If you plan to apply for any credit it’s important to be sure your credit is as high as you can possibly get it. By increasing your score or repairing your credit report you could also be increasing your chances of your credit application being approved.

As well as improving your chance of approval, you might also be increasing your chance of being offered much lower interest rates and charges.

Many lenders reserve the ‘better’ interest rates for customers with good credit scores and positive repayment histories. By repairing your credit enough you may actually be able to raise your score into the lower risk categories so you can receive these more competitive rates too.

Anyone can take simple steps to improve credit score. Easy options like making sure you catch up any overdue repayments, pay any outstanding bills and keep up to date with your bills can definitely help to improve your score.

Unfortunately, while they will help increase your score slowly, they won’t remove any negative listings that remain on your credit report from past issues you may have, so your simple steps may be in vain.

Another bad side to trying to repair credit on your own is that by doing the wrong things you run the risk of doing even more damage to your credit score.

When your credit score is calculated, the three Credit Reporting Bureaus take a look at the reports they receive from all your creditors. Your creditors submit reports about your financial activity, whether good or bad.

The Bureaus check out what your past repayment history has been like. They consider how much credit you have and if you’ve been responsible with the money you’ve already borrowed from lending companies.

With all this information, they can calculate your credit score that other credit companies use to assess whether you’re likely to be a good customer or not.

So if one of your creditors has made a negative report about your payments, then the simple act of catching up a few late payments on other bills won’t remove this negative report, nor will it help you to increase your chances of being approved for any new credit you want.

There are some places around on the internet that can show you how to remove negative listings from your credit report on your own. The process is quite simple. You write to the Credit Reporting Bureaus and you request that they investigate the listings on your credit report.

They have 30 days to investigate your claim and if they can’t verify the listing they see there, then they’ll have to remove it.

Once again, if you do it wrong then you also risk doing even more damage to your credit. It’s also important to remember that any listings that truly are negative can’t be removed, no matter what credit repair companies claim.

This is where a reputable, professional credit repair service can help you. They have the experience and the knowledge to negotiate with your creditors to help remove any negative listings you have on your report. The professionals are also trained to know what type of listings might be removed and which ones can’t.

You might also find that if you call your creditors to question a listing you find, they won’t be willing to negotiate with you directly. A credit repair company has many different levels of access to your creditors, which means they may be able to negotiate where you couldn’t.

Of course a credit repair company will charge you fees, but you should remember that those fees could be well worth it if you suddenly find your credit score has been boosted back into the normal ranges and out of the sub-prime ranges.

Always research any credit repair company thoroughly before agreeing to anything. Ask questions and read the fine print. When you’re sure this is the option you want to tak, call your chosen credit repair company and get your bad credit repaired today.

Credit repair companies advertise regularly that they can help repair your credit. They are happy to take your money before proceeding to write you a simple letter to that you could easily write on your own.

The usual advertising spiel from these credit repair companies is that only they know how to begin an investigation into the bad listings on your credit report.

What these companies are looking for are any listings from creditors who might have reported wrong information or they might have mixed up your report with someone else’s with a similar name. They might even be looking for a listing from a creditor who forgot to report an already repaid debt.

Why would you pay high fees to a credit repair company when you can write a credit repair letter on your own and achieve the same result?

The issues listed above are all easy to investigate and easy to verify that they’re incorrect. By writing a simple letter to the Credit Reporting Bureaus on your own you can dispute these listings and have them removed. Once they’re removed, you’ll see your credit score improve.

Before you begin you should order an accurate copy of your credit report. This is so you’ll know exactly what is listed and who listed it. Make a mark beside anything listed on your report that doesn’t belong to you or should show as repaid.

If you see any enquiries noted on your report that are actual debts you did apply for and did take out, then these can’t be removed even if they have negative listings for them.

Remember - You can’t remove accurate information legally.

Just because you can’t remove genuine negative listings doesn’t mean you can’t ask the credit reporting bureaus to conduct an investigation into every item listed though.

There is no fee for writing and submitting a credit repair letter. This means you can write a letter and request an investigation into every listing - even the real ones.

