Time to Take Action

Our credit score is an important part of our lives, yet more often than not, we tend to either ignore it completely or just take it for granted that it is whatever it is. Without taking action to correct a faulty credit score, or by willingly using credit unwisely, we can find ourselves in a big mess financially, and may not get the full benefit of a good credit score.

This post is about how to take action to fix your credit score, and take charge of your financial life. In the previous post about Our Credit Score we found that there are things we can do to get a free credit report from each of the three national credit reporting agencies.

In the second post on Our Credit Score - Where do you stand? we learned about organizing our financial records, and how to put all of our account information into a unified document for ease of use and consolidating our records.

Today, we are going to talk about how to compare our credit report to our spreadsheet and correct problems. The first thing we need to do is validate each claim in your credit report (one report every four months), against your spreadsheet, and update your spreadsheet with any records that need updating, taking note of any accounts you need to update or remove from your credit report.

Once you know what records require action - then take it! Do not hesitate to repair your credit. Each day you delay will reduce your credit score. You have two choices for taking action. You can file a letter to each of the credit agencies, disputing the credit report, item by item, date for date, amount by amount by yourself. This is a good way to go, but my recommendation would be to take advantage of a credit monitoring service like the services provided at myFICO Monitor Your FICO Score & Equifax Credit Report or let a company like Lexington Law help with credit repair services.

Either way you go, take action and protect your name and your credit score. The best defense is diligence.