There are 3 steps to crediti repair and protection.

1. Examine your consumer credit reporti every three months.

Before you begin the battle, you must know the battlefield. Your struggle to repair your credit will be fought between the lines of your three credit reports. These reports will generally cost a small amount. You must order all three credit reports (Experian, Trans Union, and Equifax) as they are all used frequently by credit companies.

Understanding Credit Report Codes:
When you first receive your credit reports, you will find them difficult to read. The information is coded in a way that is not immediately readable by the average consumer. Each consumer credit report should arrive with a key which interprets the codes and indicators on the credit report. Sit down with the credit report and study it until you understand what each code means. You must monitor your credit report religiously to prevent the appearance of bad credit and to monitor the need for credit repair. If you don't feel you have the time to monitor your report, you may want to check into the many services that exist to help in that area.

2. Dispute consumer credit report listings which you feel are unfair or inaccurate with the credit bureau.

The dispute letter is the single most powerful weapon in your arsenal. The new FCRA requires the credit bureaus to handle your dispute with precision and reliability. However, the credit bureaus still have some loopholes to escape their responsibilities if you don't compose your dispute properly, including the determination that your dispute is technically "frivolous or irrelevant".

After you've analyzed your reports and marked every negative listing, you may begin to draft your dispute letter. Do not use "form-type" dispute letters as they will be quickly spotted and rejected by the credit bureaus as "frivolous or irrelevant." Instead, follow these general strategies:

Always indicate whether the disputed listing is being challenged as "not mine" or "not late."
While you must never say that an account isn't yours or that you weren't late unless you believe that it is true, the credit bureau must know if you are disputing the existence of the listing or just the information within the listing for credit repair. If you are unclear about the nature of your dispute,
the credit bureau will promptly return your letter. Remember, the credit bureaus see all disputes as either "not mine" or "not late."

Tell the credit bureau of the desired outcome of the investigation.
You must always state what you would like done with the listing. There are two options: delete the entire listing or erase the late pay notations within the consumer credit report listing

Provide a reason for your dispute.
If you don't give some kind of explanation as to why you think the credit report is wrong, then the credit bureau may return or ignore your
dispute.

Never sound like an expert.
The credit bureaus receive over 10,000 disputes per day. Your dispute should look like an average dispute. If you quote legal statute or if you remind
the credit bureaus of your rights under law, they will probably determine that you read a book about credit repair or you are using a credit repair company. If the credit bureau believes that you are attempting to systematically repair your credit, your dispute will be tossed into the "frivolous or irrelevant" bin.

Patience and follow-through are the keys to this process. Don't bombard the credit bureaus with disputes. Sending one dispute right after another is wasteful and counterproductive. You should send no more than one dispute every ninety days. If you dispute more often, the credit bureau will simply return the dispute as "frivolous or irrelevant."

3. Dispute the listing with the creditori who reported it.

Under the new FCRA, the creditor is now responsible to adhere to proper procedure in verifying consumer disputes You should take your challenge to the creditor by writing letters directly to that creditor. If you still owe money on the credit item in question, you may use a powerful negotiation tactic known as "debti settlement" to reduce your payoffi AND to accomplish your goal of credit repair. Debt Settlement requires negotiation and
is usually best performed by an attorney or credit repair service.

You have the right, under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, to dispute the completeness and accuracy of information in your consumer credit report. When a credit reporting agency receives a dispute, it must reinvestigate and record the current status of the disputed items within a "reasonable period of time," unless it believes the dispute is "frivolous or irrelevant." If the credit reporting agency cannot verify a disputed item, it must delete it. If your report contains erroneous information, the credit reporting agency must correct it. If an item is incomplete, the credit reporting
agency must complete it.

For example, if your consumer credit report showed that you were late in making payments on accounts, but failed to show that you were no longer delinquent, the credit reporting agency must show that your payments are now current. Or if your file showed an account that belongs only to another person, the credit reporting agency would have to delete it. Also, at your request, the credit reporting agency must send a notice of credit repair to any report recipient who has checked your file in the past six months.