The credit reporting bureaus are then forced to resond to your enquiry within 30 days. If they find a listing that they can’t verify then they should remove it for you, which is great news for your credit score.

Here are some tips on writing your credit repair letter:

1. Before you write your credit repair letter, do a quick search on the internet and look for a ready-made template. Be sure to change the wording on the template to include your own information and your own listing details.

2. When you’re done writing, make three copies and send each of the three major credit reporting bureaus a copy. You’ll find the contact information listed clearly on each of their websites.

3. Send your credit repair letters out to the credit reporting bureaus by registered mail or by certified mail. Always keep a record of the date you posted your letters.

4. Keep all copies of correspondence for future reference.

5. Be patient. It takes time to conduct investigations into your credit report. They will respond, but it does take time.

Writing a credit repair letter might seem like a lot of work for very little reward, but if you can succeed in removing even one negative listing from your credit report then you’ve achieved your goal.

Did you know banks WANT you to repair bad credit?

Over 70% of Americans have a FICO score lower than 670, which is considered to be a sub-prime credit score. These people have a credit report that shows lending companies and creditors that they already have a past history of being unreliable with bill repayments.

Banks will happily penalize customers with bad credit by charging them higher interest rates, more fees and they can even refuse credit applications altogether if your credit is bad enough.

Most people believe these extra charges and higher rates are unfair and often claim that banks are heartless for charging more money from those who can afford it the least.

Unfortunately banks are not charities. They are in business to make a profit from lending out their money to you so you can buy things you want. When you borrow money, you sign a credit contract or loan contract that promises the bank that you’ll pay back their money along with interest on top. That’s how they make their profit. It’s their business.

This is precisely why they want to see if you’re the type of customer who is likely to repay your debts and bills and it’s why the Credit Reporting Bureaus keep your credit history and repayment history listed for them to view. It tells them what kind of customer you’ve been in the past. Because most people repeat habits and patterns in their lives, it also tells them what kind of customer you’re likely to be in future too.

If you have a high credit score, then a bank or credit card company already knows you’re likely to be a great customer. You’ve already shown that you pay your bills on time and you manage your current credit very well.

When a bank receives an application from a customer like this, they already know they’re going to get their money back. They know payments are likely to be made on time.

Customers with high credit scores are considered to be good risk or low risk customers and so banks will reward them with low interest rates and lowered fees.

However when a bank receives an application from a customer with a bad credit score, the bank has already seen a credit report that shows them that customer has trouble repaying debts and is often late repaying bills.

Customers with bad credit scores mean the bank is taking a much higher risk by approving a credit application. They need to make a profit in order to stay in business, remember? If a client doesn’t repay the money they borrowed, then the bank isn’t making a profit and they won’t stay in business very long.

Because the credit score is low, this means the customer’s repayment history is bad or there have been financial issues in the past and so a bank will raise interest rates accordingly.

In banking terms this is called ‘rate for risk’. The higher the risk to the bank, the higher the interest rate to the client.

No bank, lender or credit card company anywhere in the world wants to take legal action against a customer. They really don’t want to repossess your car and they don’t want to throw you out into the street to become homeless. Seriously, they make much more profit from you when you pay all your bills on time and keep all your assets.

But if the repayments aren’t made then they have no choice but to try and get their own money back somehow. Banks will only resort to these tactics if they feel they have no other alternative for getting their money back - the same money you promised to repay when you applied for the loan.

So if you already have bad credit or if you’re behind on your payments, it’s important you call your creditors and arrange for payment terms immediately. They won’t bite you and they won’t threaten you. Most importantly, they don’t want to lose a customer.

In fact, you’ll be surprised by what they’ll be willing to do to help a profit-making customer to catch up any late payments. When you have great credit and you’re making your repayments, you’re making them a profit.

If you’re falling behind, then they still believe you can catch up, fix your bad credit and be turned into a great customer. This is why they’re so willing to help you!

It also means that if you’re smart you can save yourself a lot of money on interest rates and benefit from easy credit terms just by playing their game.

Hopefully you understand more about why banks want you to repair bad credit. Now it’s time to start taking some steps to repair your credit and reduce your interest rates today.