is not verified by the lender the bureaus must remove it from your credit report. It has been discovered that many marks are removed once they are investigated, regardless of their accuracy.

2. Build positive credit

This is a more difficult aspect. This is because when you have a low credit score it is hard to be approved for new credit lines.

However you need to have a credit line to build positive credit. This will have the most impact if it is an unsecured credit card, even with outrageous interest rates.

With this card you should try to keep the balance at around 10% of the credit limit. This will help your score because it shows you have available credit that is not being used; the bureaus call this your ratio of credit to debt.

Also by making your on time monthly payments it will create a positive payment history. If you can not build a positive payment history it will be next to impossible to improve your credit rating.

In sum you can repair your low credit score. It may make sense to wait and remove some of the derogatory items before you apply for new credit. However both these aspects need to be used to get to a 700 credit score.

For more online credit repair tips or for free credit repair letters or to learn how you can improve credit score visit us.