If you’ve looked at your credit report lately, you may have noticed that there were some negative marks on it and they may not deserve to be there.  If you don’t do anything about it, you’re going to find that it’s going to do a lot more harm than good.  Just by removing a negative mark on your report, you can see an increase in your credit score.

Look over your credit report

The first thing that you want to do is look over your credit report.  If you haven’t done so already, I would recommend that you head on over to AnnualCreditReport.com and request your report.  If you have already done so, you will want to mark down every negative account that you would like to remove.  Write these down on a separate piece of paper so that it’s easier for you.

Is this account in good standing?

Look at all of the accounts that you have marked down.  Do they deserve to be there?  Are they negative for a reason?  If you haven’t paid them off, you’re not going to be able to remove them.  If this was the case, everyone would call up and have a great credit score.  Make sure that you have every right to remove these.

Contact the credit agencies

Once you figure out what accounts you want to get removed from your account, you’ll want to call up each of the three credit reporting agencies and explain your situation.  After you hang up, you’ll want to write a letter to them stating that you would like these items removed.  Explain on why you want them removed, how they can contact you and always make sure that you get everything in writing and that you make copies so that you can have phyical  evidence if something does go wrong.

Contact those creditors directly

You may find that working with the credit agencies is a pain in the butt and it’s not worth your time.  Instead of giving up, make sure that you contact that creditor directly.  If that account was with Visa, call them up and explain your situation, etc.  Most of the time, they will try their best to work with you if you have a case.

Researching and contacting the agencies is usually the best way to go.  Always remain calm and explain your situation.  If you get too aggressive and tell them that you deserve the world, you may find that it won’t go anywhere.  Instead, work with them as a human being and let’s hope those negative marks are removed.