The three credit reporting agencies are: Experian, Trans Union and Equifax. Ask for a report from all three credit agencies if you're trying to overhaul your credit history. It takes time to improve your score, so you have to take a long term approach—three to six months.
Proactive: What you can do to raise your score.
- pay bills on time--don't be late
- don't apply for a number of credit cards or loans (save and build a solid history--spend less and pay off debt)
- pay off credit cards so you are at zero or near zero and definitely not near the max spend
- if you don't have a lot of credit you'll need to build a history, so then you want to apply for few credit cards and staring using them and immediately paying them off to build a positive history
The breakdown of factors that go into determining your credit score, from About.com Housing:
- 35% - Your Payment History
- 30% - Amounts You Owe
- 15% - Length of Your Credit History
- 10% - Types of Credit Used
- 10% - New Credit
To buy a copy of your report, contact:
Equifax: 800-685-1111; www.equifax.com
Experian: 888-EXPERIAN (888-397-3742); www.experian.com
Trans Union: 800-916-8800; www.transunion.com
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